Monday, April 17, 2006

Santa Alicia Reserve Carmenere 2003 Review by (billy)

Eyes: deep and thick purple
Nose: hefty jammy dark fruit: plumb and black cherry. Tobacco. Vanilla.
Palate: soft and pleasantly balanced. Not too tannic or acidic. Not as beefy as the thick jammy nose would suggest which is nice. Round mouth feel though a bit concave near the back of the palate. Wonderful flavors of vanilla and black cherry burst.
Finish: lingering black cherry with tobacco and an almost-but-not-quite silky taper.

I paid $9.99 for this at Wine Styles though I have seen it advertised for as little as $6. At this price you really cannot go wrong. This Carmenere comes from the Maipo Valley in Chile. As a Chilean wine, it has a very nice structure and flavor for the price. It is a solid red meat, stew, or hearty vegetarian meal accompanyment.

I am not that familiar iwth the Carmenere varietal so I have no idea how this particular wine would age but I believe that it is probably best drunk now. Some more research bears this out. You can read about it HERE. Carmenere is not a very popular varietal because of its inability to produce "distingusihing" wines. Well, I can say that this was a fine solid drinking wine with some really nice black cherry and vanilla notes. Without much to compare it to in my personal experience, I still label it as a wine to which I Raise a Glass!

3 comments:

  1. Anonymous7:38 PM

    My son gave me this wine for Christmas in 2007. I drank 1/2 of the bottle in February and had an allergic reaction to the wine. I have been a frequent drinker of red wines without any problem for several years. However, this wine did not work for me. I wonder if anyone else has had a similar problem? If so, please post.

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  2. Anonymous3:13 AM

    I paid much more for this wine and was wondering if maybe i got ripped off? i do like the flavor although the wine styles in which i purchased the wine stated that it had a pleasant coffee flavor, and i taste no coffee! NONE!

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  3. Its a good Carmenere, as good as Concho y Toro...as far as allergic reactions, see your MD...I agree. no coffee flavor..

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