Winemaker Notes
Of a deep violet red color, the complexity on the nose conceals its many subtleties, unfolding ?oral notes alongside red and black fruits, denoting its distinctive freshness. Several layers are unveiled delivering notes of cedar, tobacco, bitter chocolate and tru?es. An elegant, tense and yet very attractive wine, it generously o?ers fresh and juicy fruit that reminds of blueberries, raspberries, some spices and Cuban cigar box notes. Above all, Seña 2018 is a truly captivating wine that accomplishes a unique balance between power and elegance.
Blend: 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 18% Malbec, 15% Carmenere, 7% Cabernet Franc, 5% Petit Verdot
Professional Ratings
-
James Suckling
This is a very thoughtful Seña that shows unique aromas of warm earth, mushrooms and conifer, turning to dark berries and black olives. The palate is more glamorous with ultra-fine tannins that envelop your palate. Shows power and vibrancy at the end. Toned muscles. It’s a very intellectual wine that harkens back to the 2015. Blend of 55% cabernet sauvignon, 18% malbec, 15% carmenere, 7% cabernet franc and 5% petit verdot. Beautiful to try now, but better after 2023.
-
Jeb Dunnuck
Based on 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 18% Malbec, 15% Carmenère, 7% Cabernet Franc and 5% Petit Verdot, the 2018 Sena was vinified in a mix of stainless-steel tanks and concrete and aged 22 months in new barrels. Offering up impressive cassis and darker berry fruits as well as notes of violets, truffle, damp earth, tobacco, and candied orange peel, it hits the palate with medium to full-bodied richness, a great, seamless texture, no hard edges, and just about flawless tannins. The overall freshness and purity as well as its seamless texture all make for a compelling, world class wine. Already offering complexity, richness, and elegance, enjoy bottles over the coming 10-15 years.
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
This is a very elegant vintage of Seña, a year with a slow ripening so that the grapes achieved very good ripeness and full development of aromas and flavors, making the wine nuanced and complex, with depth but also freshness and finesse—floral and expressive. The tannins are very fine, polished and elegant, and the wine is long and complex, mixing the best f 2015 and 2016, coming through as a very complete year. It's still a little young and should develop nicely in bottle; it's approachable now, but if you can hold it a little bit more, it should be even better. This has to be the finest vintage of Seña to date. Comparing it with the Chadwick from the same year, there is more freshness and a little more complexity and clout coming form the cooler zone and the palette of varieties used that give more options to achieve more nuance.
-
Decanter
2018 was a return to a more balanced growing season after the drought of 2017, and the cooler conditions of 2016, with long slow ripening that has ensured an intense deep colour, and both concentration and juice in the body of this wine. The aromatics jump straight out of the glass, cedar, black fruit, cloves and cinnamon spice. This is intense, with polish and balance, and will gain further depth over ageing. Layers of complexity on display, extremely impressive vintage of Seña that pulses with life. 7% Cabernet Franc and 5% Petit Verdot completes the blend.
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.
The Aconcagua River runs east from the charming costal town of Valparaiso and bisects the land creating the valley after which it was named. While alluvial soils predominate the Aconcagua Valey along its river throughout, its east-west flow creates drastically different conditions on each of its ends. Its western, seaside vineyards, with clay and stony soils upon gently rolling hills, produce cool-climate varieties such as Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Its inner region is one of Chile’s hottest and produces some of its best red wines. Panquehue in the inner Aconcagua is the site of Chile’s first Syrah vines, planted in 1993.