Wino Wednesday: Sarasota Wine Dinners This Week + Carménère Myth

Kevin is still in Portugal's Douro Valley until November, sending me exactly zero photos, which I'm choosing to read as a man too busy tasting to text. So I'm back on Wino Wednesday, and this week I went looking for the best food on a wine list. I found mussels, wild boar, a beef braciole and cherries jubilee. I'm fine. I'm totally fine.

Same deal as always. Three questions, one myth, then five good reasons to pour something around Sarasota, Bradenton, Anna Maria and Venice this week. Every spot is independently owned, and everything happens between tonight and next Tuesday.

Quick quiz (South America to Tuscany edition)

1. Chile's Casillero del Diablo wines are named for a story about:

A) A winemaker who sold his soul for a good harvest
B) A founder who spread a rumor that the devil lived in his wine cellar
C) A volcano near the vineyard
D) A very spicy empanada

2. Brunello di Montalcino, the big Tuscan red, is made from which grape?

A) Nebbiolo
B) Merlot
C) Sangiovese
D) Barbera

3. Under its rules, a regular Brunello di Montalcino can't be released until:

A) The spring after harvest
B) January 1 of the year after the fifth year, counting from harvest
C) Ten years after harvest
D) Whenever the winemaker feels like it

Answers are at the bottom. No peeking. I can tell.

The myth: Chile's mellow Merlot is Merlot

For a long time, a lot of it wasn't! Here's the story, straight from the Chilean winery where it happened. Viña Carmen says Carménère, a grape originally from France, was believed to have disappeared after the phylloxera plague wiped out its vineyards in the 19th century. But French immigrants had already brought it to Chile, where it was grown and, for years, confused with Merlot.

Then in 1994, the French grape expert Jean-Michel Boursiquot was walking through Viña Carmen's vineyards in the Maipo Valley and noticed a twisted stamen on the flowers of some "Merlot" vines. DNA tests confirmed it: Carménère. The winery's earlier anniversary note puts the date at November 24, 1994, and says Viña Carmen first bottled it in 1996 under the name Grande Vidure, because Carménère wasn't yet a registered variety in Chile. Today, the winery says, Chile is the world's largest producer of the grape.

So a whole country found a "lost" grape by looking closely at a flower. I lose my sunglasses on my own head. Respect.

Now the food, because that's why I'm here. Carménère is the one I'd pour with anything that's been near a grill: smoky, peppery, juicy. And if you want the full Chile-in-a-glass experience, there's a Chilean wine dinner on this week's list (see No. 1). Somebody in Santiago would approve. Magee Clegg (@mageeclegg), who never stops cheering for Chile, had a friend fly in for one weekend for exactly two things, and I respect his priorities enormously:

A Barros Luco, for the record, is a beef and melted cheese sandwich. A red-eye flight for a sandwich and a glass of wine is the most relatable travel plan I've ever heard.

Five independent wine nights this week (Oct. 21-27)

No chain stores. I checked every one of these on the venue's own page or ticket listing on Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2026. Seats, prices and pours can change, so confirm before you drive. Every pour on this list is 21+.

1. Tripletail Seafood & Spirits: Chilean wine dinner with Concha y Toro (Thursday)

Tripletail Seafood & Spirits, at The Landings, 4870 S. Tamiami Trail in Sarasota, hosts a Chilean wine dinner on Thursday, Oct. 22, 6 to 9 p.m. The listing promises a handpicked selection of Chilean wines paired with dishes, and Joe Consolo, regional manager for Viña Concha y Toro, will be there to walk you through them. The price isn't posted, so call 941-529-0555 to ask and reserve. Marina's take: Concha y Toro is the winery behind Casillero del Diablo, so yes, you can ask about the devil in the cellar. I will be asking about the devil in the cellar.

2. Mademoiselle Paris: Chardonnay and Pinot Noir dinner (Thursday at UTC, Friday on Anna Maria)

Mademoiselle Paris is running its October Chardonnay and Pinot Noir wine dinner twice in our area this week: Thursday, Oct. 22 at its UTC location, 8527 Cooper Creek Blvd. in Bradenton, and Friday, Oct. 23 at 9906 Gulf Drive on Anna Maria Island, both 6:30 to 9 p.m. It's $99 per person for four courses paired with four glasses of wine, plus a gougère, live music, a presentation from owner Jean and a chance to win a bottle. A credit card holds your seat, and cancellations need 48 hours' notice in writing. Marina's take: A gougère is a little cheese puff, and I would follow a little cheese puff across a bridge. Thursday or Friday, pick your bridge.

3. Fins at Sharky's: 5-course Italian wine dinner (Thursday)

Fins at Sharky's, 1600 Harbor Drive South in Venice, pours a five-course Italian wine dinner on Thursday, Oct. 22, 6 to 9 p.m. The trip starts with sparkling wine from the Veneto, heads through Friuli-Venezia Giulia and finishes in Tuscany with Chianti Classico, Rosso di Montalcino and Brunello di Montalcino, per the event description. Tickets are $120 plus tax and gratuity, which comes to $152.40 all in on Sharky's online store. Seating is limited, and the full menu hadn't been posted when I checked. Marina's take: Brunello with a Gulf view in Venice. I aced question two just to feel worthy of this one.

4. Sarasota Wine Co.: The Tasting Room (Saturday)

Sarasota Wine Co. at 64 S. Palm Ave. opens The Tasting Room on Saturday, Oct. 24, 1 to 3 p.m. A $35 ticket (plus Florida tax and a 94-cent service fee) gets a flight of four wines on a theme that changes every week, an ounce of wine chips paired with them, and printed tasting notes to take home. Kevin already walked you through it earlier this month. Marina's take: It's on the list two weeks running because the chips are still part of the deal and I have no plans to stop talking about the chips.

5. Amore: "Season Beginnings" wine dinner (next Tuesday)

Amore Restaurant, 180 N. Lime Ave. in Sarasota, hosts its October wine dinner on Tuesday, Oct. 27, at 6 p.m., $140 per person, all inclusive, per the restaurant's menu sheet. Four courses, four wines. Jumbo New Zealand mussels alla pescatore with a 2024 Cottesbrook Reserve Sauvignon Blanc from Marlborough. Whole roasted wild boar, slow-cooked with red wine and herbs, with a 2021 Monte Branco Trincadeira from Portugal's Alentejo. Beef braciole stuffed with pine nuts, sun-dried tomato, romano, raisins and prosciutto over polenta, with a 2019 Vigna Cataratte Aglianico Riserva from Campania. Then flambéed cherries jubilee over vanilla ice cream with a 2018 Château Cantegril Sauternes. Seating is limited, and it's phone reservations only: 941-383-1111. Marina's take: Cherries jubilee with a Sauternes. I would like to be buried with that pairing. Not soon. Just eventually. Also, a Portuguese red in Kevin's honor. See, Kevin? We think of you.

The pairing I'm making at home this week

Not going out? Same. The Brunello consortium's own pairing advice sends its wine toward red meat, game, mushrooms and truffles, and aged cheeses like Tuscan pecorino. It also says to serve it at 18 to 20°C, which is about 64 to 68 degrees. In other words, not at "October in Sarasota" temperature. Give the bottle a little time in a cool spot before it hits the table.

My plan: a mushroom risotto, a wedge of pecorino and whatever red I can afford after Thursday. Kevin, if you're reading this from a terrace above the Douro, that's a hint to bring home something nice.

Cheers from the lanai, Marina

Answers

B) A founder who spread a rumor that the devil lived in his wine cellar. Per Casillero del Diablo's own telling, Don Melchor Concha y Toro noticed bottles disappearing from his private cellar and spread the rumor to keep people out. Concha y Toro's history page dates the brand's launch to 1966.
C) Sangiovese, which the Consorzio del Vino Brunello di Montalcino notes is also called "Brunello" in Montalcino.
B) January 1 of the year after the fifth year, counting from harvest (six years for the Riserva), with at least two years in oak, per the same consortium page.

Can't pick? Pull a random one From the food, wine and myth-busting pile. No old game slates.