Carmenere wines

Over the years I have occasionally stumbled upon some wonderful Carmenere wines from Chile, but also some real losers. I have also had some interesting Carmeneres from California. As more and more attention is given these wines I would like to do an in-depth review of the current offerings from Chile with my wine group. I have found a few mediocre examples in my area, but does anyone know of a good source for some of the better examples to illustrate the range of styles, other than taking a trip to Santiago?

Thanks.

[Jenise]

That's a tough one, John. I lead a wine group and have never covered carmenere for the exact reason you name, even back when a winery called Colvin here in Washington (state) where I live inspired me to consider it, for they made a very good one. And the trouble is that though probably every winery in Chile makes a Carmenere (or Grand Vidura, which is another name for it), they don't export to the U.S. because the wine-buying public tends not to buy that which they don't recognize and they don't belong to groups like yours or mine that introduce them to cool stuff they don't know about.

Were I you, I'd go to my local reliable wine specialist and ask them to see what their distributors have in their books. It would at least reveal the totality of what's available to you--and it might not be enough.

[Jenise]

John, I don't know where you live or if there is a Total Wine near you, but they're a chain operation with a comparatively ambitious selection of wines. Might encourage you to look into buying from them. Here's what the Bellevue, Washington, store has for carmenere, just for instance:

http://www.totalwine.com/eng/search/Carmenere!startRow/13

That is a pretty good selection Jenise! Welcome John ..

[Jenise]

That is a pretty good selection Jenise! Welcome John ..

I hate chain-anything, Bob, and always try to buy local (the closest Total Wines is 90 miles away), but Total's stores trump everyone in my area when it comes to breadth of inventory. Did a Portugese tasting last night, for instance. How many Portugese red wines (besides Port) could I find locally? Two, exactly two--and one of those a pretty dull Symington from chain store Trader Joe's. I had no choice but to shop out of town, and Total had everything I needed under one roof, including a 1996 Broadbent Colheita. They even pulled some corks in a back room so that I could make a more knowledgeable selection. But even with that kind of experience I was surprised they had that much Carmenere.