2005 Errazuriz Carménère Kai

Let us now move to the mini-verticals conducted at the estate, commencing with -Kai-, their premium Carmenere. The 2005 Kai has a ripe, chocolate scented bouquet with just a hint of peppermint. The palate is medium-bodied with grainy tannins. It is nicely balanced, quite elegant, although it needs a little more weight towards the finish. This is an unusually pretty Carmenere, but a little dusty compared to subsequent vintages. Drink now-2015. It was a pleasure to spend two or three hours in the company of Eduardo Chadwick at his estate and undertake verticals of his wines. Few have done more to promote Chilean wine than him, most notably with his blind comparisons with First Growth to demonstrate that Sena stands shoulder to shoulder with Old World icons. As you might guess, we had a long debate about that! But also, we engaged in a long discussion about viticulture and the philosophy behind his portfolio. Readers may remark on my relatively mean scores. I thought long and hard about this. But I firmly feel that recent vintages from Errazuriz completely outshine the older ones and speaking at length with winemaker Francisco Baettig, there is a sense of a winery changing tack and in my opinion, what this estate will produce in the next twenty years will completely surpass the previous twenty years. Importer: Vintus Wines, Pleasantville, NY; www.vintuswines.com