Carmenere
⏳ Drinking Window
2021 - 2024
🍽️ Food & Wine Pairings
Roasted pork loin, grilled lamb chops, portobello mushroom burgers
✨ Technical Specifications
The story of Chilean Carmenere is one of the most fascinating chapters in modern wine history. Originally a prominent blending grape in Bordeaux, it was thought to be extinct after the phylloxera plague of the late 19th century. Decades later, it was rediscovered in Chile, where it had been mistakenly planted and harvested as 'Chilean Merlot' for over a century. Today, it has become Chile's signature grape. Emiliana, utilizing its pioneering organic and biodynamic farming methods in the Central Valley, coaxes a remarkably pure expression from this late-ripening variety. The warm, sun-drenched climate of the Central Valley, tempered by cool evening breezes from the Andes, allows the grapes to achieve optimal phenolic ripeness, tempering Carmenere's natural pyrazines and resulting in a wine with smooth tannins, rich dark fruit, and subtle spicy complexity.
🍾 About the Producer
Established in 1986 by Rafael and José Guilisasti, Emiliana underwent a groundbreaking paradigm shift in 1998 under the viticultural counsel of Álvaro Espinoza, evolving into the world's largest certified organic and biodynamic wine estate. Emiliana manages extensive vineyard holdings spanning Chile's top macro-regions, from maritime-cooled Casablanca and San Antonio in Aconcagua to the warm alluvial terraces of the Central Valley and southern terroirs. The viticultural philosophy centers on holistic agroecology: zero synthetic inputs, active cover cropping, animal integration, and strict alignment with Demeter biodynamic rhythms. In the cellar, head winemaker Noelia Orts preserves pure terroir transparency through temperature-controlled stainless steel, gentle oak aging, and native fermentations. For whites and sparkling expressions, maritime fog and decomposed granitic soils impart electric acidity and pronounced salinity, reflected in single-vineyard benchmarks like Signos de Origen La Vinilla, the precision-driven Novas Gran Reserva whites, and vibrant, unadulterated Natura cuvées.
🍇 Grapes
Carmenere
🍷 ABV
13.5-14%