2018 Undurraga TH Peumo Carmenere (Chile)

Lovely sweet core goes right through from start to finish. Does what Carmenere does brilliantly well, delivering similar sensibilities to evolving Bordeaux from a warm vintage but amped up in a quintessentially Chilean style. Lots of deep, dark fruit wafting out of the glass. Plenty of tobacco, blackcurrant fruit pastille underneath that, rippling with intense charisma. Gorgeous seamless crackle of pepper through it as well. Really alive. Silky voluptuous fruity palate with an impressive strata which feels somehow energised. A finish that’s very fine indeed with a wonderful spicy flourish. A good price for a great wine, harnessing a low-yielding plot of ungrafted vines planted in 1998 on the western side of the Valle de Cachapoal, this is great work from talented winemaker and prime vineyard hunter Rafael Urrejola. 92 points