Our Wednesday night choice; Santa Rita Reserva Carménère 2008

Our Wednesday night choice; Santa Rita Reserva Carménère 2008

We discovered Carménère about a year ago in a South American wine class and it has become one of our favorite and go-to wines. The Reserve always being somewhat better than the non. In fact while in Nova Scotia and Canada [PEI] this last spring this varietal was our saving grace and actually made us look good in the eyes of our gracious hosts who had never imbibed such a delicacy. At this point I should tell you that this grape from Chile usually has a strong and robust taste almost comparable to a Cabernet Sauvignon but slightly mellower. It also mellows and opens nicely when decanted. Just 20 minutes will make a difference.

I refer to this as our Wednesday night choice because of its price point. As priced at about $8-9.00 it is the perfect non-guilty pleasure and can easily impress guests in a pinch. We had ours with spaghetti and garlic bread. I could also see this working well with grilled meats and other hearty dishes.

At opening the nose was of; leather, earth/dirt, sweet dark fruits [blackberry, plum, cherry]. My better half detected aromas of; grass, chocolate and malt. As the wine mellowed I tasted an after taste of almonds.

We had never tried the Santa Rita Reserva Carménère and I was attracted to it because of its price. Having been impressed we will definitely be coming back to this one and it may even make my 2012 best value wine list. This will be entry #1 in my 2012 wine diary; not a bad way to start the year. Good wine AND a great value.