New World: Carmenère
2016 Gold: 4 Silver: 4 Bronze: 3 Commended: 6
2015 Gold: 2 Silver: 1 Bronze: 7 Commended: 9
The good news first: we had a record number of entries in Carmenère this year – it’s clearly a variety that the Chileans are hoping they can make a bit of a splash with – and twice the number of Golds compared with 2015. Two places on our Gold List is about par for the course for this variety, so to get four this year was, to continue the metaphor, about two-under.
The bad news? A heck of a lot of wines left with nothing, and after working their way through the various flights our teams were left (in varying degrees) confused, angry and tentatively hopeful.
The problem is that Carmenère can cover a wide stylistic spectrum, from light and leafy to rich, dark and (often) heavily oaked. If the Chileans themselves aren’t sure which is the best expression, it’s no wonder our tasters were a bit lost at times.
The best wines here seemed to be less forced, to allow the fruit to come out without being over-extracted or overripe, and to be less oak-influenced. If they can take their foot off the gas a little bit and stop trying to make blockbusters, this grape could yet ‘do a Malbec’.
FROM THE TASTING TEAMS
‘You can see how Chile is pushing for more quality in this flight. Reduction can be an issue with Carmenère, but they managed it well. And the prices were more or less justified.’ Maurizio Palomba, Sushi Samba
‘Historically, South America’s strong point is bang for your buck, and I didn’t start putting medals on my tasting sheet until £12, which is a concern.’ Harry Crowther, M Restaurants
‘Unripe, over-extracted, sweet, confected… stylistically they were all over the place. Carmenère divides people as there’s no exact, accepted style.’ Christopher Delalonde MS, Medlar Restaurant
‘They should do better – it’s a fabulous grape variety. I’d like to see less extraction, less forcing of a delicate grape into overperforming – and in so doing, making it underperform.’ Angela Reddin, team leader
‘There are some promising wines but they can be a bit over-polished.’ Julian Bicknell, Hawksmoor Air Street
‘It could be the next grape variety that people go for… but I don’t find any complexity in Carmenère.’ Olivier Marie, team leader
‘It’s nice to have something typical from Chile. I have one at £40, but we don’t sell much.’ Giuseppe Longobardi, The Cross at Kenilworth
“WTF?” Christopher Delalonde MS, Medlar Restaurant
“OMG!” Sunaina Sethi, JKS Restaurants
“They have tried hard to get rid of that leafy character, but I like that leafy pyrazine flavour. It’s something that made the wine unique.” Zigmars Grinbergs, Vinoteca