DGA Wine Club: Montes Purple Angel 2009

Posted by Benson

Montes Purple Angel is an interesting wine that the team had at a restaurant called Stone Balloon Winehouse in Newark, Delaware, which I will be posting a review of next week.  The wine was recommended to us by our waiter and subsequently by Joseph, the executive bartender/sommelier extraordinaire.  Needless to say, we were all very pleased and excited by the wine.

Purple Angel is a blend of 92% Carmenere and 8% Petite Verdot, which I thought was strange because I had never had a Carmenere before.  Carmenere is said by some to be the grandfather of Bordeaux varieties, and indeed the grape was originally cultivated extensively in that region.  Unfortunately that was until the late 1860s when the phylloxera louse arrived in Europe from America.  The Carmenere was not only particularly susceptible to the louse, but it also was resistant to grafting, unlike Merlot and Cabernet varieties which could be grafted to resistant American rootstock and thus all but completely replaced the Carmenere.

Luckily for us the Carmenere accidentally found a new home in Chile when cuttings were mistaken for the then quite popular Merlot, and cultivated as such for some time.  And by some time I mean until DNA research in 1994 uncovered the error.  In a bit of an ironic twist, Carmenere is now Chile's premium grape.

As you can guess from its mistaken similarity to Merlot, Carmenere is a dark-skinned red grape that loves a high level of sunshine and warm summer.  Carmenere can produce fine, deeply colored reds with the same weighty plumpness one finds in a Merlot, but with the herbal notes more typical of a Cabernet.  

Purple Angel is produced in the Colchagua Valley, which is located in the more extensive Rapel Valley.  Cholchagua is a little cooler than the Maipo region, which lies near to the north, but it nevertheless manages to maintain a very Mediterranean climate.  Of course, the Pacific Ocean has a cooling influence, as with most other regions in Chile, and the Carmenere is cultivated to the east, farther away from the brisk ocean breezes.

Purple Angel is blended with a touch of Petite Verdot which serves to enhance the structure and allow the wine to cellar a bit better than a straight Carmenere.  The wine is rich and dark in color with a wonderful floral aroma that has an earthy accent something like cigar.  It has a festive spiciness on the tongue, which I had read is typical with Carmenere, and a concentrated fruit flavor with a well-rounded body.  It needs some time to breathe though, and would likely be best served decanted.

Entrance to the Montes Winery

The wine scores consistently in the 90s from a wide variety of wine magazines, and it is delightful all on its own.  Carmenere is naturally flexible in its pairings, and the dash of Petite Verdot lends the wine a nice resilience.  We all enjoyed it with dishes as varied as Aloo Gobbi, Fried Halloumi, Short Rib, and lamb shank.