2019 Chilean Corazon
April 2019
Last November I ordered two of the Winexpert 2018 Limited Edition kits, Corazon and Symphony-Gewurztraminer. They arrived a couple of weeks ago.
The Corazon is a Chilean red blend that sounded good. From the Winexpert web site:
CURICÓ VALLEY, CHILE
Corazón, Spanish for ‘heart’, comes from the Curicó Valley located in the heart of Chile. Nestled in between the Andes and Coastal Range mountains, the valley’s vineyards reap many benefits from these towering neighbours. Meltwater rivers provide irrigation during dry summer months and deposit rich minerals in the soil, and hot sunny days are balanced by cool air drifting down from the snow-covered peaks of the Andes at night; these daily temperature swings cause the grapes to ripen slowly, allowing for optimal flavour, tannin and colour development.
CORAZÓN
This wine is a charismatic blend of Carménère, Cabernet Franc, Syrah, and Pais. Carménère, the signature Chilean grape, delivers jammy raspberry and herbal spice. Cab Franc brings bold cherry, juicy berry and acidity, while Syrah lends intense black fruit flavours and tannin. Pais, widely planted in Chile for centuries but little-known elsewhere, rounds out the blend with rustic red fruit and crisp acidity. This juicy blend is full of expressive black and red berries, surrounded by cherry and tart plum notes in harmony with underlying oak, bright acidity and smooth polished tannins. Pair with rosemary lamb chops, beef skewers, Portobello mushroom burgers and aged cheddar.
This is an interesting mix. Carménère and Cabernet Franc are Bordeaux grape, Syrah is Rhone, and Pais is a traditional Chilean grape that was supplanted by vinifera, but is making a come back. I am looking forward to this one.
Ingredients
| Kit | Winexpert 2018 Limited Edition Chile Corazon kit |
| Bentonite | 30 g |
| Yeast | Lalvin EC-1118 |
| Oak | Oak Medium and Heavy blend (whatever that means) |
| Sulfite | 4 g |
| Sorbate | 5.5 g |
| Kieselsol | 12.5 ml |
| Chitosan | 75 ml |
Method
| Added 2 cups hot tap water to the primary fermenter, sprinkled bentonite on top. Stirred hard. As usual, it clumps no matter what I do.
Added contents of grape juice bag. Rinsed it with warm water and added to fermenter. Topped up to 5.5 gallons. Kit calls for 6 gallons, but I typically do 5.5. Stirred for 4 minutes with powered stirring rod, reversing direction every 30 seconds. Note: the Limited Edition kits contain 18 liters of juice/concentrate. Between the initial hot water and the top-up, I only added half a gallon. Sprinkled yeast on top. |
04/20/2019 SG 1.094 |
| Racked into carboy. | 04/29/2019 SG 0.997 |
| Racked. Stirred for 4 minutes, reversing direction every 30 seconds.
Added sulfite and sorbate. Stirred 1 minute. Added kieselsol, stirred 1 minute. I’m surprised the SG didn’t drop lower — I expected 0.990 to 0.992. |
05/13/2019 SG 0.996 |
| Added Chitosan, stirred for 30 seconds, reversing for another 30 seconds. | 05/18/2019 SG 0.996 |
| Racked, added 1/4 tsp K-meta, and bottled. | 09/02/2019 SG 0.994 |
Notes
| Yield | 25 bottles |
| Alcohol | 13.6% |
| 09/02/2019 | At bottling the wine is very dark purple and fruity. It will be interesting to see what it’s like at the 1 year mark. |
| 09/21/2021 | This kit proved to be a disappointment. Some bottles were amazingly good, while others exhibited a strong kit taste. I have no explanation, other than maybe I bottled it too early so there is a differentiation with aging in the bottle. |