Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2013 Lot #51 Cabernet Sauvignon is blended with a little Cabernet Franc (15 to 16 barrels of Cabernet Sauvignon and one of Cabernet Franc), and is sourced from the San Juan de Pirque Vineyard. Most of the wines ferment in stainless steel with indigenous yeasts (some small lots are done in plastic bins) and then age in used barrels. There is good herbal freshness, ripe berries, earth, iron and a touch of blood. The tannins are very fine and there is a nice thread of acidity, with good balance. This vineyard is the second terrace of the Maipo river, with the classical rolling stones of Puente Alto, at almost 1,000 meters altitude. The bottles now show a round stamp saying 'Mountain Grown'. The 2009 tasted together with this shows classical notes of bottle evolution, layered with developed notes of cigar box, tobacco and graphite. Classical Chilean Cabernet.
A noble variety bestowed with both power and concentration, Cabernet Sauvignon enjoys success all over the globe, its best examples showing potential to age beautifully for decades. Cabernet Sauvignon flourishes in Bordeaux's Medoc where it is often blended with Merlot and smaller amounts of some combination of Cabernet Franc, Malbecand Petit Verdot. In the Napa Valley, ‘Cab’ is responsible for some of the world’s most prestigious, age-worthy and sought-after “cult” wines. Somm Secret—DNA profiling in 1997 revealed that Cabernet Sauvignon was born from a spontaneous crossing of Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc in 17th century southwest France.
The Maipo Valley is Chile’s most famous wine region. Set in the country’s Central Valley, it is warm and quite dry, often necessitating the use of irrigation. Alluvial soils predominate but are supplemented with loam and clay.
The climate in Maipo is best-suited for ripe, full-bodied reds like Cabernet Sauvignon (the region’s most widely planted grape), Merlot, Syrah and Carmenère, a Bordeaux variety that has found a successful home in Chile.
White wines are also produced with great prosperity, especially near the cooler coast, include Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc.