Winemaker Notes
Blend: 50% Carmenere, 50% Cabernet Sauvignon
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Impressive clarity of blackberries and licorice with cassia bark, wild herbs and leaves, as well as blackcurrants and purple berries. The palate has a sleek, powerful and focused style with such long, athletic yet fine tannins, driving the long, juicy finish. A blend of 55% cabernet sauvignon and 45% carmenere. Drink or hold.
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Wine Spectator
A refined, juicy red, with fresh-crushed green herbal notes that accent the bright red currant and cherry flavors. Lively acidity lingers on the minerally finish. Cabernet Sauvignon and Carmenère. Drink now through 2025. 2,900 cases made, 150 cases imported.
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.