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Second City 'unwine' with Chile

Published:Thursday | July 14, 2016 | 1:46 PM
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Making a toast (from left) Caribbean Producers Jamaica’s Jan Pollack, Jamaica Inn’s Melinda Marrow, Peter Westbrook and his wife Elisa Valero of the Grand Palladium Hotel.
Rosie Madden (left) and her sister-in-law, Isiaa, at the Chilean Embassy’s Carmenere Experience.
Dominique Silvera (left) graced the Second City with a visit from Barbados. Here, she shares lens time with Erica Doshi at the Camenere Experience wine-tasting event by the Chilean Embassy at Yoli and Gobind Mahtani’s home in The Lagoons in Montego Bay on Wednesday night.
Sharing the spotlight and bright smiles are (from left) Mystic India’s Kareena Mahbubani, Chilean Embassy’s Elena Girvan and Déjâ Vu’s Neha Kripalani.
WIne in hand, Chilean Ambassador to Jamaica, Eduardo Bonilla (right), raises his glass with Chilean Honorary Consul in Montego Bay, Yolanda Mahtani, and her husband Gobind at their Lagoons home during the Chilean wine-tasting experience.
From left: Fabiana Byles, Amanda Azan, and Paola Byles, honorary consul of Peru in Montego Bay.
In between sips and conversation, (from left) Karen Burgess, Valerie Campbell, and Kathryn May smile for the camera.
Saying cheers to a great night are (from left) Esther Echevarne, Audrey Liauw and Roseanne Moe.
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WESTERN BUREAU:

The Carmenere grape is to Chile, as Malbec is to Argentina. Montegonians came out Wednesday night to experience the best in Chilean wines with that country's ambassador at The Lagoons in Montego Bay.

A first for the Second City. His Excellency Eduardo Bonilla, his representative, Yolanda Mahtani, who, along with husband Gobind, opened their beautiful home at what was tagged, 'A Chilean Wine-Tasting Event', allowing guests to 'unwine' with Caribbean Producers Jamaica's creme de la creme including Concha Y Toro, Escudo Rojo, Pinot Noir, Pinot Grigio and the star performer, Carmenere.

Ambassador Bonilla, in a short welcome to wine lovers, said it that the sweet, velvety wine, which boasts an acidity that is lower, an unparallel uniqueness and a vibrant colour, met its best soil and climate in Chile.

"At first the Camenere grape was confused with Merlot for many years, after it was thought to have disappeared from the face of the earth due to a phylloxera epidemic, but after further studies, it was identified as the missing Bordeaux Carmenere variety," Ambassador Bonilla told the gathering.

They soon found out it was the old variety that had been brought into the country in the late 1850s and co-existed with Merlot.

Today, Chile maintains the largest planting of Carmenere.

Janet.silvera@gleanerjm.com