CAMENERE AND PEUMO

Peumo is a magical part of Chile, it is unique in that it is protected, cocooned by nature; the Coastal Mountains, the Raphel Reservoir, the Cachapoal River and Valley the Colchagua Valley and of course, like the rest of Chile, the majestic Andes Mountains.

The name Peumo is derived from the Cryoticarya Alba, these trees are prolific around the area, beautifying the countryside and providing shade for the fauna.
In this sheltered region of Chile the climate is sub-humid Mediterranean with average annual temperatures of 17˚. I love that here they get 14 hours of sunlight a day, not only all that sunshine, but it doesn’t get too hot to scorch the grapes. Its perfect conditions to let the Carmenère grapes ripen slowly.
So why a lunch tasting of Carmenère...
Carmenère is special to Chile now, although its history lies deep in the Medoc region of France, it was brought over to Chile by pioneering winemakers back in the early 19th century. Shortly after this the grape stock of Europe was brought to its knees by phylloxera, the terrible vine pest that destroyed most vines at this time and Carmenère from Bordeaux for decades to come. With the Carmenère vine-stock safely in Chile we have nurtured this variety in to a grape of our distinction, nowadays in our portfolio of wines we have many different Carmenères, made by different winemakers, and vinified in different ways, this tasting was to show the diversity of this extraordinary grape.

Where we went... Galvin Bistrot de Luxe, classic French bistrot food at its best, simple, elegant and delicious.

Who we were...
Fabrizio Pavlic, Head Sommelier at Koffman’s Restaurant, Laurent Chaniac, Group Wine Buyer for the Cinnamon Club, Cedric Beaumond, Wine Director at the Savoy Grill, and me!

What we ate...
The menu was carefully planned by me and the restaurant, each course matched to one of our wines; it was all delicious and worked really well.

What we tasted...
As an aperitif we had a glass of the Cono Sur Reserva Carmenère Rosé, full of red berry flavours and with a healthy amount of residual sugar Pavlic thought this may have been better suited to a fruit platter for dessert, brimming with summer soft fruits, it’s a full and structured wine which would work well with food.

Food & Wine pairing...
We had a delicious charcuterie board for our starter, this was accompanied by cornichons and toasted sourdough bread. Not an easy wine match with the acidity from the cornichons and the richness and fattiness of the meats, but for this I’d matched one of my favourite wines in our portfolio. Terrunyo Carmenère, both the 2007 and 2008 vintages. 2007 was an historic vintage in Chile, cooler temperatures meant lower yields and it has been argued that to date this is the best vintage we’ve had. Interesting to compare such a great wine from two vintages such as these. Both Beaumond and Chaniac were impressed with the 2007 vintage, especially that the style of the wine wasn’t too green or herbaceous, but well balanced and full. Chaniac was especially impressed with the vintage variations, how different they can be, but that they retain the key characteristics are retained so that Terrunyo, the style of wine, is always there.

Our main course was good, traditional food, a rib-eye of pork with red cabbage and a prune and Armagnac sauce; to go with this we drank the best of the best! Carmín de Peumo 2008, Concha y Toro’s finest Carmenère. The grapes for this wine come from Plot 32 of the Peumo vineyard, I took time to explain while we ate that this is significant as Concha y Toro have made extensive studies in to their vineyards and which vines work better where. The grapes in this section of the vineyard ripen slowest, thus creating wines of great refinement and concentration. This area of the vineyard was planted back in 1983 and yields just six tons per hectare with careful management of our vines. Chaniac mentioned a subtle passion fruit after-taste from the wine that pleasantly lifted the richness in the dish. The Carmín de Peumo enhanced the pork perfectly, as a dish with such depth of flavour with the rich jus the wine had enough length and structure to match equally and develop taste.

We finished with a plate of Comté cheese, not an easy match for any red wine, as the usual pairing would be a sweeter white wine, but with the Cono Sur Maiden Flight 2009 we managed to create a harmonious end to the feast.

Best wine...
After much discussion, we all agreed the most accessible wine for the lunch was the Terrunyo Carmenère 2007, drinking well now and with good structure to accompany many dishes.

Best food match...

The Carmín de Peumo and pork shone!  The richness of the dish, the lushness of the wine, a match made in food and wine heaven.

Conclusions...

Peumo is definitely THE place to grow Carmenère, the soil and climate means that the grapes ripen to perfection on our carefully pruned vines.  It’s a beautiful place and I was so happy I could share its magic with these great people.