Errazuriz Aconcagua Costa Wild Ferment Chardonnay 2013
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Suckling
James -
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Robert -
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James Suckling
This a phenomenal white with sliced apple, papaya, and chalk with hints of slate. Turns to limes. Full body, with bright acidity and a racy acidity that goes on for minutes with the fruit. Dry austerity at the end gives it incredible character. This was fermented and aged in second and third year oak. Ten months. A triumph. A reductive structured style.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2013 Chardonnay Wild Ferment Aconcagua Costa, from vineyards planted in 2004-2005 on schist soils on the coastal part of the Aconcagua valley, 10-12 kilometers from the sea, is fermented with indigenous yeasts in French oak barriques (and aged there for 10 months, 0% new). Fifteen percent of the wine went through malolactic fermentation, because it was a cold year and they wanted to give it more volume, with no battonage and only 13% alcohol. The nose is very clean, with well-integrated wood, orange peel, crisp aromas of citric fruits, high acidity, great freshness and minerality. The wine is light to medium-bodied, sharp and delineated, in a Chablis way.
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Wine Enthusiast
Popcorn and white-fruit aromas are toasty, nutty and appropriate. This is zesty and well-cut across the palate. Flavors of apple, peach, papaya and buttered movie popcorn finish oaky, briny and elegant, with a chiseled, acid-driven feel.
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Errázuriz is recognized as perhaps the single top-quality producer of Chilean wines, within recent years. Eduardo Chadwick, President, was named Decanter Man of the Year 2018, and the winery was awarded Best Chilean Winery 2017 by Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate. As an estate winery, Errázuriz strives to produce the finest wines by controlling every stage of the winemaking process, from grape growing in the Aconcagua, Casablanca and Curico valleys, to winemaking with the most natural techniques. An emphasis is placed on the delicate handling of the wines, with the aim of producing wines of elegance and complexity. It is this dynamism and passion for wine that has made Errázuriz such an internationally respected producer of quality wines.
Don Maximiano Errazuriz founded Viña Errazuriz in 1870 in the Aconcagua Valley, north of Santiago. This valley has cool, rainy winters, hot, dry summers and moist Pacific Ocean breezes--ideal for growing grapes. Don Maximiano sent for the finest clones from France and with tenacity and perseverance transformed this barren land into a world-class vineyard. Today, the tradition of quality lives on with Don Maximiano's descendant, Eduardo Chadwick--the fifth generation of his family to be involved in the wine business. Eduardo has overseen the modernization of the winemaking technology at this historic estate while maintaining a distinct identity for its wines, dedicated to producing estate grown wines of superior quality.
One of the most popular and versatile white wine grapes, Chardonnay offers a wide range of flavors and styles depending on where it is grown and how it is made. While it tends to flourish in most environments, Chardonnay from its Burgundian homeland produces some of the most remarkable and longest lived examples. California produces both oaky, buttery styles and leaner, European-inspired wines. Somm Secret—The Burgundian subregion of Chablis, while typically using older oak barrels, produces a bright style similar to the unoaked style. Anyone who doesn't like oaky Chardonnay would likely enjoy Chablis.
The Aconcagua River runs east from the charming costal town of Valparaiso and bisects the land creating the valley after which it was named. While alluvial soils predominate the Aconcagua Valey along its river throughout, its east-west flow creates drastically different conditions on each of its ends. Its western, seaside vineyards, with clay and stony soils upon gently rolling hills, produce cool-climate varieties such as Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Its inner region is one of Chile’s hottest and produces some of its best red wines. Panquehue in the inner Aconcagua is the site of Chile’s first Syrah vines, planted in 1993.