Cono Sur Bicicleta Carmenère 2023

Cono Sur Bicicleta Carmenère is a wood-aged red from Chile's Central Valley, within the D.O. Colchagua, one of the country's most respected red-wine zones. Carmenère, a Bordeaux variety that found its true home in Chile, needs a long, warm season to ripen fully, and Colchagua provides it: the Andes drive a wide diurnal range, with warm days ripening the fruit and cold mountain nights at night preserving acidity and freshness. Ripe Carmenère gives soft, plummy fruit and a gentle herbal, peppery character, and full ripeness here keeps that pepperiness in balance rather than green. The wine ages in oak, where slow oxygen exchange through the wood rounds the tannins and adds vanilla, spice and a dark chocolate note. It pours a deep ruby and shows ripe plum and red berry fruit with black pepper, dried herbs and cocoa. The palate is medium to full bodied, soft and supple, the tannins ripe and the finish smooth. Serve at 16 to 18 degrees, with grilled beef, roast pork or roasted root vegetables.