Color - Dark red
Nose - Raspberry Jam, green bell pepper, cocoa
Taste - This is smooth, slightly fruity with hints of acid from the tannins which are just present on the tip of the tongue. I detect some creamy raspberry tones on the sides of the tongue and vegetal notes on the finish. The wine wants to be a heavy hitter like a Cabernet Sauvignon but falls short though not in a bad way. This is a pleasant wine by itself, though a little too vegetal at times. It has a very nice creamy flavor and texture when paired with cheese. The wine tastes better above 60 degrees. It tastes somewhat bland when served cooler. It's both fruity and vegetal upon my second drinking a few days later, though it remains rather one-dimensional. It has such a light "weight" on my tongue that I am left feeling as if I've just sipped water instead of wine, and sometimes it tastes nearly "flat" I'd say drink the bottle in one sitting as it loses most of it's limited complexity if given time to breathe.
Overall, this is an everyday run-of-the-mill medium-bodied red wine, you can find a thousand out there just like it. If you pick this up when it's on sale for 5.99, then you got a decent price, anything more than that and I'd pass. I would also advice that this is not what you will get if you pick up nearly any other bottle of Carmenere. This doesn't have the Carmenere spice, though it does have the green bell pepper hints that a lot of Carmenere has. It just tastes like a regular red blend, nothing special. You can keep it around for your friends that aren't wine snobs and bring it out a big social events, but I'd pass on it and pick up anything by Columbia-Crest, Redwood Creek or Concha y Toro for the same price and much more (though still rather limited) complexity and depth.
