"Lost grape of Bordeaux discovered in Chile masquerading as a Merlot!"
What follows was gathered from a box of wine bottles called "(OOPS)" from a commercial producer:
"There’s a good reason the Merlot of Chile doesn’t taste like other Merlot. Many are not entirely Merlot, but instead a blend of Merlot and a far more exotic grape: Carmenere, a.k.a., "The lost grape of Bordeaux." Carmenere had been transplanted from France over a century ago before the particularly nasty root louse threatened its very existence. Soon forgotten, the Carmenere grapes grew freely with Merlot grapes and were assumed to be Merlot, until, suddenly in 1994, viticulturist Jean-Michel Boursiquit revealed the mistake."
By the way, we do carry a non-blended Carmenere from Chile in the 18L KenRidge Founders series.
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
Reminder
KenRidge Chocolat Ports are coming back this fall. In early September we normally receive all preorders. You can preorder up until July 31 – the cost of the kits is $79.95. When you preorder, you get $5 off – so $74.95. These are of a limited production mostly based on preorders, and come in either Chocolate Strawberry or Chocolate Hazelnut.
These kits are always a big hit, and we frequently are unable to order much after we get our preorders. The only way to make sure you don’t miss out is to preorder by July 31. Make sure you don’t miss out on this amazing seasonal.
Also don’t forget that the KenRidge Founders and Vinterra lines are being discontinued. Vineco estimates that these products will no longer be available at some point in August. We’ve been very pleased with how much everyone enjoys these brands, and are sad to see them go. So if you want to get any last batches of these fantastic lines before they are gone, now is the time.
However, this does give us the opportunity to introduce some replacement products from Cellar Craft. They have an extensive line of high quality reds which include crushed grapes in their Showcase line. Many KenRidge Founders varietals can be found in Cellar Craft Showcase – for example the Supertuscan by KenRidge Founders is similar the the (supertuscan style) Rosso Fortissimo by Cellar Craft Showcase.