Winemaker Notes
Blend: Cabernet Sauvignon 91%, Cabernet Franc 7%, Merlot 2%
Professional Ratings
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Wine & Spirits
Based on cabernet sauvignon from the Chena Vineyard, this is Pablo Morandé's top red wine. The 2005 melds the spicy warmth of turmeric and clove into flavors of tart red cherries. It's robust, and still tannic despite its age. The flavors have the kind of substantial depth to match roast game.
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Wine Spectator
Dark and powerful, with ample toast offset by black fig, black currant and maduro tobacco notes. Muscular, loamy tannins provide the undercarriage, with a long, smoldering finish. Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot. Drink now through 2015.
A noble variety bestowed with both power and concentration, Cabernet Sauvignon enjoys success all over the globe, its best examples showing potential to age beautifully for decades. Cabernet Sauvignon flourishes in Bordeaux's Medoc where it is often blended with Merlot and smaller amounts of some combination of Cabernet Franc, Malbecand Petit Verdot. In the Napa Valley, ‘Cab’ is responsible for some of the world’s most prestigious, age-worthy and sought-after “cult” wines. Somm Secret—DNA profiling in 1997 revealed that Cabernet Sauvignon was born from a spontaneous crossing of Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc in 17th century southwest France.
The Maipo Valley is Chile’s most famous wine region. Set in the country’s Central Valley, it is warm and quite dry, often necessitating the use of irrigation. Alluvial soils predominate but are supplemented with loam and clay.
The climate in Maipo is best-suited for ripe, full-bodied reds like Cabernet Sauvignon (the region’s most widely planted grape), Merlot, Syrah and Carmenère, a Bordeaux variety that has found a successful home in Chile.
White wines are also produced with great prosperity, especially near the cooler coast, include Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc.