TGIC Says Share Your Carmenère to Share a Trip to Montes Winery in Chile

Aug. 2, 2011 - PRLog -- Consumers and trade alike are invited to compete for a roundtrip for two to Chile’s Montes Winery where renowned winemaker, Aurelio Montes will personally demonstrate the fascinating steps of creating Carmenère at his state-of-the-art winery in the region of Apalta. Aurelio Montes is South America’s three-time award winning Winemaker of the Year. He will teach the winner and guest to make their own Carmenère, and the winning label will be used on a special edition Carmenère.

The competition itself is almost as exciting as the prize: Create a Carmenère label to be used under the Montes name for a new line set to retail in the United States, nationally. Visit http://tgicimporters.com/dashboard/shareyourcarmenere for full details on how to enter, to vote and for rules for the contest.

The label should reflect the personality and soul of Carmenère, which is a varietal typically comprising black pepper aromas, red berries, chocolate and black plum. Carmenère reaches its fullest potential in Chile where the pre-phylloxera vines are ancient and the unique climate is perfect for winegrowers.


The Story Behind Your Label:

The newest era in wine from the oldest vines in the world. Originally a Bordeaux grape, the Carmenère varietal was wiped out across the globe during the 1800s due to a devastating infestation of the lethal phylloxera louse.

The only Carmenère-growing region that remained unaffected by this plague was Chile. Chile preserved its vines and was completely unaltered by the turmoil spreading across the rest of the winemaking world. Chile’s vines were now the oldest Carmenère plantings in existence.

Wine regions everywhere including Carmenère’s birthplace, the Medoc region of Bordeaux, France, were ultimately forced to forfeit the Carmenère category to Chile where the soil, irrigation and climate conditions provided the ideal growing environment and the vines were original.

But there’s an exciting twist in this tale. Chile didn’t know it had Carmenère growing among its Merlot vineyards for the past two-hundred years. This discovery was unearthed only twelve years ago. And in that short space of time, Chile’s Carmenère has taken the wine category by storm, boasting accelerated growth particularly in the U.S.

And, like all wines Chilean, TGIC’s Alex Guarachi is spearheading what he describes as “the newest era in wine from the oldest vines in the world.”