Winemaker Notes
Intensely fruity aromas with red and black fruit showing in a ripe juicy state. Powerful, well-balanced with a good volume and well-integrated tannins.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
This has a bright and modern array of spicy, oak-dressed purple fruit, framed-up nicely on the palate with firm edges that hold a plush core of ripe fruit. Drink or hold.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Limited Edition range has six varietal reds, but they all have small percentages of other grapes, including the 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon Limited Edition, which has 2% Cabernet Franc and 20% Petit Verdot. It fermented in stainless steel and matured in French oak barrels for 15 months. 2017 was a dry and warm, and this comes from slightly older vines and stony soils that give lower yields, and there is more spice here with hints of merken, the Chilean spice mix reminiscent of paprika, and a smoky touch. There is also more grip on the palate and a little more structure and seriousness. This is a textbook ripe and soft Maipo Cabernet.
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Wine & Spirits
The Pérez Cruz family farm their Liguai vineyard just south of Alto Jahuel, in the foothills of the Andes. Their 2017 cabernet is light and red-fruited, its silken texture taken toward waxy richness by aging in French oak (50 percent new). The Andean flavors are saturated enough to fill out the oak, lasting on notes of strawberry seeds, pomegranate and tobacco. Pour it with dark-meat chicken braised with olives.
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.