Santa Rita Carmenere Reserva 2008

The Carmenere grape, once a staple of Bordeaux reds, was completely wiped out there by the mid nineteenth century philoxera infestation. Fortunately some vines had been transplanted to Chile where they flourished. This Rapel Valley wine has a pleasing mix of red fruit flavors tempered by oak and soft tannins, with a hint of caramel in the finish. While Chile is best known for producing huge quantities of plonk, this definitely does not fall into that category and, at the closeout price of $6.99, is a very good buy indeed.