Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A layered and luscious white with cooked apple and cream character. Full and flavorful.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: One of my Aha! Moments in South America was when I tasted my first Limarí Chardonnay. I was surprised and excited that a Chilean Chardonnay could be so good—that memorable moment was more than a decade ago. The 2016 Concha y Toro Marques de Casa Concha has brought me back to that time in my life. TASTING NOTES: This wine is everyone one would want in a fine Chardonnay. Its aromas and flavors of ripe apple, dried leaves, and mineral should pair it famously with lobster in a light butter sauce. (Tasted: October 25, 2018, San Francisco, CA)
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.
Part of the Coquimbo region and a key location for pisco production, the Limari Valley is one of the northern most wine producing regions of Chile. The other two, also part of Coquimbo, are the Elqui and less-developed Choapa Valleys. While more vineyard area is dedicated to pisco production (via the grapes of Muscat of Alexandria, Pedro Jimenez, Moscatel de Asturia and Torontel), the acreage under vine for still wine production has increased. The intense sunlight in the Limari Valley, coupled with little rainfall as well as the cooling effect of the Humboldt Current from the Pacifc Ocean, all make the area ideal for cool climate grapes like Chardonnay and Pinot noir.