Winemaker Notes
Food Match: roasts, red meat, grilled meats, game, duck, beef.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2005 Sena, from an outstanding vintage, is composed of 57% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot, 9% Carmenere, 6% Cabernet Franc, and 3% Petit Verdot. The wine spent 18 months in 100% new French oak. Purple-colored, it offers up an alluring bouquet of pain grille, espresso, spice box, black currant, and blackberry. Layered, ripe, and intensely flavored, its elegant personality is reminiscent of a top-level St.-Julien from a quality vintage. The flavors already reveal considerably complexity and the tannic structure suggests that Sena will have a lengthy upward trajectory. It should reach its peak by 2015 and remain at that level through 2035. Sena is one of Chile’s icon wines and deservedly so. Vina Sena was originally a partnership between Eduardo Chadwick and Robert Mondavi but since the demise of the Mondavi empire, Sena has been going it alone. The fruit is entirely sourced from the Sena Hillside Vineyard which is biodynamically farmed.
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Wine Enthusiast
Arguably the best Seña to date. This blend of Cabernet, Merlot, Carmenère, Cab Franc and Petit Verdot opens with a mix of perfume, spice and prickle along with raspberry. The palate is flush and flashy, with a complex blend of strawberry, raspberry, vanilla, cinnamon and tobacco flavors. Smooth as a glass table, and slightly creamy. Excellent Chilean wine to drink now through 2010.
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.
Dramatic geographic and climatic changes from west to east make Chile an exciting frontier for wines of all styles. Chile’s entire western border is Pacific coastline, its center is composed of warm valleys and on its eastern border, are the soaring Andes Mountains.
Chile’s central valleys, sheltered by the costal ranges, and in some parts climbing the eastern slopes of the Andes, remain relatively warm and dry. The conditions are ideal for producing concentrated, full-bodied, aromatic reds rich in black and red fruits. The eponymous Aconcagua Valley—hot and dry—is home to intense red wines made from Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah and Merlot.
The Maipo, Rapel, Curicó and Maule Valleys specialize in Cabernet and Bordeaux Blends as well as Carmenère, Chile’s unofficial signature grape.
Chilly breezes from the Antarctic Humboldt Current allow the coastal regions of Casablanca Valley and San Antonio Valley to focus on the cool climate loving varieties, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc.
Chile’s Coquimbo region in the far north, containing the Elqui and Limari Valleys, historically focused solely on Pisco production. But here the minimal rainfall, intense sunlight and chilly ocean breezes allow success with Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. The up-and-coming southern regions of Bio Bio and Itata in the south make excellent Riesling, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.
Spanish settlers, Juan Jufre and Diego Garcia de Cáceres, most likely brought Vitis vinifera (Europe’s wine producing vine species) to the Central Valley of Chile sometime in the 1550s. One fun fact about Chile is that its natural geographical borders have allowed it to avoid phylloxera and as a result, vines are often planted on their own rootstock rather than grafted.