Kai Carmenere
⏳ Drinking Window
2022 - 2030
🍽️ Food & Wine Pairings
Roasted lamb chops, grilled ribeye steak, slow-cooked wild boar ragu
✨ Technical Specifications
Errazuriz's Kai Carmenere is widely regarded as one of the ultimate expressions of Chile's signature grape variety. First released with the 2005 vintage, Kai made history by showcasing the world-class potential of Carmenere, a grape once thought extinct in Europe and rediscovered in Chile. The name 'Kai' translates to 'plant' or 'tree' in the native Mapudungun language of the Mapuche people, paying homage to the deep roots of Chilean terroir. Sourced primarily from the Max V vineyard in the heart of the Aconcagua Valley, the vines benefit from a Mediterranean climate where hot days are tempered by cooling morning mists and evening breezes from the Pacific Ocean. This unique microclimate allows the notoriously late-ripening Carmenere to achieve perfect phenolic ripeness while retaining its vibrant acidity. Hand-harvested and aged for up to 20 months in French oak barrels, Kai is celebrated for its deep purple hue, velvety texture, and complex layers of black fruit, roasted coffee, and subtle spicy undertones.
🍾 About the Producer
Established in 1870 by Don Maximiano Errázuriz, Viña Errázuriz is an architect of modern Chilean viticulture. Sited in the Aconcagua Valley, the estate traverses diverse mesoclimates, moving from warm, alluvial inland terraces framed by the Andes to cool-climate maritime slopes in Aconcagua Costa. Viticulture emphasizes precision farming certified under the Wines of Chile Sustainability Code. Errázuriz revolutionized Chile's global standing through the historic 2004 Berlin Tasting orchestrated by Eduardo Chadwick, alongside longtime Technical Director Francisco Baettig. While internationally revered for red icons, Errázuriz’s white wine program demonstrates profound terroir mastery, especially along the coastal schist soils of the Las Pizarras vineyard. Benchmark white expressions like Las Pizarras Chardonnay deliver striking mineral reduction, crystalline acidity, and tension, while the Max and Costa Sauvignon Blancs showcase vibrant, citrus-driven linear precision that highlights the estate's exceptional Pacific maritime influence.
🍇 Grapes
Carmenere (typically blended with a small percentage of Syrah and Petit Verdot)
🍷 ABV
14% - 14.5%