1988 Carmine

June 2021Dave Bagley, owner and winemaker of Poplar Ridge winery, introduced me to Carmine. It was the principle grape in Dave’s Big Red (I think that’s what he called it), and even green it was great!

Apparently I ordered 3 lugs of Carmine, as what notes I have indicate I netted 8 gallons of wine.

This wine sticks in my memory because it was red. I don’t mean some type of purple like Cabernet Sauvignon — I mean RED.

I’ve never seen a wine like it, before or after, and this includes commercial Carmine. It was heavily tannic, which is what it was bred for, and I recall that I drank it far too  young. I should have let it age at least 4 years.

Fast forward to 2018, when I visited Poplar Ridge for the first time in 25 years. Dave, sadly, has passed away and his daughter owns the winery. We discussed grapes and she said that Carmine proved too difficult to grow, so it was ripped out decades ago.

I’d like to lay hands on some now, to see what I can do with it.

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