Winemaker Notes
Blend: 92% Petit Verdot, 8% Carmenere
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2011 Chaski Petit Verdot is the fourth vintage of the label and this year it is blended with 8% Carmenere and aged in oak barrels. This is one of the (very) few Petit Verdots from Chile. The grapes were harvested very late, in May, and the wine has a fragrant nose mixing floral with balsamic notes, plenty of aromas of Mediterranean herbs (lavender, rosemary), cola and a mixture of red and black fruit. It has a velvety texture, not as hard or astringent as the stereotype for Petit Verdot would make you think, with great acidity and balance with a mineral sensation, almost something volcanic (petrol, tar). I found this same texture in a Petit Verdot from Argentina, from Finca Decero and a remarkable one from Lapostolle in Apalta too. This is an impressive Petit Verdot at a very attractive price.
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James Suckling
Red fruits, leather, and hints of roasted beans on the nose. Soft tannins with density and structure. An elegant finish.
One of the original Bordeaux varieties, Petit Verdot has a bold structure, color and aromas, which allow it to make a significant difference in Bordeaux Blends—even in modest amounts. While it isn’t planted in Bordeaux in great quantities anymore, its virtues are increasingly identified elsewhere. Somm Secret—Producing phenomenal single-varietal wines in hot and dry locations in the New World, Petit Verdot also finds a happy home in parts of Spain as well as in in Portugal’s Alentejo where it gracefully blends with the regions' indigenous varieties.
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.