2006 KAI Carmenere

The 2006 Kai has a little more compactness on the nose, whereby the mint component is heightened and the aromatics more primal. The palate has good weight and substance on the entry with pure blackberry, soy, bay leaf and a touch of dark chocolate. The tannins are slightly bitter and citric, although that simply lends it more tension and focus. This is a step up in quality over the 2005. Drink now-2017. It was a pleasure to spend two or three hours in the company of Eduardo Chadwick at his estate and undertake verticals of his wines. Few have done more to promote Chilean wine than him, most notably with his blind comparisons with First Growth to demonstrate that Sena stands shoulder to shoulder with Old World icons. As you might guess, we had a long debate about that! But also, we engaged in a long discussion about viticulture and the philosophy behind his portfolio. Readers may remark on my relatively mean scores. I thought long and hard about this. But I firmly feel that recent vintages from Errazuriz completely outshine the older ones and speaking at length with winemaker Francisco Baettig, there is a sense of a winery changing tack and in my opinion, what this estate will produce in the next twenty years will completely surpass the previous twenty years. Importer: Vintus Wines, Pleasantville, NY; www.vintuswines.com