Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2013 Pinot Noir Gran Reserva was cropped from their Alto Cachapoal vineyards, and it fermented in 225-liter French oak barrels where it matured with the lees for 20 months. There are some leesy aromas, reminiscent of toasted sesame seeds and some smoky and toasty aromas, no doubt coming from the extended élevage. It's a powerful and well-oaked Pinot, with very polished tannins and moderate acidity. It develops more balsamic aromas with time in the glass. This is an impressive, I'd say dramatic Pinot Noir. I had the chance to taste it next to the 2012 and 2010, and the profile seems to have changed in 2013 with less extraction, perhaps also helped by the freshness of the year.
Thin-skinned, finicky and temperamental, Pinot Noir is also one of the most rewarding grapes to grow and remains a labor of love for some of the greatest vignerons in Burgundy. Fairly adaptable but highly reflective of the environment in which it is grown, Pinot Noir prefers a cool climate and requires low yields to achieve high quality. Outside of France, outstanding examples come from in Oregon, California and throughout specific locations in wine-producing world. Somm Secret—André Tchelistcheff, California’s most influential post-Prohibition winemaker decidedly stayed away from the grape, claiming “God made Cabernet. The Devil made Pinot Noir.”
Well-regarded for intense and exceptionally high quality red wines, the Colchagua Valley is situated in the southern part of Chile’s Rapel Valley, with many of the best vineyards lying in the foothills of the Coastal Range.
Heavy French investment and cutting-edge technology in both the vineyard and the winery has been a boon to the local viticultural industry, which already laid claim to ancient vines and a textbook Mediterranean climate.
The warm, dry growing season in the Colchagua Valley favors robust reds made from Cabernet Sauvignon, Carmenère, Malbec and Syrah—in fact, some of Chile’s very best are made here. A small amount of good white wine is produced from Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc.