On the Road with the Grape Guy
Report from - Tasting with Sebastian Labbe of Vina Carmen ... October 27, 2008
16 Nov 2008- Details
- Category: On the Road with the Grape Guy
Sitting in a small anteroom at the LCBO’s Summerhill location (just south of St. Clair on Yonge, Toronto), less than a dozen of us sat down to get the low down on Vina Carmen from a member of it’s winemaking team, namely Sebastian Labbe. Vina Carmen is part of the Santa Rita group of wineries who make up the fifteenth largest exporter of wine in Chile. These labels should be no mystery to those who regularly, or even semi-regularly, prowl the aisles of our liquor monopoly - both the Santa Rita brand and Carmen brand have both general list (available all the time) and occasional Vintages products (special small lots wines) go through the board. Carmen is an autonomous entity from Santa Rita with its own facilities, vineyards and winemaking team – though pooling/sharing resources and knowledge is not unheard of. During the tasting Labbe called their style, "a marriage of old world and new world."
Before tasting Sebastian took us on a brief photographic tour of Chile, showing us pictures and graphics of the Maipo (which has less rain than Bordeaux, Tuscany and Napa); Rapel (great for reds) and the Leyda Valley (cooler climate, good growing conditions for Pinot Noir and Sauvignon Blanc). He also told us about new growing regions like Limari (in the north) and the Elqui Valley (growing Syrah and Carmenere). Carmen has five different labels under its umbrella: Classic, Reserve, Nativa (organic grapes), Winemaker’s Reserve, and Gold Reserve (single vineyard) - we tried at least one wine in each tier.
Sebastian was proud to mention that Carmen has won winery of the year from Wine and Spirits magazine eight times ... here are some of the reasons why: (Read more)
