Wine Reviews

This rather muscular red opens with elegance and grace, offering peppery floral details that meld with baking spice, sage and vanilla bean aromas before giving way to a concentrated core of mineral-accented berry and damson plum flavors that build richness as they make their way to the finish line, stretching out around firming tannins and a late echo of coffee bean

It presents a tarry, spice-driven bouquet that evolves into resinous, herbal aromas with aeration. The palate is strikingly ripe and has a voluptuous texture, concluding with a sweet, luscious finish infused with oak.

A nose of baked berries brings to mind delicious notes of cranberry pie. Flavors of mulberries, blackberries and raspberries merge with integrated wood spices and Carménère’s signature notes of herbs in the background. The wine’s muscular structure suggests it will age wonderfully.

The 2022 Purple Angel took grapes from Apalta and Marchigüe in Colchagua. Aged for up to 18 months—70% in new oak, the rest in used barrels designed specifically for this blend (the “Beta” barrel). With a dark profile, it opens with aromas of ash, spice, green pepper and black fruit, alongside tobacco and oak tones. Plush in texture with subtle grip, this is a complex, serious Carménère with a spicy core and dark expression. It’s far from jammy. The 2022 has personality and presence.

The wine is rich and melted, with masses of fine tannins that deliver a plush, hedonistic finish full of sleek, sweet fruit. Big yet nicely balanced and long.