Winemaker Notes
The wine presents an impressive, deep red color, with purple borders. On the nose, the wine shows great potency and complexity of aromas, ranging from ripe red and black fruit to black pepper, nutmeg, candy, and leather; Leading to the aromas acquired after 18 months in French oak barrels, including tobacco, toast, vanilla, and liqueur. The palate is equally broad and balanced, with big body and a silky sensation that remains for a long, pleasing finish.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Deep, opulent and rich but not overdone. Plenty of blackberries, dark chocolate and cigar box. Spices and graphite, too. Just a hint of figs. The full-bodied palate is tightly wound but tense, with tight tannins and concentrated black fruit. Really flavorful and long.
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Wine Enthusiast
The winery harvested the grapes from its estate in the Apalta subregion and achieved a wine with freshness during the warm year. It starts with inviting notes of black fruit on the nose. The concentrated palate shows blueberry, blackberry and wood spices supported by fine tannins.
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.