Winemaker Notes
The 2017 vintage has a beautiful, deep, ruby-red color. On the nose the notes are of ripe red fruit, such as cherry, strawberry, and plum. With 18 months in French oak barrels, the wine shows good complexity, with notes of tobacco, sweet spice, and very well balanced toast in the background. On the palate the aroma profile reappears, with the wine showing balance and an enveloping character, medium body and a long finish, full of creamy sensations and persistent fruit character.
Highly recommended with roast turkey, beef fillet, sherried kidneys, duck confit.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Beautiful richness and intensity on the nose with sliced plums, chocolate and some meat and earth. This is full-bodied with loads of fruit and ripe tannins. Smoky and rich. Flavorful finish. Still a baby. Please give this three or four years to come together. Drink after 2022.
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Tasting Panel
This charming single-vineyard red from Montes’ Apalta estate blends 80% Cabernet Sauvignon with 10% Cab Franc, 5% Merlot, and 5% Petit Verdot. Aged 18 months in new French oak, it’s one of the country’s most revered wines. It thoroughly engages the senses with a nose of graphite, licorice, and blackberry as well as a focused palate of spiced blue fruit and violets.
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Wine Spectator
Powerful and well-structured, with cedar and leafy notes to the concentrated red fruit and spice flavors. Dried green herbal accents show midpalate, leading to a mineral-infused finish that lingers with a dollop of anise. Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Merlot. Drink now through 2026.
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Wine Enthusiast
Aromas of cassis, fresh tomato, tobacco, herbs, eucalyptus and spice are Chilean all the way, while this Cabernet-led blend feels solid but a little light in the midpalate. Savory plum, berry and tomato-sauce flavors finish dry and smooth, with manageable tannins. Drink through 2027.
One of the world’s most classic and popular styles of red wine, Bordeaux-inspired blends have spread from their homeland in France to nearly every corner of the New World. Typically based on either Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot and supported by Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot, the best of these are densely hued, fragrant, full of fruit and boast a structure that begs for cellar time. Somm Secret—Blends from Bordeaux are generally earthier compared to those from the New World, which tend to be fruit-dominant.
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.