Secreto Carmenere

For some strange reason I don't drink that much Chilean red these days .I think subconsciously it could be down to the alcohol levels which can be a bit high for my taste and, also to the fact that I would generally be having my red wine with food so, I tend to prefer styles that are not too forward and fruity.However for some reason the other night I brought home a bottle of Secreto Carmenere.



It is a wine that certainly grabs your attention with its rich full-bodied ripe black cherry fruits,coupled with lashings and lashings of creamy oak. (in a nice Famous Five, Enid Blyton kind of a way)




It reminded me of an ultra modern Amarone which is partly explained by its alcohol of 14.5%.Like Amarone with good chocolate(70%)in a bottle.... to be exact.So perfect in a decadent  stuff your face kind of a way which ,lets be honest,  is a need that cannot be denied from time to time!
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This wine won the gold star award at the Irish wine show for New World Red  under 14 euro and given the fact that I liken it to Amarone would suggest it is really good value as it retails at €13.95.

The grape variety in this wine is Carmenere which originally came from Bordeaux  but it became virtually extinct in France when an insect,that came over on a vine cutting from America ,decided to munch its way through the vineyards of Europe.
However cuttings of Carmenere had already been brought to Chile and planted out but it was assumed to be  Merlot to which  it bears a close resemblance until it was genetically fingerprinted  in 1994. 
So for Chile this gave them a unique grape variety to work with and Carmenere  is now considered their flagship wine. So in terms of value you are looking at top of the range wine making at a value price because not too many people are familiar with the grape variety yet.

Enjoy

Evelyn 
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