Following last week's example of a wine that costs about six times the cost of an average bottle sold in the UK, I felt I should prove that I am not a price snob I chose one much closer to the average (albeit after 'discount' by the world's largest wine merchant).
Week C (2015) Tesco Finest Carmenere, Valle de Colchagua, Chile. Tesco £5.99.
Carmenere is Chile's signature red wine grape. Originally from Bordeaux it traveled West like many of it's erstwhile stable mates, but unlike the rest of the Cabernet family not much of it stayed at home, so now Chile is home.
In its early Chilean days it was thought to be Merlot and it was not until 1994 that a French oenologlist identified the reason that Chilean Merlot tasted distinctly different to those from elsewhere. The answer being that the Merlot was indeed Carmenere.
It's name is base on 'carmin', the French word for crimson, but this doesn't refer to the grapes themselves rather than the colour that its leaves turn before the harvest.
The wines produced are usually deep red and richly flavoured of mixed red and black fruits, often with a herbal hint.
This one, which has around 13% alcohol fits the stereotype very nicely. It is fruity, has noticeable and reasonably smooth tanins and slips down very easily. It is not a big wine, nor does it have particular finesse, but it is very drinkable and, at the price, a good weekday 'I never want to commute again' companion to the increasingly gloomy evening.
Tesco described the wine as having been fermented in stainless steel tanks and having had 'a light French oak treatment'. This, I strongly suspect, does not mean that it has spent any time in expensive French oak barrels, but has had either oak staves added to the tank or possibly a big 'tea bag' of oak chippings dunked in it to give it a hint of sophistication. All fair enough for the price. A new oak barrel costs somewhere around £500-£600 and can hold about 300 bottles of wine so that would be approximately £2 per bottle on the cost. So if you want to be picky, pay more!
Week C (2015) Tesco Finest Carmenere, Valle de Colchagua, Chile. Tesco £5.99.Carmenere is Chile's signature red wine grape. Originally from Bordeaux it traveled West like many of it's erstwhile stable mates, but unlike the rest of the Cabernet family not much of it stayed at home, so now Chile is home.
In its early Chilean days it was thought to be Merlot and it was not until 1994 that a French oenologlist identified the reason that Chilean Merlot tasted distinctly different to those from elsewhere. The answer being that the Merlot was indeed Carmenere.
It's name is base on 'carmin', the French word for crimson, but this doesn't refer to the grapes themselves rather than the colour that its leaves turn before the harvest.
The wines produced are usually deep red and richly flavoured of mixed red and black fruits, often with a herbal hint.
This one, which has around 13% alcohol fits the stereotype very nicely. It is fruity, has noticeable and reasonably smooth tanins and slips down very easily. It is not a big wine, nor does it have particular finesse, but it is very drinkable and, at the price, a good weekday 'I never want to commute again' companion to the increasingly gloomy evening.
Tesco described the wine as having been fermented in stainless steel tanks and having had 'a light French oak treatment'. This, I strongly suspect, does not mean that it has spent any time in expensive French oak barrels, but has had either oak staves added to the tank or possibly a big 'tea bag' of oak chippings dunked in it to give it a hint of sophistication. All fair enough for the price. A new oak barrel costs somewhere around £500-£600 and can hold about 300 bottles of wine so that would be approximately £2 per bottle on the cost. So if you want to be picky, pay more!
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