Vertice Apalta Vineyards Carmenere Syrah

This wine is made of equal parts Syrah and Carmenere picked on the upper slopes of a hillside vineyard in Apalta. The vineyard is at altitude and the difference between night-time and daytime temperatures helps to conserve some of the natural acids in the grapes that give this wine a lightness on the palate that belies the warmth of the climate and the weight of the grape varieties from which it is made.

The wine is fermented in small temperature-controlled vessels to manage the levels of tannin extraction. It is matured for 20 months in French oak barrels (40% new) and will develop magnificently for a decade after the vintage.

The wine shows a complexity of fruit and baking spice characteristics from oak – everything present and nothing overwhelming. It is poised and elegant and a testament to the fact that Carmenere can be made into very elegant wines given the right fruit selection – and sufficiently talented wine-making.