Casas del Bosque Reserva Carmenere 2016
Intensely violet in color, on the nose this wine exhibits heady notes of black pepper, black cherry with just a hint of fresh rosemary. In the mouth an initial attack of red plum, sweet tobacco and cinnamon gives way to just a touch of earthiness and ripe, red bell pepper. Ripe tannins and fresh acidity combine to give good balance and length.
After being hand harvested the grapes were then crushed and destemmed to stainless steel tanks. The must was then warmed and inoculated with selected yeasts and fermented during 12 days with temperatures peaking at 33ºC/91ºF. Following the completion of fermentation the must was subjected to an additional 5 days of post fermentation maceration (to give a total of 17 days total skin contact). The wine was then pressed off skins and put to French oak barrels for 10 months during which time it was racked twice: once in the spring when it was first sulphured (following the completion of malolactic fermentation) and then once again shortly before bottling. Vineyard: 100% Carmenere from the Rapel Valley cropped at an average of 10.5 tonnes per hectare (4.2 tons/acre).
