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Product Name
Vintage
Price
Varietal
Country
Region
Appellation
Size
Additional Discount
Original Item
2012
$20.94
Carmenere
Chile
Valle Central
750ml
N/A
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More Details
Winery
Ventisquero
Vintage: 2012
2012 has, so far been a positive year for wineries around the world. While it may be a little too early to speak of the wines being made in the northern hemisphere, European and North American wineries have already begun reporting that their harvesting season has been generally very good, and are predicting to continue with the kind of successes they saw in 2011. However, 2012 has been something of a late year for France, due to unpredictable weather throughout the summer, and the grapes were ripening considerably later than they did in 2011 (which was, admittedly, an exceptionally early year). French wineries are claiming, though, that this could well turn out to be advantageous, as the slow ripening will allow the resulting wines to express more flavour and features of the terroir they are grown in.
The southern hemisphere has seen ideal climatic conditions in most of the key wine producing countries, and Australia and New Zealand particularly had a superb year, in particular with the Bordeaux varietal grapes that grow there and which love the humidity these countries received plenty of. Also enjoying a fantastic year for weather were wineries across Argentina and Chile, with the Mendoza region claiming that 2012 will be one of their best vintages of the past decade. Similar claims are being made across the Chilean wine regions, where Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Sauvignon had an especially good year. These two grape varietals also produced characterful wines on the coastal regions of South Africa this year.
Varietal: Carmenere
Several New World wineries today are turning their vineyards over to the production of the fine Carmenere varietal grapes, as a result of their unique characteristics and intense flavors Although most commonly used as a blending varietal, single variety wines made with Carmenere have plenty to offer. These grapes are renowned for their intense dark red colored juices, and the fact that they carry some extremely interesting flavors and aromas. Young Carmenere wines are most commonly associated with deep, spicy notes, full of tobacco, chocolate and leather flavors that make them a favorite with wineries who wish to produce refined, elegant wines with a big finish. They are also famed for being one of the few grapes allowed by French law for the production of the world famous Bordeaux blended wines.
Region: Valle Central
The Valle Central of Chile is one of the world's most fascinating and unique wine regions, being a New World region with a history which stretches back several centuries to the time of the first European settlers on the South American continent. Although those original settlers brought their vines across the ocean for the production of sacramental wine, the way they flourished on Chilean soil was not ignored. Over the centuries, the vineyards around the Maipo and Maule valleys grew and grew, and now the Valle Central is the most productive wine region of South America, producing many of Chile's most characterful and flavorful wines. Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot varietal grapes are grown and processed in huge quantities for the international market, but there are also many vineyards dealing with high quality Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and Carmenere grapes which are constantly gaining attention and praise from critics and wine drinkers around the world.
Country: Chile
Whilst being widely regarded as definitively 'New World' as a wine producing country, Chile has actually been cultivating grapevines for wine production for over five hundred years. The Iberian conquistadors first introduced vines to Chile with which to make sacramental wines, and although these were considerably different in everything from flavor, aroma and character to the wines we associate with Chile today, the country has a long and interesting heritage when it comes to this drink. Chilean wine production as we know it first arose in the country in the mid to late 19th century, when wealthy landowners and industrialists first began planting vineyards as a way of adopting some European class and style. They quickly discovered that the hot climate, sloping mountainsides and oceanic winds provided a perfect terroir for quality wines, and many of these original estates remain today in all their grandeur and beauty, still producing the wines which made the country famous.