Baron Philippe de Rothschild Escudo Rojo Reserva Carmenere 2018
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James
Suckling - Decanter
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Carmine red with a purple tint. Powerful and complex with intense, forward fruit, the nose opens on black plum and blackberry aromas mingled with notes of spice.
The wine has a very good attack, good substance and balanced concentration and acidity, with very round, silky and fine tannins offering a velvety mouthfeel. The mid-palate reveals intense black fruit and blackberry flavors together with attractive black pepper and mocha notes, building to a long, powerful and complex finish typical of Colchagua Valley Carmenere.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A great introduction to Chile’s signature grape. Deep black-fruit aromas with some spice and just a hint of red bell pepper. The full, velvety body is brimming with ripe tannins. Slightly bitter but fun.
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Decanter
Chilean Carmenère with a French accent from Baron Philippe de Rothschild. The nose is loaded with aromas of blackcurrant leaf, coffee, black fruit and dark chocolate. Harmonious palate: notes of black pepper, roasted coffee and dark chocolate are threaded through the lingering smooth, deep black fruit, balanced by good freshness. This vintage has seen a refinement of the winemaking style, with less new oak (eight months in second-use French barrels), reflected in the well integrated tannins.
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Escudo Rojo is an iconic Chilean brand created by Baron Philippe de Rothschild to produce the best wines in each category and market them worldwide. The wines strike a harmonious balance between freshness, fruit, oak, fullness on the palate and ageing potential. In addition to the flagship blended wine, the Escudo Rojo range includes five varietal wines: Carmenere, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc. All the wines in the range express a distinctive character, reflecting the expression of its terroir.
Escudo Rojo is the Spanish translation of the German “Rote Schild” meaning Red Shield. In 1999, the encounter between Chilean soil and Bordeaux expertise gave rise to Escudo Rojo, a branded wine worthy of the Baron Philippe de Rothschild name, synonymous with the high standards of a great winemaking tradition. Vines were first introduced into Chile in the 16th century by the Spanish Conquistadors and their religious orders who needed wine to celebrate mass. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay vines were imported from France in the 19th century in order to make finer wines.
Located at Buin-Maipo, 45 kilometers south of Santiago in the famous Maipo Valley, the Baron Philippe de Rothschild Maipo Chile bodega stands in its own 63-hectare (156-acre) vineyard. The wines are made, matured, bottled and packaged at the estate under the supervision of a French winemaker and under the control of an in-house laboratory. For each of its wines, the winery selects the best parcels in Chile’s most highly reputed valleys in order to make wines which consistently combine refinement and character. Regular sources of supply and constant quality are also guaranteed by long-term contracts with partner winegrowers, especially further south, in the Rapel Valley. A rigorous parcel selection procedure has been created, with each parcel being tested for three years in order to ensure that the grapes are of sufficiently high quality to be used to make Escudo Rojo.
Dark, full-bodied and herbaceous with a spicy kick, Carménère found great success with its move to Chile in the mid-19th century. However, the variety went a bit undercover until 1994 when many plantings previously thought to be Merlot, were profiled as Carménère. Somm Secret— Carménère is both a progeny and a great-grandchild of the similarly flavored Cabernet Franc.
Well-regarded for intense and exceptionally high quality red wines, the Colchagua Valley is situated in the southern part of Chile’s Rapel Valley, with many of the best vineyards lying in the foothills of the Coastal Range.
Heavy French investment and cutting-edge technology in both the vineyard and the winery has been a boon to the local viticultural industry, which already laid claim to ancient vines and a textbook Mediterranean climate.
The warm, dry growing season in the Colchagua Valley favors robust reds made from Cabernet Sauvignon, Carmenère, Malbec and Syrah—in fact, some of Chile’s very best are made here. A small amount of good white wine is produced from Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc.