Happy Sunday! It seems that summer is starting to calm down, we've seen hot and humid and rather chilly evenings on consecutive days, so I'm hoping for consistency! As I get ready for Sunday dinner, I've decided to open a bottle of a recent Costco find, and one of my favorite varietals, Carmenere, the lost Bordeaux grape. Carmenere was long thought extinct thanks to the phylloxera plague in 1867. It was later discovered in Chile, having been cultivated since 1850 from French cuttings mistaken for Merlot. The 2018 San Pedro "1865" Carmenere is named for the winemaker's founding year, and is sourced from a variety of vineyards in Chile's Del Maule Valley. So, let's see how this wine is tasting!
The wine is a deep, inky black at the center, with bright ruby along the edges, as you might expect from a pure Carmenere. A quick swirl in the glass reveals aromas of blackberry, plum with some mineral notes of basalt and a hint of green cedar. A taste reveals flavors of black cherry and currant that ease into notes of tobacco and black pepper spice midpalate. The tannins are rather subdued, but still find time to support a supple, dry finish that lingers on the palate.
Overall, I would rate this wine a solid 8, as it's a pleasant drinking wine and a solid value at just $13. This wine would pair well with a range of dishes, from tacos to pizza, pasta to steak. Tonight I am enjoying this wine with the latter two, a rare grilled New York Strip along with some garlic scapes and asparagus sautéed in olive and tossed with linguine and topped with shaved parmesan and a bit of purple basis. Cheers!
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