Maquis Gran Reserva Cabernet Franc 2015
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James
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Tasting
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Robert
Parker
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
This has a very attractive, fresh red-fruit nose with attractive, leafy and gently herbal notes on offer, too. The palate is sleek, fleshy and focused and the red-berry flavors hold long and crisp. Youthful. Drink or hold.
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Tasting Panel
Juicy and crisp, smooth and bright, balanced and long with racy, fresh style.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The variety that best represents the essence of Maquis is Cabernet Franc, the entry level of which is the 2015 Cabernet Franc. The varietal bottlings are usually complemented by other grapes, in this case 5% Carménère and 3% Petit Verdot. It fermented in stainless steel and matured in French oak barrels for one year. This has ripe black fruit without excess and some varietal notes. It's medium-bodied with fine tannins and good volume.
Other Vintages
2019-
James
Suckling - Vinous
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Wine
Enthusiast
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James
Suckling -
Robert
Parker
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Robert
Parker
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James
Suckling -
Wine
Enthusiast
The Hurtado family has owned the Viña Maquis vineyard for more than a century, but it wasn’t until almost 20 years ago that the family decided to make their own wine out of the terrific grapes in their own backyard. They built a state-of-the-art gravity flow winery and set out to make the Maquis winery one of the great properties in all of South America.
Located in Colchagua Valley, the winery’s focus is on distinctive single-vineyard, estate wines, as well as producing “balanced” wines that are not over-ripe (resulting in excessively high alcohol) but also not exhibiting any of the “green” character that sometimes plagues wines picked from grapes that have not fully matured. The Maquis main vineyard is essentially an island: it is deeply influenced by the Tinguiririca River on one side and the Chimbarongo Creek on the other. These two large waterways once brought alluvial sediment from the Andes and today act as pathways for cool coastal breezes that help moderate the warm Colchagua summers, contributing to the intensity, character, fruitiness and mineral elements of the Maquis wines. Maquis is fortunate to have such a privileged location.
Cabernet Franc, a proud parent of Cabernet Sauvignon, is the subtler and more delicate of the Cabernets. Today Cabernet Franc produces outstanding single varietal wines across the wine-producing world. Somm Secret—One of California's best-kept secrets is the Happy Canyon appellation of Santa Barbara. Here Cabernet Franc shines as a single varietal wine or in blends, expressing sumptuous fruit, savory aromas and polished tannins.
Well-regarded for intense and exceptionally high quality red wines, the Colchagua Valley is situated in the southern part of Chile’s Rapel Valley, with many of the best vineyards lying in the foothills of the Coastal Range.
Heavy French investment and cutting-edge technology in both the vineyard and the winery has been a boon to the local viticultural industry, which already laid claim to ancient vines and a textbook Mediterranean climate.
The warm, dry growing season in the Colchagua Valley favors robust reds made from Cabernet Sauvignon, Carmenère, Malbec and Syrah—in fact, some of Chile’s very best are made here. A small amount of good white wine is produced from Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc.