Carménère is one of those wines that people either flee from or embrace. Appreciating this long-banished Bordeaux grape takes practice. (Or blending!) Dark red in color, full of chewy tannins, and often packing intensely vegetal flavors, it’s not likely to be selected as anyone’s house wine or wedding-table tipple.
In fact, this is the first time I’ve ever seen Carménère included in a wine sampler or holiday gift box. So I have to give my respect to the Costco Wine Advent-ure Calendar for branching out. (Get it? Because Carménère tastes like tree branches?)
Behold the Costco Carménère in all its ruby-red glory! It hails from Chile’s Valle Central DO and comes in a very convenient (for single Carménère-drinker households, anyway) 375-ml bottle. It’s Wine #17 in the 2025 advent calendar box.
But is Cielo d’Oro indeed a heavenly wine? Or did Costco miss a golden opportunity to properly introduce Carménère to the masses? Let’s grab a glass and find out.
The Label
From the producer: “This Chilean Carménère offers a unique aroma of spices, ripe cherries, blackcurrants, and a touch of green pepper. It has a round and approachable taste, with a well-balanced mix of flavors. The wine’s aromatic persistence and solid structure make it particularly appealing.”
The Tasting
The bright purplish, medium-hued glass offers up a head-scratching assortment of green aromas: Sour cherry, vegetable compost, wet beet leaves, orchid stem, celeriac, and sliced poblano. Meaty notes of smoke/tar, pepper steak, and air-cured beef, too. It smells intense and savory and challenging–exactly like Carménère is supposed to.
Then comes the “round and approachable” taste that the label promised (or threatened). Grapey, with some cranberry and mulberry flavors. A medium-bodied wine with shockingly absent tannins gushes over the palate, washing all those vegetable trimmings down the garbage disposal. All that’s left is some indistinct red-Jello fruit with a slight peppery aftertaste.
The combination of an assertive variety plus middle-of-the-road wine-making is jarring. It drinks all right–but who is this wine for?
Anyone who doesn’t approve of Carménère is likely to be repelled the moment their nose reaches the rim. Anyone who’s expecting the sticks-n-berries structure of Carménère is going to be peering down into the glass forlornly, hoping to find it.
More than anything, the flavor of Cielo d’Oro reminds me of a low-effort mixology bar–the kind of place that floats a few slices of jalapeño in a Cape Cod and calls it a “Cranberry Caliente” or something. It wants to be bold and global in its flavors, but it can’t quite commit to the bit.
To make one final comparison, rounding off Carménère’s tannic bite is a lot like putting a unicorn costume on a donkey. It’s not fooling anyone…and some of us think the donkey was already really cute to begin with.
Wine: Cielo d’Oro Carménère – Chile
Costco Wine Advent-ure Calendar Number: 17
Grade: B-
Finish the bottle? My wife got to it first–but if she hadn’t, then sure. (Ours is a two Carménère-drinker household.)
I’m tasting all 24 wines in the 2025 Costco Wine Advent-ure calendar–for science! See previous reviews here.
Review disclosure: I was not compensated or provided any free products for this review. Opinions expressed on The Wine Fairy blog are entirely my own.
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