Author: Dirk Chan
Our online feature this week is the 2020 Viña Carmen Cabernet Sauvignon Gran Reserva (Maipo Valley, Chile) – $16.99, regularly $20.99.
Vina Carmen is the oldest winery in Chile, founded by Christian Lanz back in 1850, naming the winery after his wife. In the Maipo Valley, with its high-altitude and Mediterranean climate which allows for cool nights and warm days, the grapes flourish in this ideal and idyllic enviroment perfect for red wines in particular.
Nowadays, Carmen winery is a very modern building with state of the art technology and is owned by Santa Rita after becoming part of the Grupo Claro in 1987, which also owns Doña Paula in Argentina. Its broad portfolio of wines is overseen by talented renown young winemaker Emily Faulconer.
The feature this week is their Cabernet Sauvignon Gran Reserva, with strong aromas of cherry and black plum. Complex aromas and flavours from prolonged ageing in barrels, giving notes of vanilla, toast, a smoky edge, and traces of fruits such as raspberry and plum; great body and length, balanced acidity, and pleasant, rounded tannins.
2020 Viña Carmen Cabernet Sauvignon Gran Reserva (Maipo Valley, Chile) – $16.99 (regularly $20.99)