Apaltagua Envero Gran Reserva

We reviewed Apaltagua’s Carménère Reserva back in April and found the wine to be a fine example of new world carménère.  We’ve finally gotten around to reviewing the vintner’s more polished Carménère offering, their 2008 Envero Gran Reserva.  While the Reserva is 100% carménère, the Envero Gran Reserva contains about 7% cabernet sauvignon.  The winery sources their grapes from 60 year-old vineyards within the Apalta region in the Colchagua Valley.

So how does the 2008 Gran Reserva stack up against the 2009 Reserva?  To put it simply – very well.  While we liked the Reserva, we love the Gran Reserva.  This is delicious wine.  The 2009 Reserva is dark and rich, and heavily extracted, and while the Envero is also dark, it doesn’t quite have the opaque plum color of its younger, less expensive sibling.  Give some credit to the additional year in the bottle, along with the cabernet for the deeper cherry red hue of this wine, as well as the much better integration of flavors and tannins.

On the nose the wine offers rich cherry, cassis and vanilla, laced with more complex, yet subtle hints of coffee and cola.   On the palate the wine offers abundant fruit, almost turning jammy, before the tannins and mild acidity tighten things up nicely for an enjoyable and lingering finish.  But more importantly, this wine possesses a special quality.  Now I’ve tasted or reviewed literally 1,000’s of wines over the years and while many of those wines were superlative, some lacked a simple, yet important quality – drinkability.

Yes, that’s right, I just pulled a descriptor from the Budweiser guide to taste-testing.  What the hell do I know, right?  But seriously, how many times have you consumed a highly extracted and tannic bombshell of a wine only to find that your tongue has knitted a wool sweater, preventing you from enjoying the wine any further.  Well, with the Envero, I found myself subconsciously pouring myself glass after glass, and enjoying every sip.  It’s why fine claret is still king – offering polished fruit with loads of character, but with finesse.  Envero hit the sweet spot with this wine, and Apaltagua is quickly becoming one of my favorite vintners from South America.

A  Salute!

Wine: Apaltagua Envero
Variety: Carménère (93%)
Vintage: 2008
Alcohol: 14%
Rating: 90
Price:  $15.00

Find Apaltagua Envero Gran Reserva with Snooth

Disclosure: This wine was received as a sample.