I had made note of the Carinena or 'Carignan' varietal at the Wines of Chile tasting organised by Jean Smullen, in which the two stand out reds for me were this very grape. I described them to Rob as Chile's answer to Zinfandel, because of their bright fruits and crisp acidity. Of the two that were tasted the Cordillera from Miquel Torres was the more perplexing. My conclusion was that it needed more time in the bottle.
Two weeks later I found myself perusing the shelves of Superquinn for nothing in particular, when I spotted the very same Cordillera. However there was a subtle difference this was a 2005 as opposed to the 2008 that we tried at the tasting. Happy with my find and the chance to put theory into practice I brought one home to give it a whirl.
- Torres Cordillera Carignan (€21.49 most decent wine stores) On the nose the wine was a complex mix of bright fruits with a hint of tertiary aromas beginning to emerge; Truffle, vanilla, cedar box, blueberry and blackberry. The Palate was full to the brim of rich blackberry and lifted blueberry with a delicious finish of clove and cocoa. Excellent acidity with tannins that had certainly mellowed a little in comparison to the 2008. This nice and mature now and will drink very well for the next few years. Score (90)
This Carignan really illustrated a somewhat hidden in plain sight aspect of the Chilean wine scene, Chile can make exceptional wines at extremely affordable prices. As a varietal it is certainly the most exciting thing to come out of Chile in a good while, saddling that borderline of 'New World fruit' with the 'seriousness' of the old world and is producing age-worthy complex wines that tell a unique story of a wine making nation fashioning an identity of its own.
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