Pairings with Carménère from South America

Today we are sharing some Carménère food pairing ideas we’ve tried recently. This is part of the World Wine Travel group’s observance of Carménère Day, which is November 24. We are focusing on Carménère from Chile. Disclosure: The Primus blend described in this article was provided as a complimentary sample.

Background on Carménère

I was not particularly familiar with Carménère prior to today’s event. It’s a wine I’ve had occasionally. And I tend to associate with Chile. This makes sense, as Carménère is viewed as Chile’s signature grape, and the South American country is its largest producer.

However, like many wine grapes, Carmenere originally comes from France. In Bordeaux, it was commonly used in Bordeaux red blends in the 1990s. However, it was nearly wiped out in France by phylloxera. In Chile’s climate, the Carménère grape has found a home where it can really flourish!

Another interested tidbit I learned is that Carménère in Chile was mistaken for Merlot until the 1990s!

Carménère food pairing considerations

Carménère has a complex flavor profile that often includes notes of blackberry, cherry, green bell pepper, and a hint of chocolate. The wines tend to be medium bodied with moderate tannins.

With these taste profile characteristics in mind, I tend to think of Carménère as a good pairing for a meat dish that has some spice or other flavors to pick up in addition to the meat.

Hard cheeses and chocolate also come up as pairing suggesitons for Carménère, as do grilled meats and game. Well, it will be awhile before grilling season here, and I don’t eat much game. But I will have to explore the cheese and chocolate ideas and update this article with my findings!

Carménère blend with a spicy plate

I had a Carménère based blend to sample when I saw Robin’s announcement of today’s Carménère Day event. I figured it would be a perfect time to jump into this World Wine Travel event.

The 2019 Primus ($20) is a blend of 40% Carménère, 35% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Syrah, 10% Petit Verdot, 5% Cabernet Franc. It is from the D.O. Apalta in Chile’s Colchagua Valley. This is one of three selections from the Gonzalez Byass portfolio I was sent to sample.

The wine has baking spices and cigar box notes on the nose. It is a meaty wine, with dark red fruit, blackberry I’d say. Notes of licorice, too, with medium acidity.

I don’t have Carménère a lot, but my general recollection was that it can work with meat based dishes with some spice. I decided to feature the Primus with a menu featuring pork tenderloin topped with the spicy Haitian epis sauce.

For the side, I made smothered green beans and potatoes. The green bean dish is flavored by a healthy portion of the epis, so also has a lot of flavor.

I learned about epis when Marwin Brown of Food Fidelity joined me on the Cook Local podcast. He explained epis is sort of like Haitian version of sofrito. It features habenero peppers and a couple of colored bell peppers, along with onions and other veggies. It’s great to make a big batch and have available to give your meals a flavor boost.

As suspected, the Carménère based Primus blend worked very nicely with our pork tenderloin with the epis sauce, and the flavorful green bean dish. Carménère definitely works well with the peppers on that plate, which can pose problems for a some wine pairings.

Apparently the Primus blend changes significantly from year to year. I also had the tech sheet for the 2020, which features 45% Cabernet Sauvignon and just 7% Carménère.

Pulled pork taco pairing

OK, I enjoyed the Primus and the meal I served with it. But for a proper Carménère food pairing, I also wanted to feature a 100% Carménère wine with a good food pairing.

I picked up a bottle of the 2021 Escudo Rojo Reserva Carménère ($18, 14%) from the local Lexington, MA shop, Berman’s Fine Wines. This one is also from Chile’s Colchagua Valley.

We enjoyed the Escudo Rojo Carménère with pulled pork tacos. I love making a batch of slow cooker pulled pork, and enjoying it in a few different ways. When I first cooked up the pulled pork, we enjoyed it with a Halter Ranch Carignan, which we covered for another recent wine blogging event.

Making the pulled pork tacos was super simple. I just heated up the leftover pulled pork, spread some on top of a soft taco, and topped with with some avocado and sour cream. Delicious!

The pairing worked great, too. This Carménère has dark berries and a bit of woodsiness on the nose. On the palate raspberry notes, plus some cinnamon and black pepper. A perfect combo of fruit and spice to go with the savory pulled pork tacos!

Another delicious way to use leftover pulled pork is this pulled pork risotto recipe. Figured I had to mention that while on the pulled pork topic!

Some past Carménère pairings

As I mentioned earlier, Carménère is not a wine I get a lot. So I was curious to find what other Carmenere food pairings I might find here in the Cooking Chat archives.

In working on this article, I wondered if I’d had Carménère from anywhere other than Chile. Then I came across this pairing of an avocado chimichurri beef recipe with an American Carmenere from Reininger in the Walla Walla Valley. A delicious pairing!

That was a special bottle that I had opened for an Open That Bottle Night. Carménère is pretty rare in the Unites States.

I did get one other hit searching for Carménère food pairings here. But that was a Cab based blend from Texas that also had 17% Carménère. It was a great wine from Brennan Vineyards, and delicious with our oven roasted sirloin recipe.

We have also done some experimenting with pairing Carmenere with Indian food. That was while back, I will have to circle back and try that again! The bottle for that one was more in keeping with today’s theme, as it was also from Chile.

#WorldWineTravel Writers on Carmenere

You can learn more about Carménère by checking out these articles from by fellow World Wine Travel writers!

• Camilla Mann of Culinary Cam will share “Carménère: Two Shades and Two Continents.” 
• Terri Steffes of Our Good Life shares “The Beginner’s Guide to Carmenere”
• Wendy Klik of A Day in the Life on the Farm shares Churrasco and Carménère; A Perfect Match 
• Martin Redmond of ENOFYLZ Wine Blog shares Delving Into The Rich World of Chilean Carménère.
• Gwendolyn Lawrence Alley of Wine Predator shares From Lost to Found in Chile: 6 Carménère from 3 Regions + Chilean Beef Stew or Chimichurri Chicken 
• Sharon Parsons of Wine Travels with Dr. Sharon shares Celebrating International Carménère Day with Clos Apalta Carménère.
• Robin at Crushed Grape Chronicles will share Chilean Carménère and Charquican to celebrate Carmenere Day.