1865 Carmenere

Tried this wine a few months ago in our wine club and loved it's spicy flavours and the typical green pepper aromas of this variety. It had beautiful silky tannins and a vanilla smoky finish. It was the wine that stood out for me that night and a couple of days later we listed it on the Naas road. This is from the same producer as Gato Negro which Ev previously blogged about as a great value red but at €14.99 it is more of a treat!

 When one of my oldest pals,Shell, came out to visit me in our new store in Blanchardstown village and asked me to reccommend her a nice bottle of red for a romantic meal in that night I knew it would be right up her street.

 Always nice to get a bit of feed back on any recommendations so I asked her to scribble down a small tasting note on the wine. So after our ritual Monday morning phone call discussing all the important issues of the world including who wore what out on Saturday night, how Wagner as making a mockery of our sacred X factor, blah blah... You get the idea!  She finally got around to the 1865 Carmenere with a glowing report!

Appearance: dark purple

Nose: she thought the nose was quite sweet and woody aromas

Palate: much drier than she thought it would be which surprised her after the nose. She thought there was cherrry flavours to it.

Verdict: Really smooth and definitely a wine she will look out for again.

Satisfied customer!

Till Next Time

Clare

Cellars, the Big Wine Warehouse

Santa Rita Pehuén Carmenère

  Myself, Ruth and Ev recently attended the Santa Rita "Local Heroes" dinner in the Merrion hotel where along with other members of the trade, journalists and restaurateurs we sat down to an unbelievable meal cooked by Sebastian Maturara, the Chilean chef,  flown over especially and  all accompanied by some of their finest wines. Nights like these I forget about the long hours, harsh duty rates and anything else that bothers me about the wine business and I figure we have THE BEST jobs in the world!
 Santa Rita launched this campaign last year to honour the heroes who fought for their independence from Spain in the Civil war. One of these heroes, Bernard O'Higgins and his 120 man army sought refuge in the cellars of Santa Rita and after resting up went on to win independence for Chile. It was because of Bernard O'Higgins' Irish connections that Santa Rita launched this campaign here in the hope of finding more brave Irishmen and women of the more local kind. The 120 range is so called after these brave men but it is their more premium wines that really impressed on the night.

  The star of the night for me was the Pehuén  Carmenère. This is a single vineyard Carmenère from the Apalta region. This grape needs a long growing period to ripen fully so the Apalta valley is perfect for this. The wine is called after the native Chilean tree better known to us as the monkey puzzle tree. A deep, dark and luscious colour displaying chocolate, dark cassis, spices, coffee and plenty of fruit on the nose. Big and robust in the mouth with beautiful complexity and a smoky finish that went on long after the last drop. This retails for €54.99 but worth every cent so maybe (dare I say it) a Christmas treat!  It needs full-flavoured foods to work with as Sebastian showed us with delicately cooked lamb served with a traditional Chilean corn based  salsa. The flavours worked beautifully with this wine. 

Beautiful match

  
  A memorable night with great food and beautiful wine but seriously suffered the next morning even though we sensibly dragged ourselves home after the dinner. Recommended Copper Face Jacks to Sebastian... I wonder how that worked out!
Till next Time
Clare
Cellars, the Big Wine Warehouse

CONSUME AND ENJOY IN MODERATION

Santa Rita Carmenere Reserve 2007

                                             


Colour: Deep dark dense plum colour.
.
Nose:   Fragrant with hints of licquorice(Bertie Bassetts) morello cherry, dark chocolate and coconut.

Palate: The wine carries these flavours onto the palate  which is rich and smooth with very silky tannins and a  long rich finish.


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.

                                                                 

Santa Rita, the producer of this particular wine, is also steeped in history as the original house, owned at the time by  the champion of independence  Paula Jaraquemada, was used to hide Bernardo O` Higgins ,the first ruler of independent Chile, and 120 of his independence soldiers from the Spanish soldiers during the war of independence.




Paula Jaraquemada  1768-1851

           

                                                                                                                    

As the name would suggest O`Higgins did indeed have Irish blood. Bernardos dad Ambrose was from Ballynary Co. Sligo and Old Ambrose  himself actually ruled Peru and Chile under the Spanish .His pal Juan Mc Kenna , from just outside Monaghan town, was also made viceroy of Peru and  became Bernardos close ally. Juan eventually died in a duel fought against Bernardos independence   rival Jose Carrera ,who was actually the soldier who had failed to arrive with reinforcements thus causing Bernardo to have to hide in the Santa Rita house.Bernardo later allowed Carrera be to arrested and executed.
                                                                      Bernardo O Higgins 1778-1842

It is amazing to think of the achievements of these men, going  from Ireland to Spain to become soldiers ,then to travel to South America ,and that not being enough but  to actually become the virtual rulers of some these South America countries. Trotting from country to country, continent to continent, over and back across the Andes depending if they were winning or loosing… just ships ,horses and feet no other transport!
Juan Mackenna 1771-1814



It would appear however that these lads were no Saints! Bernardo himself  had several children by different mothers and is even  rumored to have had a child with an ex. of his fathers who had also had a child with the same lady .
So Bernardo`s half sister was a half sister to Bernardo`s daughter !headache... but not illegal.!
Indeed Bernardo  himself was the result of an affair between his Irish father and a Basque  lady.

                                                                  Ambrosia O`Higgins1720-1801
                                                     

Salud y amor y tiempo para disfrutarlo!

Evelyn 

CONSUME AND ENJOY IN MODERATION

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