29May / 2012

Christmas Table Talk

Aoife Cox from The Daily Spud tells us what red wine will grace her Christmas table.

Alrighty then, let’s talk turkey. What I really mean is, let’s talk about Christmas dinner and what, in the wine line, you might choose to drink on that fast-approaching festive day, whether turkey’s your thing or not.

The truth of the matter is that drinking a wine you really enjoy always trumps any other rules of food and wine matching that you may care to mention. And on Christmas Day, of all days, we deserve to drink something that we truly enjoy (always assuming that, for the rest of the year, we’ve been nice and not naughty – that Santa fella makes a wine list, y’know, and he checks it twice). This year, given that I’ve been as good as gold (honest Santa!), I’m choosing Carmen’s Gran Reserva Carmenère for the Christmas Day festivities, and with a family that can be relied upon to appreciate a good, juicy red, it’s guaranteed to tick the enjoyment box in a big way.

The other truth about dinner on Christmas Day (at least if my family’s version is anything to go by) is that (a) you need the fingers of two hands on which to count the number of different vegetables present and (b) there’s so much going on food and flavour-wise, that, whatever wine you choose, you want something that has enough volume to hold its own in the Christmas symphony, but not so much that it drowns everything else out. Enter the Carmenère which, with its cherry fruit, smokiness, chocolate and spice, has a satisfying range of flavour notes, but is accompanied by those characteristically soft, rounded tannins which should harmonise nicely with the rest of the meal. And a little bit of harmony is what we all want for Christmas. That, and a full glass and an even fuller belly.

More recipes and recommendations from Aoife can be found at The Daily Spud.

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29May / 2012

Christmas Cheeses

Aoife Cox from The Daily Spud shares her thoughts on a wine and cheese: a real Christmas cracker.

“Would you bring some crackers?” said my Da as we were on the phone discussing Christmas family arrangements.

“I will o’ course,” says I. “Sure I always bring cheese and crackers.”

It was only later that I realised my Da had been referring to Christmas crackers, the kind that feature those perennially groan- worthy jokes. However, such are my Christmas rituals that it is cheese and the edible kind of cracker that are much more to the forefront of my mind at this time of year, and I always make it my business to bring cheeses as a contribution to the Christmas table.

As I got to thinking about all things cheese, my mind inevitably began to contemplate wines to match and, specifically, what might work with that bottle of Carmen Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon that I fancied dipping into over Christmas. I mean, classic as it may seem to put wine and cheese together, it’s not necessarily as straightforward as all that. Wines vary widely, as do cheeses. What would complement the Cabernet’s dark, blackcurrant fruitiness and body, with its hint of mint and savoury edge?

Best, I thought, to do some research. Just to be sure, you understand.

So I secured a selection of fine Irish cheeses and got tasting. Tangy Mt. Callan cheddar, earthy semi-soft Durrus, nutty, Swiss-style St.
Gall and full bodied Crozier Blue. While I knew, in my heart of hearts, that I would never really object to having any of these along with my Carmen tipple, I did find, unsurprisingly, that some worked better than others. The blue cheese, beautiful though it was, did threaten to overpower the wine, while the other cheeses, though assertive in their own ways, made for easier bedfellows. Best of all was the gentlest, St. Gall, which provided a nice creamy contrast, while still allowing the wine to shine. Seems I’d found a real Christmas cracker.

More recipes and recommendations from Aoife can be found at The Daily Spud.

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29May / 2012

White Christmas

Aoife Cox from The Daily Spud shares her thoughts on a festive white, Carmen’s Gran Reserva Sauvignon Blanc 2009

I don’t suppose, when Bing Crosby was crooning his way through “White Christmas” all those years ago, that, by any chance, he was reminiscing about a seasonal drop of crisp white wine.

No, most likely not, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t raise a glass or two of white during the Christmas festivities. ‘Tis the season and all that.

In fact this Christmas, I’m dreaming of one white wine in particular, Carmen’s Gran Reserva Sauvignon Blanc 2009. Refreshing to the last, with its lingering grapefruit and passionfruit notes, a leafy greenness and a certain mineral quality, this little number is full of cool valley character.

It’s entirely quaffable on its own in many festive settings though, while it’s perfectly enjoyable aperitif-style, this Chilean drop is also a natural partner for seafood of all kinds. So if, for example, you are presented with some juicy oysters on the half shell this yule, sprinkle said shellfish with a squeeze of lemon and, to wash it all down, swap a pint of the traditional black stuff for a glass of Carmen’s very fine white stuff instead.

If oysters aren’t your thing (or even if they are), the Gran Reserva Sauvignon Blanc is also an excellent foil for the smoked salmon that so often makes an appearance in these parts during the Christmas party season. The crisp acidity of the wine provides a lean edge to the salmon’s richness, and whether it’s served on classic brown soda bread, blini or good ol’ native boxty or potato cakes, smoked salmon goes down well with this particular white.

As a final thought, I don’t know how Bing Crosby felt about Sauvignon Blanc but, as a keen salmon fisherman, I suspect that the old crooner would have liked this particular version of white Christmas.

More recipes and recommendations from Aoife Cox can be found at The Daily Spud.

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29May / 2012

And the Winner is….

Everyone at Carmen is delighted by the performance of some of our finest wines in the International Wine & Spirit Competition, or the IWSC to those who know them.

Each wine underwent a chemical and microbiological analysis, as well as a good old fashioned blind taste test by three hundred of the world’s foremost wine experts. So which Carmen wines were recognised?

Well, quite a few actually. The vanilla, charcoal and mint flavours of Carmen Gran Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon 2009 clearly appealed to the palates of the judges, who awarded it “Best in Class” for its category. While the fruity bouquet of the Carmen Reserva Carmenere 2010 won it a Silver Medal. If that wasn’t enough five other wines each took Bronze medals.

These awards are kind of like the Oscars for wine. The International Wine & Spirit Competition, founded in 1969, is decided by industry experts and consumer judges. So if you fancy an award winning taste, why not try Carmen Gran Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon 2009, the Carmen Reserva Carmenere 2010, or any of our other award winners.

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29May / 2012

Our man in Chile, says…

Sebastian Labbe is Carmen’s chief winemaker. He’ll be sending us regular updates from the vineyards of Chile, so we can get a sense of what’s going on on the ground, or should we say terroir…

We are starting a new promising season down south here at Carmen Chile. After a relatively dry winter in the Alto Maipo and Apalta, we decided to irrigate the vineyards at the end of our winter to make sure we started with good water supply for even and clean bud burst. In the more coastal ranges Leyda and Casablanca, this was more limited and applied only in some blocks were the soils were slightly dry according to the plant needs. As cooler regions bud burst is later and this is taking place in the last week of Septmeber. Bud burst started on the second week of September in Alto Maipo Estate came nicely and very even as our spring started warm and dry. The last days have been colder and the growth has slow down becoming a normal spring. The vines are looking very healthy, there was a great emphasis place at pruning to have healthy canes layed down. We went out as every year to prune with the team and focused on the more challenging vines.

Winery
Our Gran Reserva Chardonnay 2011 is getting a lot of attention these days in order to decide whether to stop or not stiring the lees on the oak matured component of the blend. The wine is rich and with great minerality we are very impressed of how this is looking. On the Gran Reserva reds the wines are evolving at a good pace, malolactic fermentation are getting to it´s end and the wines are showing good fruit potential and solids tannins. Carmenere from Apalta is superbly rich and dense. We are very enthusiastic with the finesse that Alto Maipo Cabernet Sauvignon is showing at this stage! October is always a month with lots of tasting of the current vintage, so our tongues and teeth are suffering a bit creating the future blends.

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29May / 2012

New Wine, Old Tricks

It may well be the oldest food and wine matching trick in the book.

Adding some of the wine to the food, I mean – it’s as good a basis as any for creating a joyously harmonious bond between what’s in your glass and what’s on your plate.

That was why, when it came to matching Carmen’s Cabernet Sauvignon Reserva 2009, I poured a generous measure of the ruby liquid into my black bean stew, as well as pouring an equally generous measure for myself. As you do.

The wine boasts that trademark blackcurrant aroma and flavour of Cabernet Sauvignon, though there are other elements at work too – a hint of mint, a little savoury, smoky something and an almost surprising spicy finish. It also comes with plenty of tannins – well, this grape generally does – but for the most part, they’re the soft and mannerly kind and give a pleasing body to the whole.

Foodwise, Cabernet Sauvignon always wants something hearty to go with it, be that a well-aged cheese or a hunk of red meat. My black bean stew was no exception – plenty of onion and garlic in a tomato-based sauce, accompanied by the warmth of cumin and paprika, a dark edge of cocoa, herbal notes of oregano and bay leaf, earthy South American black beans and that all important glass of red, just the thing to ensure that the food and its future wine partner would get along.

And get along they did, the rich, earthy sauce happy to be accompanied by a glass (or several) of Carmen’s best, but there was one last thing: the addition of a mature and tangy cheddar topping. This was a melty, creamy complement to the stew, of course, but for the wine, it was like having another friendly face in the audience, and you can
never have too many of those.

More recipes and recommendations from Aoife Cox can be found at The Daily Spud.

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