Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
This has a bright and attractive nose with a fresh array of red cherries, delivered in a sappy, fresh and upbeat style on a superb palate that has both power and focus. Impressive wine.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Produced with grapes from a zone of Aconcagua Costa that is even closer to the sea than the rest of the appellation—and could even be a separate appellation—the 2016 Pucalán Arenaria Pinot Noir feels very Burgundian, subtle and elegant, with nicely integrated oak adding some spiciness. It's floral and subtle, with a nice mid-palate and a long finish. Impressive. It's only 13.5% alcohol and has great freshness.
Rating: 94+
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.”
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.