Palin Carmenere 2009

   One of the great things about studying wine is that there is always something more to learn. According to Wikipedia, the Chilean grape Carmenere was one of the original 6 grapes of Bordeaux even though only 5 of them are what we usually see associated with that region today. And what makes that association even more interesting is that Carmenere has aromatic and flavor similarities to good quality Bordeaux. It's dark in color and puts forth very earthy aromas of plummy fruit and a bell pepper quality often associated with Cabernet Franc, an important Bordeaux grape in St. Emilion and Pomerol. It has a fairly big, fruity palate and finishes with more of those earthy tones that make a wine worth talking about. It finishes smooth with no alcoholic heat. Produced by Geo Wines and imported by one of my favorites, Montecastelli, this $11.99 wine is a great value, and it's organic as well.  So even though I skew old world when it comes to the greatest beverage, there's always great stuff to discover from the new world as well, and the Palin Carmenere is a great example of that. Cheers.