Santa Carolina - Reserva Carmenere - 2019

$20.99

Santa Carolina was founded in 1875 by Luis Pereira, who named it for his wife Carolina Iniguez. The Reserva line still carries her name. Fruit for the Carmenere comes from La Rinconada in the Cachapoal Valley, close to the river, where warm days and cool nights stretch out ripening and hold on to acidity. Eight months in French oak rounds it off. This is the weeknight red for grilled meat and anything with chili in it.

Plum, blackberry and tobacco on the nose with a leafy herbal edge. Black cherry and roasted dark fruit on a plump palate, mild integrated tannins, toasted oak and a hint of chocolate on the finish.

Red meat off the grill, curry with real heat, mature hard cheeses.

Santa Carolina is owned by the Larrain family and farms estates in Maipo, Rapel, Leyda, Casablanca and Colchagua. In 1889 its Cabernet took gold in Paris, the first international award won by a Chilean wine.