Cooksister | Food, Travel, Photography

Food, photos & faraway places

  • HOME
  • ABOUT
    • About me
    • Contact me
    • Work with me
    • Legal
      • Copyright notice & Disclaimer
      • Disclosure
      • Cookies and Privacy Policy
    • Press and media
    • Cooksister FAQs
  • RECIPES
    • Recipe Index – by course
    • Baking (savoury)
    • Braai/Barbecue
    • Breakfast & brunch
    • Christmas
    • Dessert
    • Drinks
    • Eggs
    • Fish
    • Gluten-free
    • Leftovers
    • Pasta & rice
    • Poultry
    • Pulses
    • Salads
    • Soup
    • South African
    • Starters & light meals
    • Vegan
    • Vegetables
    • Vegetarian
  • RESTAURANTS
    • British Isles restaurants
    • Dubai restaurants
    • France restaurants
    • London restaurants
    • Montenegro restaurants
    • New York restaurants
    • Pop-ups and supperclubs
    • Serbia restaurants
    • Singapore restaurants
    • South Africa restaurants
    • Sweden restaurants
    • Switzerland restaurants
    • USA restaurants
  • TRAVEL
    • All my travel posts
      • Austria
      • Belgium
      • Canada
      • Dubai
      • Cruise ships
      • France
      • Germany
      • Greece
      • Grenada
      • Hong Kong
      • Hotel reviews
      • Italy
      • Israel
      • Jersey
      • Mexico
      • Netherlands
      • Norway
      • Portugal
      • Singapore
      • Ski & snow
      • South Africa
      • Spain
      • Sweden
      • Switzerland
      • UK
      • USA
      • Wales
  • PORTFOLIO
    • Freelance writing portfolio
    • Speaking and teaching
    • Photography portfolio
    • Buy my photos
You are here: Home / Wine & beer / WBW#7 – Luis Felipe Edwards Carmenere

WBW#7 – Luis Felipe Edwards Carmenere

by Jeanne Horak on March 9, 2005 11 Comments in Wine & beer, Wine Blogging Wednesday

We all know the feeling.  You’re picking up a few things from the supermarket for dinner and pass by the wine section.  Or you’ve just popped in on the way to a friend’s house and want to pick up some drinks and snacks to take along.  Or you’re just a saddo who likes to hang out in your local 24-hour store 😉  Either way, you end up standing in the wine aisle in front of a bewildering array of bottles on shelves and often you have a very limited amount of time to make a choice.  Pop quiz – what do you do??  Well, you might start by picking a country and sticking with what you know – in my case, South Africa and in the case of many people here in the UK, France.  Price will most definitely come into the equation for me – I have a husband who believes less is more when it comes to spending (heaven alone knows what possessed him to marry me, the Queen of Conspicuous Consumption…).  And almost certainly, you will look for something familiar – hey, there’s a Chardonnay/a Merlot.  I’ve heard of that so it can’t be that bad, let’s take it.

All of which is fine and well and might sometimes get you a decent wine.  But the problem with a) the consumer’s attraction to recognised, “”big name” grape varieties and b) the growing trend to list the grape varieties on the bottle (no longer only confined to the New World) means that there is a greater and greater demand for certain noble cultivars.  As a farmer, given a choice, you clearly have to do what will ensure your economic survival.  So if the market demands Cabernet Sauvignon, you rip up the plantings of local grapes and start planting Cab instead so that you can sell more of your wines.  And that’s where it starts getting not so fine.

There are about 600 wine grape varieties in the world (check out this bewilderingly large database)- and yet I challenge you to find more than two dozen in your local wine store or supermarket – and that’s if it has a good selection.  I mean, would you want to live in a world where all you can choose from are 10 or 15 different types of car?  Or ice cream?  Or paint colours?  So why settle for that in the world of wine??  Since this trend towards homogenization is driven by customer demand, why not start buying the more obscure cultivars and generate more of a market for them – that way, the selection available in stores around the world can only improve!  Also, bear in mind that not all vines are equally happy in all climates so growing, say, pinot noir out of its natural habitat could be a costly and wasteful business.  So why not encourage the planting of wines suitable to each country’s particular terroir by being willing to buy wines that you may not have heard of, but that may be perfectly suited to a particular country’s conditions? (If you want to know more about drinking unusual varieties rather than the tried-and-tested, have a look at the excellent Vinodiversity).

You might have noticed that I am rather in favour of Andrew’s choice of theme for this month’s Wine Blogging Wednesday – obscure red grapes.  Ahem.

So after all that evangelising, what did I buy?  Well, I had a limited time to find a wine as I have been madly busy lately and was on a business trip to the wilds of Bedfordshire for half of this week, so it was off to trusty old Tesco.  I did’t have much hope of finding anything unusual and I already knew to steer clear of the South African, Australian and French shelves as they were peopled pretty much exclusively with well-known cultivars.  So I headed on over to South America, looking originally for an Malbec (one of my new favourites).  But instead I came back with something I had never seen or drunk before – the Luis Felipe Edwards 2003 Carmenere.

Carmenere is an interesting grape.  It was once heavily planted in Bordeaux and is in fact one of only six varieties that are allowed to be used in making red Bordeaux blends.  However, it is a very late-ripening grape (even later than Merlot) and because Bordeaux is not known for its hot climate, there were problems ripening the crop almost every year.  For this reason the grape fell out of favour and when it came to replanting after the phylloxera outbreak in the 1880’s, it was simply not replanted.  Today it is almost impossible to find Carmenere grapes in Bordeaux.  Why?  Well, because it has packed up and headed for pastures warmer – Chile!  The first grapes were imported in the mid-1800s and for a long period the grapes were planted in amongst Merlot (with which it shares many characteristics, such as soft tannins and ripe fruit).  But in the early 1990’s when Chilean “Merlots” were thoroughly scrutinised in an attempt to explain their distinguishing characteristics, it was discovered that many of the vines that they had labelled as Merlot were in fact Carmenere.  From then on, Carmenere was correctly identified and bottled under its correct name, and aggressively marketed from the mid 1990s onwards.  Voila – a very extended overnight success story!

So what about this particular example?  Well, Luis Felipe Edwards is a family-owned, boutique wine producer based in the Colchagua Valley in central Chile.  The current owner restored the original 1950’s plantings during the 1970s, and started producing wine in 1994.  This particular wine consists of 85% Carmenere and 15% Cabernet Sauvignon.  We paired it with grilled pork sausages, red wine gravy, mashed potatoes and broccoli and that worked fantastically.  Here are the detailed tasting notes:

Colour – clear ruby with hints of purple around the edges
Nose – red fruits, earthy, strawberry jam. Stemmy with hints of vanilla
Palate – At 14% alcohol it’s not a wine to be trifled with!  But the alcohol is not overwhelming on the palate.  The wine is quite full-bodied with tart red fruits up front and a nice vanilla caramel finish.  It’s not too complex, but has a medium long-finish and the overall impression is balanced and very drinkable.  At £3.99 it is an amazing bargain and I seriously doubt whether you would find any Cabernet Sauvignon of comparable quality at this price.  My advice?  Buy, buy, buy before word gets out and the price goes up!

More deliciousness for you!

  • Cooksister-tomatoI’m back – with the Expat Meme
  • Christmas markets in Gothenburg (and other shopping adventures!)Christmas markets in Gothenburg (and other shopping adventures!)
  • Let’s get ova-enthusiastic – announcing EoMEoTE#6!Let’s get ova-enthusiastic – announcing EoMEoTE#6!
  • My London 2012 Olympic weekend (and a punch recipe!)My London 2012 Olympic weekend (and a punch recipe!)

Never miss a Cooksister post

If you enjoyed this post, enter your e-mail address here to receive a FREE e-mail update when a new post appears on Cooksister

I love comments almost as much as I love cheese - so if you can't leave me any cheese, please leave me a comment instead!

« Bantam of the Opera – the EoMEoTE#4 round-up
Seeing red over food additives »

Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

  1. jens rosenkrantz says

    March 11, 2005 at 2:10 am

    As always, a thorough post. What, $6 US! I will keep an eye open. Thanks, jens

    Reply
  2. Jeanne says

    March 11, 2005 at 11:33 am

    Thanks, Jens! I could not believe the price myself – I mean who in their right mind would spend £6 to get a Blossom Hill/Gallo/Hardy’s when this is available at 1/3 of the price? I’m stocking up as we speak! And I think there is a list of distributors on the estate’s website if you want to know where to look in your area.

    Reply
  3. anthony says

    March 12, 2005 at 7:12 am

    Sigh it’s a bit depressing the illusion of choice sometimes. Most of the biggest supermarkets are filled with different kinds of the same crap. Do we really need a coca cola aisle. Settle for less and more eclectic any day.
    Canny bargains, what a joy.

    Reply
  4. Boertjie says

    March 12, 2005 at 9:01 am

    Ek verstom my dat ‘n mens so baie oor kos kan skryf. Ek is een van daai mense wat my kos eet en ‘n uur later nie meer kan onthou wat ek geëet het nie.

    Reply
  5. Jeanne says

    March 13, 2005 at 5:50 pm

    The illusion of choice indeed. 15 kinds of sliced sandwich “ham” and not a chunk of chorizo in sight. In fact, the bigger the store, the less real choice you have. Aaaah, wine bargain hunting – the acceptable face of hunting!
    Boertjie, jy klink nes my man. Solank dit sy maag vol maak en sy bloedsuikervlakke herstel, gee hy niks om wat hy eet nie. En om daaroor te skryf is so vergesog as om buite die perke van die werklikheid te wees! Ek is weer verstom oor hoe versigtig en pragtig jy goed vertaal. My ma was nog altyd die tweetaligste persoon wat ek ken, maar noudat sy oorlede is dink ek jy het miskien haar plek ingeneem!!

    Reply
  6. anthony says

    March 14, 2005 at 4:12 am

    By spooky coincidence, I made chorizo in red wine yesterday.

    Reply
  7. Jeanne says

    March 15, 2005 at 2:06 pm

    Doo doo doo doo, doo doo doo doo [spooky Twilight Zone music] Lucky you – you found chorizo!!
    Although I must add that a friend had discovered a Polish butcher near her place in North London and I plan to head over there and stock up on spicy sausages soon!!

    Reply
  8. redsaid says

    March 17, 2005 at 2:04 pm

    Your story reminds me of the infamous Charles Shaw wine, but more affectionately known around these parts as Two Buck Chuck, because it can be bought at a staggering $1.99. What’s even better is that it is perfectly drinkable! In fact, legend has it that at blind tastings, it has even swept first place a couple of times!
    Type “Two Buck Chuck” into Google if you want to know more.
    Groetnis,
    R.

    Reply
  9. Jeanne says

    March 17, 2005 at 8:21 pm

    Hi Red
    And that reminds me of the legend that used to do the rounds back home that Tassies was made from the leftovers at the bottom of the barrels used for far greater wines. So in a given year you could get a wine that was 99% Cabernet, an other years, 99% pigswill… And of course there was also the rumour that Tassies would beat pretty much any other wine in a blind tasting in a good year!
    Lekker naweek!
    J

    Reply
  10. Chris Nation says

    April 28, 2005 at 10:44 pm

    £3.99 at Tesco? Was there a special offer? I see it on their Wine Warehouse pages at £5.50-ish/6 bottles. They have an own-label Carmenere at £3.31/6. I will definitely have a go at the Edwards. I have had the Casillero del Diablo version, which was good, [at about £5.60 from Tesco & all the UK s/mkts]. I am surprised that you describe the colour as “ruby red …” as one of the characteristics of Carmenere is its almost inky, opaque blackness. The Casillero is like this, stikingly so on first aquaintance.
    As for chorizo, anyone able to get to Portobello Rd in London will find the real thing, and how, at Garcia’s deli, which is just before [downhill side] of the Westway flyover and another Spanish deli [I forget the name] just past the flyover on the uphill side. Both on the right, as you walk uphill.

    Reply
  11. Peter Walker says

    August 27, 2006 at 11:45 am

    Liked your review, and since u wrote it, you may notice rationalisation by the supermarkets, and they eventually will sell only well known brands (like they did with beer). The independent sector will have an opportinity to gain some ground!
    For your info LFE have just managed to gain a foothold in ASDA in the UK.
    The Cabernet Malbec and a white Chardonnay/SBlanc has just arrived in at £4.78 a bottle. Wait a few months and it will go down to £3.78 on offer.
    Good luck… and good hunting!
    Peter

    Reply
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Never miss a Cooksister post!

Get my latest recipes delivered by e-mail!

Search over 500 recipes

Recently on Cooksister

  • Perfect broccoli and Stilton soup [keto, low carb, GF]
  • Masalchi by Atul Kochhar – Indian street food in Wembley
  • Barbecued salmon with blood oranges and capers
  • Roasted Brussels sprouts with feta, pomegranate and pine nuts [GF, V]
  • Love Yourself healthy meal delivery [Review]
  • Antillean
  • Festive roast lamb with pomegranate glaze
  • Rustic blood orange and pistachio galettes

Archives by month

Archives by category

Popular posts

Peppermint Crisp fridge tart - a South African treat
Oxtail and red wine potjie
Nigella's Bakewell slices & the Big Bakewell Taste-off
Gem squash 101: how to find them, how to grow them, how to eat them!
Jan Ellis pudding - a classic South African dessert
My big, fat South African potato bake

Featured on

Also available on

I am not an early morning person - but when the re I am not an early morning person - but when the reason for a stupid o’clock start is a private tour of the Chelsea Flower Show & a tasting of South African wine, how could I refuse? 🌸🥂🍷 (see more about our show tour in my previous reel!)

The wine in question was a selection of 8 wines by Franschoek estate @babylonstoren . The farm itself is over 150 years old and lies at the foot of the Simonsberg mountains. It is named after one of the peaks in the range - literally translated as the Tower of Babylon - and was for much of its existence a fruit farm before being purchased by owners Koos Bekker & Karen Roos. In 2007 they commissioned architect Patrice Caravella to lay out an extensive formal garden comprising 15 clusters spanning vegetable areas, stone and pome fruits, nuts, citrus, berries, bees, herbs, ducks and chickens, a prickly pear maze, and more. Every one of the more than 300 varieties of plants in the garden is edible or has medicinal value. They are also grown as organically as possible and in a biologically sustainable manner. The garden was the first RHS accredited garden in Africa. The couple also converted the fruit orchards to vineyards which now cover 150 hectares amd produced their first harvest in 2011.

The Babylonstoren Mourvèdre rosé was enjoying its third year of being the official wine of the RHS and we were fortunate enough to have winemaker @klaasstoffberg and cellar master Charl Coetzee on hand all the way from South Africa to talk us through the range. Here’s what we tried:

🥂SPRANKEL 2017 - 100% Chardonnay Cap Classique sparkling wine with a very fine mousse and notes of brioche, green apples and grapefruit
🥂 Chenin Blanc 2022 - ripe fruit palate of pears, quince & apples with a rounded mouthfeel & very long finish
🥂 2022 Viognier - baked apples and quince but with biscuits notes and  fresh acidity to balance the fruit - rounded mouthfeel and tarte tatin finish
🥂 2022 Chardonnay all matured in oak barrels but made in a restrained Burgundian style with buttery, toasty grapefruit and subtle spice flavours & beautifully integrated oak

[Continued in first comment]
[Ad/Press sample] Love beer? Love peaty Islay whis [Ad/Press sample] Love beer? Love peaty Islay whisky? Then you need to get your hands on this delightful collaboration between @innisandgunn (their original beer is billed as a beer for wine drinkers and is one of my all-time favourites) and @laphroaig (makers of one of my favourite super peaty whiskies). 

Innis & Gunn’s limited edition Islay whisky cask beer is a Scottish red beer which is double matured - first in used Laphroaig whisky casks and then in used port casks. The result is a deeply smoky beer with notes of coffee, dark chocolate, malt and rich toffee, all balanced by a clean and almost saline finish, much like Laphroaig whisky itself.  It comes in a limited edition gift box with beautiful artwork by @scottnaismithartist and is available from the Innis & Gunn website for £6,00 for a 330ml bottle while stocks last (it’s also vegan!). 

I paired it with crostini topped with cream cheese and smoked oysters - the salty, smoky, creamy oysters complemented the flavours of the beer very well. I can also imagine it working well with green olives or smoked almonds. A perfect gift for the beer or whisky lover in your life!

What do you think of combining the flavours of beer and peaty whisky? Let me know in the comments 🍺

#innisandgunn #laphroaig #islaywhisky #beerlove #beerloversofinstagram
This week I made a flying visit to the RHS Chelsea This week I made a flying visit to the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in  London’s leafy Chelsea, courtesy of @babylonstoren and @thenewtinsomerset [INVITED] I was fortunate to have an early morning tour of the beautiful show gardens and by far the most inspiring was the Best in Show winner, Horatio’s Garden, designed by Charlotte Harris and Hugo Bugg. Horatio’s Garden is an initiative to provide spinal injury patients in NHS hospitals with an accessible garden and private respite rooms within the garden. There are 8 across the UK and the design we saw at the show will be rolled out in Sheffield once the remaining funds needed are raised. Have you visited the Chelsea Flower Show? Let me know in the comments 🌺🌷🪷🪻🌼🌸 #rhschelseaflowershow2023 #rhschelsea #horatiosgarden #horatiosgardenchelsea
Today is the official coronation of King Charles I Today is the official coronation of King Charles III and London is literally awash with red, white and blue flags, bunting and souvenirs. I don’t have bunting… but in celebration I can offer you this plate of red, white and blue deliciousness that is sticky toffee pudding with berries! I had this last weekend at the @bristolbarbrighton - the pudding alone makes the trip from London worthwhile 😍👑🇬🇧 Long live sticky toffee pudding!!
Happy Easter to everyone celebrating! My Easter ch Happy Easter to everyone celebrating! My Easter chocolates are from Ukrainian chocolate producer @roshen_ukraine - gorgeous hazelnut praline-filled dark chocolates, and how beautiful is the packaging? #easter2023 #easterchocolate #easterchocolates #roshen #ukrainiantraditions #roshenchocolate
Great exhibition on at the V&A Museum in London ri Great exhibition on at the V&A Museum in London right now for anybody interested in textiles, fashion or Africa. Such fascinating info about the cultural significance of various traditional African cloths (kente, kuba, bògòlanfini and many more) and a great display of modern African designers from around the continent. It’s on till 16 April so catch it if you can! #africafashion #thingstodoinlondon #londonexhibitions #londontourist #londonbylondoners #kentecloth #kubacloth #bogolanfini #chrisseydou #ladumangxokolo
The wonderful Museum of the Moon installation - a The wonderful Museum of the Moon installation - a 7 metre diameter scale model of the moon suspended in the Painted Hall at the  @oldroyalnavalcollege in Greenwich this week, by @lukejerramartist. A surreal and fabulous sight!
Do you enjoy free art installations? Then you need Do you enjoy free art installations? Then you need to get down to @canarywharflondon between now and Saturday 28 Jan to catch the free Winter Lights 2023 event, back for the seventh year.

My favourites include @lukejerramartist ‘s Floating Earth; Tom Lambert’s Out of the Dark; Fluorescent Firs; Toroid by This is Loop; and the surreal and mesmerising Anima by MEATS - a tunnel filled with hundreds of thin optical fibre lights that change colour and move in the breeze 😍 

Have you been to Winter Lights? What was your favourite?
“When we look down at the Earth from space, we s “When we look down at the Earth from space, we see this amazing, indescribably beautiful planet. It looks like a living, breathing organism. But it also, at the same time, looks extremely fragile.” - International Space Station astronaut Ron Garamond

To experience the “overview effect” (a phenomenon experienced by astronauts viewing the earth from space), head down to Canary Wharf in the London docklands this week where you can see @lukejerramartist ‘s beautiful Floating Earth installation as part of the Winter Lights event. 

This giant 10m diameter installation is created using high resolution NASA images to create a floating scale model of the Earth, lit from within so that it glows from its current home on the Middle Dock, surrounded by the headquarters of international banking and finance corporations.

The artist hopes that viewed in this context, the installation will make visitors and the bankers working in surrounding buildings question how their money in savings and pensions is invested, and whether investments can be greener.

Aside from being a thought provoking piece, it is also mesmerising and surreally beautiful, so make sure you visit the free Winter Lights event before ends on Saturday 28 Jan.
Load More... Follow me on Instagram

Follow Jeanne Horak-Druiff's board Recipes by Cooksister on Pinterest.

Cooksister

The South African Food and Wine Blog Directory

The South African Food and Wine Blog Directory

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Jeanne Horak is a freelance food and travel writer; recipe developer and photographer. South African by birth and Londoner by choice, Jeanne has been writing about food and travel on Cooksister since 2004. She is a popular speaker on food photography and writing has also contributed articles, recipes and photos to a number of online and print publications. Jeanne has also worked with a number of destination marketers to promote their city or region. Please get in touch to work with her Read More…

Latest Recipes

Bowls of broccoli and Stilton soup
Salmon with blood oranges dill and capers
Brussels sprouts with feta and pomegranate
Roast lamb with pomegranate glaze
Blood orange & pistachio galettes
Cauliflower topped steak with melted cheese
Plate of potted smoked salmon with slaw and a glass of champagne
bowls of pistachio pomegranate bircher muesli

SITEMAP

Home

Contact

About me

Recipe Index

Restaurant Index

Copyright & Disclaimer

Cookies & privacy policy




blog counter

© 2004 - 2023 · Jeanne Horak unless otherwise stated - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. You may not reproduce any text, excerpts or images without my prior permission. Site by RTW Labs

Copyright © 2023 · Cooksister on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

Cooksister cookie consent
We use cookies to ensure you receive the best experience on our site. If you continue to use this site, you are agreeing to our terms and conditions. Accept
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT