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Event Details

Wine OR Wine & Food

Wine Tasting in the Trapp Family Lodge Wine Cellar

Saturday, December 5th 4:00 to 6:00

We will be tasting new releases of Carmenère from Chile, for inclusion on our list. Chile’s signature grape, carmenère, is the “lost grape of Bordeaux.” Known also as “grand vidure,” it was originally one of the major grapes of the Médoc region. Even under the best of circumstances, it was a difficult grape to grow in Bordeaux, since it needed more heat to ripen than other Bordeaux grapes and, worse, it often caught coulure, a disease that caused the grapes to drop long before they were ripe for harvest. An 1870s plague of phylloxerae (vine-munching, aphid-like insects) that destroyed several million acres of European vineyards finished off carmenère for good. Bordeaux rootstock – cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc and carmenère among them – was brought to Chile 20 years before the outbreak, when the first Chilean vineyards were developed. The local aristocratic gentlemen wine growers thought carmenère was merlot and they planted accordingly, interspersing it with the merlot grapes, although its pink-red flowers and off-merlot taste indicated otherwise. Bizarrely, it wasn’t until 1994, nearly 150 years after the first quasi-merlots were bottled, that Jean-Michel Boursiquot, a visiting French ampelographer (an expert in identifying and distinguishing vines) had an “aha!” moment; DNA testing three years later confirmed what he’d already established: Carmenère was alive and flourishing in Chile, more successfully than it ever had in Bordeaux. The valleys of Central Chile, surrounded by the Andes, cooled by the Pacific and blessed with warm, dry, sunny days followed by up to 40-degree drops in temperature at night, are an ideal environment for bringing out the full, rich flavor of grapes, since they’re forced to ripen very slowly. Because carmenère is able to thrive in Chile from the original imported vines (in Bordeaux and California, it has to be grafted onto insect-resistant vines in order to reach maturity), today Chile is acknowledged as its ideal home. Now that the newly rediscovered grape is being properly harvested, several weeks later than the merlot grapes, the range of its flavor and versatility is suddenly being appreciated. Once only blended with cabs and merlots, it’s now being bottled alone, with a dark red color and an amazing breadth and range of flavors, from green pepper to blackberry to chocolate, and textures that are entirely distinctive from one vineyard to the next. The format will be casual, walk around with cheese and bread.  The wines featured will be:

Puerto Viejo, Reserva, Curico Valley 2007

Casillero del Diablo, Rapel Valley 2007

In Situ, Reserva, Aconcagua Valley 2006

Santa Rita, “Medalla Real”, 90% Marchigüe & 10% Apalta 2007

Von Siebenthal, Aconcagua Valley 2006

A sign-up sheet will be available at the front desk (253-5742 or 800-826-7000) and there will be a $15.00 fee per person.