Casa Silva Reserva Carmenère 2010

Casa Silva consistently works magic with the mercurial Carmenère variety. How Mario Geise manages to turn out delicious Carmenère every year remains a mystery, but one doesn’t argue with success. The 2010 Casa Silva Reserva Carmenère is just one more example of the acumen at Casa Silva. A deep purple wine with ruby highlights, this latest release of Carmenère from Casa Silva once again provides a feast for the nose as well as the palate. From the moment it splashes into the glass, the 2010 Casa Silva Reserva Carmenère offers up a heady bouquet of ripe blackberries, red bell pepper, woodland herbs, and delicate spices, which aptly prepare the palate for the cornucopia of flavors that will soon fill the mouth. On the palate, the essences of forest berries mingle with subtle earth tones and delicate notes of coffee and dark chocolate. And what makes Casa Silva’s 2010 Reserva Carmenère so immediately attractive is its layer of soft tannin, which defines and frames the wine’s many flavors without overpowering them. As one would expect from Casa Silva, the 2010 Reserva Carmenère comes across as immediately gratifying, so we suggest serving this flamboyant red wine at cool room temperature (62º-66º F), with our without extensive aeration.

Carmenère thrives at table. Although the 2010 Casa Silva Reserva Carmenère is an ebullient, easy to drink Carmenère that many will enjoy on its own, it truly excels in the company of all types of meats, spicy vegetable dishes, and ordinarily difficult to match foods such as asparagus, artichokes, and hummus. So whether it is an elegant dinner party in which Pressed Duck Breast or Loin Lamb Chops are the main attraction or a simple midweek meal in which a pizza or Eggplant Parmigiana sub constitutes dinner, Casa Silva’s 2010 Reserva Carmenère will rise to the occasion. Over the years, two of our favorite dishes to serve with Casa Silva’s Carmenère are Pork Shoulder with lentils and a thin crusted Three Cheese and Mushroom Pizza. And for those unable to cook or take out, we suggest pairing this wine with slices of first rate cheese or dark chocolate. Imagine a world in which all three pillars of gastronomic pleasure, cheese, chocolate and wine, reside at table. Enjoy!

Casa Silva consistently astounds with the quality as well as the variety of the wines it produces. Casa Silva is a spotless modern winery that continues to ratchet up quality with each successive vintage. Undoubtedly, Casa Silva is one of just a handfull of South America’s very finest wine estates. It is located two hundred kilometers south of Santiago, in the heart of Colchagua, an area many are now calling Chile’s Napa Valley. Casa Silva has garnered more recognition and awards at international wine competitions than any other Chilean winery. It has also been awarded Winery of Year from numerous sources many times over. Furthermore, Catad’Or Hyatt, Chile’s most prestigious wine competition, has named Casa Silva “the Best Chilean Producer” three consecutive times. However, it is not the past that matters, but the present. The Silva family and consulting enologist Mario Geise, dubbed the King of Carmenère, continue to take this beautiful property that sits at the base of the towering Andes to even loftier heights.

Casa Silva’s present inception dates back to only 1997, the year this property began bottling premium wines under its own name. However, historical accounts tell us that the Silva family’s predecessors were pioneers in Colchagua more than a century ago, when the Silvas brought the first grape varieties from France to the Angostura estate they still occupy on the slopes of the Cordillera of the Andes that loom above the vineyards. Today, the Silvas remain pioneers: they continue as Colchagua’s foremost experts on Carmenère, Chile’s emblematic red grape variety. Moreover, this great property is at the vanguard of South America’s success with other traditional French grape varieties, most notably Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Sauvignon Blanc, Sauvignon Gris, and Semillon. Can there be any doubt as to why the wines of Casa Silva are the most highly acclaimed in South America?