Wine in the Shower » carmenere

Bottling Chilean Carmenere on TV

gisela — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 22:46:27 +0000

I had the opportunity to show off my new shop on Fox morning news today. It was really fun, except for the 5 am starting time. In the first segment I demonstrated how to start a wine kit, then in this second segment I bottled my Winexpert Chilean Carmenere. The camera guy got a little too close when I was corking the wine and I kinda knocked him on the head, sorry about that!

If you’d like to see the whole taping, you can watch it here. Have fun!

Carmenere WE Limited Edition 2 1/2 Year Tasting Note

gisela — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 04:10:38 +0000

It has been about 6 months since we broke out a Carmenere, which is over 2 years post bottling now. There are no more soapy aromas or flavors! It has big aromas of ripe red fruits, spice, and brambles. Big, bold flavors of roast cherries, plums, currants, and mild spice with hint of burnt toast and menthol in long finish. This wine is finally ready to shine! YUM!

Chilean Carmenere Not-Quite-2-Year Tasting

gisela — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 02:09:09 +0000

I’ve been looking for an excuse to open my 2008 Winexpert Limited edition Chilean carmenere, and Moroccan Braised Beef (recipe courtesy of Chef Jenn Felmley!) sounded like just the ticket. Today is just short of 2 years in the bottle. I decanted about an hour. There is some foam, but not too bad. Slight soapiness on the nose, but dominated by loads of dark, spicy fruit and brambles. No perceptible soapiness on the tongue. Big, spicy flavors of plums, raisin, and blackcurrant, plus a hint of vanilla. Good tannins and oak, long finish. Definitely still young, but tasting very nice now!

Carmenere/Cab Sauv 8 Month Tasting

gisela — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 00:27:48 +0000

Did not decant, probably would benefit from decanting at this stage. Not foamy, seem to finally have that under control. Big nose of red ripe fruits with sour edge. Very clear, dark garnet in color. Slightly fizzy on the tongue, with very tart flavors of sour cherry and pomegranite. Mainly fruity, very light spice, medium tannins. Weird lingering aftertaste, not bad, just weird. Definitely still needs cellar time, but not bad at all.

Bottling Chilean Carmenere/Cab Sauv

gisela — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 06:11:08 +0000

This kit came with 60 grams French oak AND 60 grams toasted oak. I “let” this one bulk age for an extra month (i.e., really didn’t have time to deal with it). 14.5% final alcohol. Got 30 full bottles + 2 full glasses! Not filtered. A little soapiness on the nose. Very dark garnet in color. A little sour, some soapiness, good fruits and medium tannins. This one will undoubtedly need a full year in the cellar.

Time for Limited Editions!

gisela — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 19:04:12 +0000

I have discovered that the wine kit companies make special limited edition wines every year that are supposed to be “exceptional quality.” I’ve been pretty impressed with the quality so far, so these should be really exciting! Here’s what I got:

Pacific Quartet: A blend of very cool whites from the Pacific, including Vidal from British Columbia, chenin blanc from California, gewürztraminer from Wasington, and muscat from Australia. Should be a fun wine! This wine is released in March.
Chilean Carmenere/Cabernet Sauvignon: Carmenere is a south American varietal similar to Merlot. The description sounds like this will be a cellar star, but will need some serious hangin’ out time. Released in January.
Italian Brunello: Gotta love a big Italian red. This wine will also undoubtedly need a lot of aging to really shine. Released in April.
Canadian Old Vine Riesling: My first kit from RJ Spagnols. Always good to have a nice, crisp Riesling to go with spicy szechuan or Indian food. This one released in January.