Winemaker Notes
#84 Wine Spectator Top 100 of 2023
Amplus One is deep ruby red in color with violet notes. The aromas are very expressive and intense, reminiscent of blackberry and cassis with notes of tobacco, chocolate, and graphite. The palate is well structured with ripe, rounded tannins that create a voluminous and silky finish.
Professional Ratings
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Vinous
The 2019 Carménère Amplus One is also 10% Syrah and 5% Carignan from Peumo, aged for 12 months in one-fourth new barrels. Dark purple in the glass. The nose presents notes of spice, plum jam, cigar box and bay leaf. With good body, polished tannins and moderate freshness, the flow is intense and expansive while the finish is fruity. A mellow red for Chile to suit universal tastes.
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Wine Enthusiast
This one comes from vineyards in Peumo within the Cachapoal Valley, a land known for its delicious Carménère. The nose delivers dried herbs, licorice and baking spices over a bouquet of berries. Well structured, it's flavorful with notes of ripe blackberry and plum. Moderate acidity is enough to freshen up the finish while hints of eucalyptus linger in the aftertaste. It's full bodied and enjoyable.
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Wine Spectator
A trace of tarragon lends a slight herbal tinge to this red, which offers a wealth of red currant and linzer torte flavors on a plush, polished frame. Reveals hints of Earl Grey that chime in around fine, mineral-laced tannins. Drink now through 2028.
Vinos Santa Ema is, hands-down, one of the best value/quality brands from Chile,
offering one of strongest quality-to-price wine brands in the world today. Santa Ema’s founding
Pavone family trace their history in Chile back to 1917 when they first came to the region as
grape farmers. Nearly 100 years and four generations of hands-on experience gives Santa Ema
a deep understanding of the Maipo Valley’s unique terroir. The family has established a 500 acre viticultural ‘path’ from the Andes Mountains to the Pacific Ocean, featuring the best terroir from each zone of Maipo: Alt a, Medio and Costa (Leyda). Extensive and selective vineyard ownership allows for creativity and innovation in the vineyards and winery, while guaranteeing quality control. The result is a collection of generous, elegant, regionally distinct wines that overdeliver. Winemaking: The portfolio commences with the excellent value offering, Select Terroir Reserva, which offers excellent fruit concentration, purity of its origin and unmistakable varietal typicity. The next tier up is Sant a Ema’s Reserva/Gran Reserva range. This is the winery’s most traditional and best known collection. Consistently awarded with medals and scores, including a coveted spot on the Wine Spectator Top 100. Perfect harmony and complexity are achieved through delicate barrel aging plus bottle aging. The Am plus line plays on the Latin word for ‘important, sophisticated, distinguished and honorable’. Amplus wines represent the union of tradition and modernity. These are exciting wines with tremendous complexity and elegance.
Dark, full-bodied and herbaceous with a spicy kick, Carménère found great success with its move to Chile in the mid-19th century. However, the variety went a bit undercover until 1994 when many plantings previously thought to be Merlot, were profiled as Carménère. Somm Secret— Carménère is both a progeny and a great-grandchild of the similarly flavored Cabernet Franc.
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.