July 15, 2016

Wine of the Week ~ 2014 Reserva Casillero del Diablo Carménère

I love Carménère, especially when it comes from Chile. Chile has over 460 years of wine heritage. When the Spanish arrived in sixteenth century, there was no phylloxera Chilean vine rootstock (at the time) grew own-rooted, which turned out to be a valuable genetic material. This allowed Carménère to thrive hidden among Merlot vines for over a century, even after its near extinction in France from phylloxera.