Ventisquero Grey Gran Reserva Carmenère 2020

Vina Ventisquero is led by winemaker Felipe Tesso, who has spent years studying the soils of the estate's vineyards across the Maipo, Casablanca and Apalta valleys to make authentically Chilean wines. The Grey Gran Reserva Carmenere comes from a single block in the Maipo Valley, where warm days and cool Andean nights allow this late-ripening grape to reach full maturity while keeping its acidity and its characteristic savoury, herbal note. Ripe fruit at 13.5 per cent alcohol carries the wine's depth. It spends eighteen months in French oak barrels, a long ageing that adds spice, a chocolate note and slow oxygen to soften and integrate the tannin. The colour is deep and dark. The nose leads with plum, blackberry, dark chocolate and the peppery, herbal edge typical of Carmenere, backed by cedar and tobacco from the oak. The palate is full bodied and ripe, with rounded tannin, fresh acidity and a long, spicy finish. Serve at 17 to 18 degrees and decant briefly. It suits grilled red meat, roast lamb and hearty vegetable dishes.