Mission Codename Seal of Approval
Today’s 2014 Gold Carménère hails from Estampa Wines, one of Chile’s oldest and best respected wineries. The winery’s dedication to “…the art of combining two or more noble varieties so that each contributes its best characteristics to the wine” shines through in today’s delicious offering.
Wine Spectator gave today’s today’s delicious delight of a wine a 91 point score. Wine Enthusiast and Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate each issued a 90 point score. This is a value-priced blend of Carménère, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot is a really special wine that we know you’ll love.
We guarantee it!
Lush and full on the nose, with balanced aromas of spiced black cherry, plum, spice box, dried fall leaves, dark chocolate, twigs, black licorice, leather, river rock and cracked peppercorn.
Dark, bold and spice, with flavors of grilled cherry, black licorice, blackberry reduction, leather, spice box, cigar box, flinty mineral, plum, and black pepper.
This red blend is a unique - and uniquely delicious - wine that captivated me when I tasted it. So much so that I scooped up every bottle that I could. The wine is selling quickly, though, so please reserve yours now.
Here’s what the wine press has to say:
91 points - Wine Spectator
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90 points - Luis Gutierrez, Wine Advocate - “The 2014 Gold is mostly Carmenere with some Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot from slopes in Marchigue in Colchagua. 2014 was a low-yielding vintage because of the frost, and the summer was warm, which provided for healthy and ripe grapes.
This is a big, powerful red blend that fermented separately. It matured in first, second and third use French oak barrels for 14 months. They had already started to study their soils and had applied some changes in time for this harvest.
This a more traditional style of Colchagua that manages to avoid the strong herbal aromas, it has more subtle spiciness (paprika, merken) than green notes, a far cry from the style of yesteryear, with contained ripeness. It’s not easy to get ripeness for the finesse of the tannins, and the vines need to be on certain soils. They deliver a very rustic character on deeper soils, but the slopes are lot more interesting.
This has the style of the new Carmenere that is slowly winning my heart. The grapes can be harvested early, but ripe, through viticulture and management of the irrigation.”
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90 points - Michael Schachner, Wine Enthusiast - “Herbal blackberry aromas include gritty notes of road tar and eucalyptus that are derivative of the Petit Verdot and Cab Franc that have been mixed into this Carmenère. Sandpaper tannins create a dry scratchy mouthfeel, while peppery, spicy, blackened berry flavors finish with massive tannins. Drink this bullish bomber through 2023.”
What the Winery Says
2014 Gold Carmenere
- Winemaker
- Johana Pereira
- Varietal
- Carmenere
- Appellation
- Colchagua Valley, Chile
- Blend
- 70% Carmenere
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- 20% Cabernet Sauvignon
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- 5% Cabernet Franc
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- 5% Petit Verdot
- Harvest dates
- Carmenere May 5, 2014
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- Cabernet Sauvignon April 21, 2014
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- Cabernet Franc April 25, 2014
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- Petit Verdot May 2, 2014
- Abv
- 14.5%
- pH
- 3.61
- TA
- 5.5 expressed in tartaric
- RS
- 3.0 gr/lt
- Free SO2
- 30.4 mg/lt
- Total SO2
- 127.2 mg/lt
- Aging
- 14 months
- Barrels
- 35% new French oak
- Bottle aging
- 6 months
- Bottling date
- Dec 22, 2015
- Production
- 1,660 cases