Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
An attractive, brambly nose with fresh herbs, red cherries and berries on offer. There’s a vibrant edge to the palate with a very plush, smooth and fresh feel to the crunchy red cherries. Impressive definition here. Drink now.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2017 Pucalán Arenaria Pinot Noir was produced with grapes from the coastal part of the Aconcagua Valley eight kilometers from the sea, where the soils have calcium carbonate and clay. It's from a four-hectare vineyard that is planted at a density of 10,000 plants per hectare, where they have separated up to 14 different plots because of the difference in the soils. Each plot is vinified separately in concrete vats, and malolactic and élevage was in French oak barrels and lasted 18 months. They select the two plots overlooking the sea for this wine, which feels riper and juicier and is from a warm year when they harvested early and achieved 14% alcohol. It has grainy tannins and the texture of granite soils, which would welcome some food. 4,750 bottles were filled in February 2019.
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.