Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2007 Almaviva continues a series of successful vintages for this Chilean icon. Medium purple-colored, it exhibits an expressive bouquet of wood smoke, pencil lead, Asian spices, incense, blackcurrant, and blackberry. Elegantly styled and impeccably balanced, it will evolve for several more years and drink well through 2027 at the least.
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Wine Enthusiast
Dark, toasty and minerally to start with, then throw in some olive, herb and cassis and it's pure Maipo Cabernet at its best. The palate is deep, layered and lush, with smooth, elegand yet lusty flow of cassis, berry, olive and herbal flavors. Fine on the finish, with mild barrel-influenced chocolate. Ready to drink but could be cellared for another 4-5 years.
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Wine Spectator
Dense and dark, with black currant, braised fig and black licorice flavors laid over notes of loam and freshly brewed espresso. Muscular but well-integrated, delivering nice focus that carries through the lengthy finish. Cabernet Sauvignon, Carmenère, Cabernet Franc and Merlot. Drink now through 2019. 12,500 cases made.
Almaviva is the name of both winery and wine born of the joint venture between Baron Philippe de Rothschild and Viña Concha y Toro. It is also that of Pierre de Beaumarchais' character, the "Count of Almaviva" in his Marriage of Figaro, a work Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart later turned into one of the most popular operas ever. The classical epithet, laid out in Pierre de Beaumarchais' fair hand, shares the label with insignia of pre-hispanic roots symbolizing a union of European and American cultures that at every level has created successive bonds over centuries that have evolved a unique identity. The recent synthesis of French tradition and American soil has delivered an exceptional wine embodying the best of both worlds, a Primer Orden that really shines.
One of the world’s most classic and popular styles of red wine, Bordeaux-inspired blends have spread from their homeland in France to nearly every corner of the New World. Typically based on either Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot and supported by Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot, the best of these are densely hued, fragrant, full of fruit and boast a structure that begs for cellar time. Somm Secret—Blends from Bordeaux are generally earthier compared to those from the New World, which tend to be fruit-dominant.
The Maipo Valley is Chile’s most famous wine region. Set in the country’s Central Valley, it is warm and quite dry, often necessitating the use of irrigation. Alluvial soils predominate but are supplemented with loam and clay.
The climate in Maipo is best-suited for ripe, full-bodied reds like Cabernet Sauvignon (the region’s most widely planted grape), Merlot, Syrah and Carmenère, a Bordeaux variety that has found a successful home in Chile.
White wines are also produced with great prosperity, especially near the cooler coast, include Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc.