Winemaker Notes
This hand harvested, single vineyard, 100% estate Sauvignon Blanc is from vines that Rafael Tirado planted himself in 1998. This SB has a bright nose with Guava, passion fruit, and lemon leading to a mineral mid palate and soft undertones of crushed rock. The volcanic ash from the vineyard adds to this minerality and sustained finish. The Sauvignon Blanc is fermented in 100% stainless steel which leads to a very juicy and refreshing wine.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The amazing 2018 Cenizas de Laberinto Sauvignon Blanc has to be one of the finest vintages for this wine and one of the best Sauvignon Blancs ever produced in Chile. The vines are planted on volcanic soils on the Andes side of Maule, where the days are cool and the nights very cold. 2018 was a cooler year, with very low yields of small bunches, and all of that accentuates the acidity and sharp minerality of the wine, which has insane parameters—12.5% alcohol, a pH of 3.05 and nine grams of acidity! Of course, the wine didn't go through malolactic and was kept with the lees for six months. This has a style in the line of the 2011, 2013 and 2016—all cold years—but in a more complete style, keeping the freshness but giving it a broader palate. It has strong herbal aromas and flavors (nettle tea?) and sharp acidity, very sharp indeed, in a slightly wild style. This should age forever.
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Wine & Spirits
Rafael Tirado grows this fruit at his vineyard in the Andean foothills of Maule, which benefi ts from the cool mountain air to produce an equally cool and zesty sauvignon. The wine’s youthful acidity is still a bit raw, but there’s plenty of substance to the fruit to merge into the structure with a year of bottle age. Then open it for panroasted brook trout.
Capable of a vast array of styles, Sauvignon Blanc is a crisp, refreshing variety that equally reflects both terroir and varietal character. Though it can vary depending on where it is grown, a couple of commonalities always exist—namely, zesty acidity and intense aromatics. This variety is of French provenance. Somm Secret—Along with Cabernet Franc, Sauvignon Blanc is a proud parent of Cabernet Sauvignon. That green bell pepper aroma that all three varieties share is no coincidence—it comes from a high concentration of pyrazines (herbaceous aromatic compounds) inherent to each member of the family.
Maule is the Central Valley’s most southern and coolest zone, reaching a southern latitude of 35°S, yet it is still warmer and drier than Bío-Bío to its south. The Maule Valley enjoys success with a unique set of grapes.
It lays claim to the local variety, Pais (synonymous with Tinta Pais, which is actually Tempranillo), which has dominated much of the region’s area under vine until the recent past. Now many growers, not confined by the tradition and regulations of the Old World, also successfully grow Cabernet Sauvignon.
While Maule’s total area under vine remains relatively static, its old Carignan vineyards are undergoing a great revival. The VIGNO (Vignadores del Carignan Vintners) group, an association in charge of promoting this long-forgotten variety, is getting fantastic results from the old vines in its dry-farmed coastal zones.
The Maule includes the subregions of Talca, San Clemente, San Javier, Parral, Linares and Cauquenes.