Bastion de Camerac, Carmenere 2022

You may be more familiar with Carménère as a Chilean wine, but the variety actually originated in Bordeaux. After phylloxera, its temperamental nature and difficulty in reaching full ripeness meant it wasn’t replanted and, for all intents and purposes, became extinct in France.

Fortunately, some vines had already made their way to Chile, where, during the 1980s and ’90s, cracking wines labelled as “Chilean Merlot” began appearing in the UK. These wines were clearly different from true Merlot — at first this was put down to clonal variation or climate — but later research revealed they were, in fact, Carménère. Since then, the grape has been making a quiet comeback in its homeland.

Michel planted a small vineyard of Carménère around 12 years ago. In particularly hot years, enough grapes ripen fully to produce a single-varietal wine. The previous release was in 2018 (they’re keeping rather quiet about the possibility of a 2025). After four weeks of maceration during fermentation, the wine rests on its lees for 12 months in steel, developing an inky dark colour, loads of forest and dark fruit on the nose, silky tannins, and a touch of liquorice on the palate. It really is excellent — rich and complex, far beyond what its modest 12.5% ABV might suggest.