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. As for the 2010 Casa Silva Reserva Carmenère, we loved it when it was first released and it has only gotten better with more time in the bottle – just one more example of Casa Silva’s expertise with Carmenère. A deep purple wine with ruby highlights, Casa Silva’s 2010 Reserva Carmenère once again provides a feast for the nose as well as the palate. From the moment it splashes into the glass, it 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 grace 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 or 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 at table in the company of all types of meats, spicy vegetable dishes, and often 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 constitute the main attraction or a simple midweek meal in which meatloaf, pizza or an Eggplant Parmigiana sub serves as dinner, Casa Silva’s 2010 Reserva Carmenère will rise to the occasion. A thin crusted Three Cheese and Mushroom Pizza provides a tasty accompaniment, too. For those who prefer something grander with Casa Silva’s elegant, flavorful Carmenère, our tasting panel keeps coming back to serving Slow Roasted Pork Shoulder with lentils with this wine. And if one’s culinary arts or ability to take out are limited, we suggest pairing Casa Silva’s comely Carmenère with a selection of gourmet cheeses 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. It is a spotless modern winery that continues to ratchet up quality with each successive vintage. Undoubtedly, Casa Silva is one of just a hand full 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 “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?

For a moment, just allow yourself the unmitigated pleasure of three of the world’s finest foods: wine, cheese, and chocolate. Savor the flavor and texture of each and marvel at the affinity they have for one another. Then imagine what life would be like to have an expertly chosen selection of these three pillars of gastronomic pleasure brought directly to your door each month. For more information on how you can enjoy cheese and chocolate with the 2010 Casa Silva Reserva Carmenère and many other wines, contact us at www.cheesemonthclub.com and www.chocolatemonthclub.com, and enjoy the best in life!