Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A dense and rich white with sliced pear, apple and mineral character. Some lemon grass too. Full-bodied, rich and flavorful. Some phenolics give it structure.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
Could this be one of the finest Chardonnays from Chile? Perhaps the 2014 Errazuriz Wild Ferment Chardonnay tops some of the best from anywhere in the world! Make no mistake, there is a lot of good stuff going on here. I'd like to pair this one with seared scallops. Medium straw color; wild and active aromas of dried leaves, mineral and tart, core fruits; medium bodied, crisp and crunchy on the palate; dry, fine acidity, well balanced; pure flavors of peach fuzz and earth; long finish, bright aftertaste. (Tasted: February 1, 2016, San Francisco, CA)
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2014 Chardonnay Aconcagua Costa was fermented in barrel with indigenous yeasts, and approximately half of the volume underwent malolactic fermentation. The wine rested in used French oak barrels in contact with the lees for ten months. It has a faint lactic nose with some smoky and spicy aromas, a core of yellow plums and waxy apples, as well as some hints of nuts with a commercial, discrete but incipient complexity; it has with an approachable profile without excess (quite subtle within the barrel fermented Chardonnays). The palate is medium-bodied, dry with pungent flavors, good length and lifted by lively acidity. This is a delicious Chardonnay at a very good price. Some 32,000 bottles were filled March 2015.
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.
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.