LAPOSTOLLE | Casa | Carmenère | 2012
carmenère

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Tonight we are going to review a wine from Chile that we were lucky to come by – Casa Carmenère 2012 by Lapostolle. Lapostolle Wines was founded by Alexandra Marnier Lapostolle with one sole purpose in mind – to create world class wines using french winemaking experience and the magnificent terroirs of Chile. The wine we are reviewing tonight is a single varietal carmenère wine from the Rapel Valley, which is one of the more substantial red wine producing regions of Chile. The birthplace of carménère is the famous Bordeaux region of France, yet, it has excelled to a completely new level in Chile, which is now considered the homeland of carmenère wines. But enough theory, without further ado, let’s get straight to the tasting and find out how good this wine is!
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Take a look at the tasting notes below and our detailed assessment of the wine:

Visual
Deep and opaque garnet color, with pale ruby hues towards the rim of the glass.

Olfactory
The nose is rich, filled mostly with black fruits flavours: cranberry, dried black cherry, blackcurrant, black soil, black mulberry, dried blackcurrant, soil dust, cherry seeds, black plum and blackberry. An instant later the nose is filled with notes of black pepper, black tea, charred wood, allspice, black chocolate and some subtle notes of dried tomato.

Gustatory
The wine is extra-dry, with high alcohol level, high acidity and green tannin. It feels bold, rough and quite green, with a nuanced bitter-charred, yet fruity accent. This is a quite firm, yet angular and muscular wine, as it tastes seedy, trt and austere. The wine feels a bit off its balance, with a touch of alcoholic warmth showing through.

Aftertaste
It has a medium finish and an angular, green and rough aftertaste.
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This is definitely a good Wine of Chile and the overall rating says the same, with 89.4 points scored it is right there, among the best wines we’ve tasted so far. Please click on the chart icon on the left in order to get to the wine rating page, where you can find all the wines we’ve tasted to date.

Conclusion: this is a wine on the decline, one that has already passed over the prime of its form – angular, rough and quite austere, therefore there’s no need for any more bottle ageing. We always used to say that it is always better to drink a wine a year too soon than a day too late. In order to smoothen its rough edges, we would recommend to pir this wine with spicy and grilled meat dishes, like for example some grilled lamb chops with rosemary and buttery garlic or a grilled t-bone steak with mushrooms and black pepper, as all the wine’s sharpness will be perfectly countered by the spicy-charred flavours of the dish, leading to a more harmonious overall balance. It’s all about balance. Enjoy!

WineStatistics tasting results:

LAPOSTOLLE
Casa | Carmenère | 2012

grape: | carmenère |

region: Chile | Rapel Valley

overall rating: | 89.4 |

maturity: on the decline

conclusion: good | recommended

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(c) The WineStatistics ratings are based solely on our own knowledge of the world of wine and on our personal wine tastes, which may, or may not, differ from yours – the reader. There are no absolutes of right and wrong in wine appreciation.