Winemaker Notes
Blend: 56% Cabernet Sauvignon, 43% Carmenere, 1% Cabernet Franc
Professional Ratings
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Vinous
The 2021 Lien blends 56% Cabernet Sauvignon, 43% Carménère and 1% Cabernet Franc from Palmilla, Colchagua. This aged for 18 months in French oak barrels. It opens with plum, mint, soft herbs, currant, a touch of anise and subtle oak. Dry, creamy and juicy on the palate, this offers very fine-grained tannins and fresh red fruit. This is polished and elegant, with a supple core and delicate grip.
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James Suckling
The savory and lightly spicy nose shows peppery fruit, tobacco and licorice. Rich but refined with lovely elegance and an expressive, long-lasting finish. A blend of 56% cabernet sauvignon, 43% carmenere and 1% cabernet franc. Drink now or hold.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2021 Lien is a fantastic introduction to the style at Maquis, opening with a refined nose of vibrant fresh herbs, red peppers, gravel and perfectly ripe dark fruits. The palate is soft and elegant yet retains admirable delineation, concluding with a slow-moving, sculpted finish—an overperforming stepping stone into the timeless style at Maquis.
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Wine Spectator
This really leans into its savory side, with notes of cigar box, graphite and cedar swirling throughout the tightly coiled core of cassis and blackberry. Twinges of baking spices fold in around fine-structured tannins. Carmenère, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc. Drink now through 2036.
With hundreds of red grape varieties to choose from, winemakers have the freedom to create a virtually endless assortment of blended red wines. In many European regions, strict laws are in place determining the set of varieties that may be used, but in the New World, experimentation is permitted and encouraged resulting in a wide variety of red wine styles. Blending can be utilized to enhance balance or create complexity, lending different layers of flavors and aromas. For example, a red wine blend variety that creates a fruity and full-bodied wine would do well combined with one that is naturally high in acidity and tannins. Sometimes small amounts of a particular variety are added to boost color or aromatics. Blending can take place before or after fermentation, with the latter, more popular option giving more control to the winemaker over the final qualities of the wine.
How to Serve Red Wine
A common piece of advice is to serve red wine at “room temperature,” but this suggestion is imprecise. After all, room temperature in January is likely to be quite different than in August, even considering the possible effect of central heating and air conditioning systems. The proper temperature to aim for is 55° F to 60° F for lighter-bodied reds and 60° F to 65° F for fuller-bodied wines.
How Long Does Red Wine Last?
Once opened and re-corked, a bottle stored in a cool, dark environment (like your fridge) will stay fresh and nicely drinkable for a day or two. There are products available that can extend that period by a couple of days. As for unopened bottles, optimal storage means keeping them on their sides in a moderately humid environment at about 57° F. Red wines stored in this manner will stay good – and possibly improve – for anywhere from one year to multiple decades. Assessing how long to hold on to a bottle is a complicated science. If you are planning long-term storage of your reds, seek the advice of a wine professional.
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.