Tasting Carmenere

This panel tasting for Decanter magazine focused on Carmenere – a repeat of the exercise from 2017 yet with hardly more conclusive results.

Carmenere is a Chilean USP and makes some fine wines there but you can’t help but feel the best is yet to come. For now, the evidence remains…inconclusive. There are glimpses of greatness in the wines – as well, of course, as many highly drinkable and engaging bottles – but it remains a waiting game.

I’m firmly convinced that Carmenere will make great wines, both as a solo grape variety and in blends. (It’s already doing the latter.) But it needs its champions, obsessives and pioneers – and these seem to be in short supply.

These are some of the best Chilean Carmenere bottles out there as things stand.

[Chilean Carmenère appeared in Decanter magazine’s April 2019 edition]

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