Montgras Reserva Carmenere

Wine: Montgras Reserva Carmenere.

Grapes: Carmenere (90 percent), cabernet sauvignon (10 percent)

Region: Colchagua Valley, Chile

Vintage: 2009

Price: $9.99

In the glass: Montgras Reserva Carmenere is a deep, dense blood-red color with an opaque core going out into a fine crimson to slightly tinged rim definition with high viscosity.

On the nose: The wine comes out with crushed black fruits with underlying spice elements, peppery crushed blackberries, black truffle, tobacco leaf, phenolic compounds, earthy minerals, licorice root, herbs, tar and light wood components.

On the palate: There is an immediate huge mouth-feel with concentrated wild cherries, pepper-laced and spicy blackberries, huckleberries, bell peppers, massive phenol-laden structure, earthy minerals and oak references. The midpalate is highly impacted by the liqueurlike cherry and elderberry fruit with notes of sloe fruit, herbs and earthy minerals. Then the bombastic finish sets in, lasting for a full minute with yet more licorice root, star anise and wood. That is some delivery for a $10 bottle of wine!

Odds and ends: Carmenere wine used to be all the rage, and it was what Chile was famous for, because this French grape variety did very well when transplanted in Chile in the 19th century. Slowly but surely, Chile started making better cabernet sauvignon and because it is considered more noble, it became the choice for most wineries. Carmenere looks and feels like a cabernet franc and has often been mistaken for it, but Montgras, which is a great winery in the greatest appellation of Chile, has continued the honored tradition of making Carmenere-based wine, and it shows well in this impressive bottle. Montgras Carmenere Reserva is a masculine and full-bodied wine that is made for a juicy bison burger, which is what I enjoyed it with. It needs a good hour out of the bottle, preferably in a decanter, to open up. Drink it now through 2015.

Gil Lempert-Schwarz's wine column appears Wednesdays. Write him at P.O. Box 50749, Henderson, NV 89106-0749, or email him at gil@winevegas.com.