Pick of the Vine: Terra Andina a fruity and delightfully rich red

Pick of the Vine: Terra Andina a fruity and delightfully rich red

TIM DWIGHT | FOR FLORIDA TODAY | May 07, 2009
View full article here: www.floridatoday.com


The Terra Andina Carmenere Reserva 2007 is this week's selection for Pick of the Vine.

Malbecs from the eastern side of the Andes in Argentina have (deservedly) received quite a bit of attention during the past several years; stick with me here as we head west over the mountains to the Rapel Valley in neighboring Chile.

As malbec is to Argentina, the carmenere grape is to the mountainous growing regions of the western Andes. This latter grape represents an opportunity for the Chilean wine industry to re-establish its reputation with a unique varietal that is rarely planted elsewhere around the world.

Known sometimes as "the lost grape of Bordeaux," carmenere originated, as did malbec, in the southeastern regions of France. But whereas malbec continues to be grown in its home country, carmenere is all but extinct throughout Bordeaux and the Loire Valley.

Fortunately for wine lovers, the grape migrated during its heyday down to South America, along with the other five Bordeaux varietals: cabernet sauvignon, merlot, petit verdot, cab franc and malbec.

Carmenere has been thriving in the central grape-growing regions of Chile for more than 100 years, but its success as a stand-alone varietal is a relatively recent development. Imports to the United States have increased dramatically during the past decade, and carmenere is no longer a stranger to wine isles in the local market.

Terra Andina, owned by the much-larger Santa Rita winery in Santiago, Chile, produces a line of affordable carmeneres that appear with some regularity in our local area. Their "regular" bottling can be found for less than $10 a bottle, but I'd urge readers to search out this winery's "Reserva," of which 2007 is the current vintage. This upper-tier bottling will cost another $2 or so, and it's worth every penny.

For more of this article, click here.