2011 Purple Angel

The 2011 Purple Angel is Carmenere with some 8% Petit Verdot to try to balance the low acidity of the Carmenere: the Petit Verdot acting like the bones and the Carmenere would be the meat. It has abundant black fruit aromas. There is a mix from two different plots of Carmenere from Apalta (riper, more black fruit) and Marchigue (cooler, adding more peppery flavors and aromas) within Colchagua. It aged for 18 months in French oak barrels. This 2011 is still very young with roasted coffee aromas from the barrels, notes of mint, chocolate and fine-grained tannins, moderate acidity and a powerful profile. For a cool vintage like 2011, there is a remarkable absence of green aromas and flavors, achieved by low yields and managing irrigation. This is still very young and shows a primary, fruit-driven personality. It should age well and develop more complexity, as I saw in the 2003 and 2007 vintages. Drink 2015-2020. I first met with Aurelio Montes, one of the pioneers of quality wines from Chile, as the head of the trade association Wines of Chile rather than as a wine producer. We had a nice, relaxed meeting where we agreed to work together, and their collaboration has been vital to my ability to write this report. I don’t know how things were in the past, but my relationship with Montes and Wines of Chile has been very relaxed. They help me with logistics but do not impose or restrict anything I want to do, visit or taste. They help me with wines associated with Wines of Chile as well as with others that are not, and I’m very grateful for that. Of course, Montes is one of the big names when it comes to Chilean wine, and I had the chance to visit their impressive winery in Colchagua and see how they work and how much they invest in R+D projects. They seem to be focusing a lot more on Mediterranean grape varieties, which makes sense, considering the climate they have in Colchagua. Their wines in general seem more balanced, less extracted and oaked than in the past and remain true to their places. Besides those from the warm and powerful Colchagua, they have a whole new range of wines from other regions or produced outside the conventional methods under the Outer Limits series. I tasted some components of future wines which showed very promising. I hope to report on these on future occasions. Importer: TGIC Global Fine Wine Company, Woodland Hills, CA; tel. (818) 225-5100; www.tgicimporters.com