Winemaker Notes
Highly recommended with red meats, lamb,veal, and pork chops.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Aromas of blueberry and stone with hints of fresh tea. Full body, dense and layered with soft and velvety tannin texture. It goes on for minutes. Cooler and more blue fruits than some vintages due to the cooler vintage.
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Wine Enthusiast
Plenty of up-front oak makes for a nose with char and smoke on top of perfumed black fruit. A profoundly deep palate is fairly tannic and firm. Flavors of black plum, dark chocolate, herbs and pepper finish more dry than jammy, with tea and wood spice notes.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2013 Folly is pure Syrah from the slopes of the Montes vineyard in the Apalta Valley, one of the first plantings of the variety in Chile. The soils are very rich in iron, which might be partly responsible for the aromas of beef blood and fresh meat. There are also plenty of spices, denoting a cooler growing season. It slowly develops smoky bacon notes and hints of black olives. The 18 months in new oak are not noticeable. This single vineyard is basically dry-farmed with just some water in the winter of the very dry years to simulate the natural conditions of winter rain. It's medium to full-bodied with juicy fruit and some dusty tannins. A powerful Syrah that can be enjoyed with similarly powerful food or lay down for a nice development in bottle.
Marked by an unmistakable deep purple hue and savory aromatics, Syrah makes an intense, powerful and often age-worthy red. Native to the Northern Rhône, Syrah achieves its maximum potential in the steep village of Hermitage and plays an important component in the Red Rhône Blends of the south, adding color and structure to Grenache and Mourvèdre. Syrah is the most widely planted grape of Australia and is important in California and Washington. Sommelier Secret—Such a synergy these three create together, the Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre trio often takes on the shorthand term, “GSM.”
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.