Cheers from Vintage Connections  

Dean and Lisa Foster
Vintage Connections: Wine Educators and Consultants

Santa Rita Reserva Carmenere 2009

This rich medium to full-bodied dry red wine comes from the Rapel Valley in Chile.  The color is a deep dark red with aromas of red fruits and spices.  The flavor is richly laced with flavors of dark red cherries, plums and a hint of spice.  It has soft tannins with a lingering finish.  Alcohol is 13.5% by volume.  

Carmenere was once considered to have perhaps become extinct.  Grown extensively in France as a blending grape for Bordeaux, it suddenly become lost in France and now is only minimally grown and is no longer used in Bordeaux blends.   Carmenere, however, was found to grow abundantly well in Chile and has become Chile's signature grape.  PLCB product code is 19962 and is available at some PA Wine and Spirit stores for $14.99 a bottle.  

M. Cosentino Cabernet Franc 2007

Unfortunately, this wine is not available in PA, but we felt it was such an exceptional wine that it deserved to be brought to your attention. It's rare we find a Cab Franc we like that is NOT from PA. 

This excellent dry red wine comes from the Napa Valley in California.  This cabernet franc is actually a blend of 83% cabernet franc and 17% merlot.  It is garnet red in color, softening to almost pinkish at the edges.  It has great aromas of red fruit and green pepper, so characteristic of cabernet francs.   

Though high in alcohol (winemaker says 15.5% by volume), it did not taste hot as so many California wines do, but was pleasantly balanced.  We felt the addition of the merlot helped to give this wine a roundness that perhaps a California cabernet franc may otherwise be missing.  We were pleasantly surprised by this wine.  

Fun Fact 

Cabernet Franc grapes are thin-skinned black grapes that grow well even in colder temperatures, one of the reasons you can find Cabernet Franc wines in  PA and the Finger Lakes region of New York.