2020-05-31_Wine_Spectator

MAY 31, 2020 • WINE SPECTATOR 79

TASTING REPORT | CHILE

life. They are wines to drink younger.”

The highest-scoring wine in this report hails from the Puente

Alto subdistrict of the Maipo Valley, which is home to many top-

rated reds. The pure and powerful Viñedo Chadwick Puente Alto

2017 (96, $330) is made with grapes harvested from a 37-acre

vineyard that was first planted in the early 1990s by Eduardo

Chadwick, a key innovator in Chilean wines. With densely spaced

vines yielding only 3 tons per acre, the wine’s red fruit and min-

eral flavors are extremely concentrated. The aging regimen of 22

months in mostly new French oak provides richness and added

structure.

Chadwick is clearly firing on all cylinders. His two wineries in

the Aconcagua Valley, Viña Errázuriz and Viña Seña, also hit

their marks this year. The 2017 Seña (94, $135), a Cabernet-

based blend with a significant percentage of Carmenère, is crisp

and minerally, filled with focused red fruit and savory spice fla-

vors, while the Cabernet-based Viña Errázuriz Don Maximiano

Founder’s Reserve Aconcagua Valley 2016 (92, $112) is a refined

version, showing notes of raspberry, cherry and pomegranate.

The other two classic-rated wines in this report also come from

Puente Alto, both of them made by Concha y Toro. The suave

Viña Don Melchor Cabernet Sauvignon Puente Alto 30th An-

niversary 2017 (95, $120) is complex and elegant, while the pow-

erful Concha y Toro Cabernet Sauvignon Puente Alto Gravas

del Maipo 2017 (95, $70) shows fleshy richness.

The Gravas is made from the same vineyard as the Don Melchor,

but from different blocks and younger vines, and both wines

shared the same veteran winemaker, Enrique Tirado. (Isabel Mi-

tarakis, who has worked with Tirado at both ventures since 2013,

took over the reins at Gravas last year.) Although the Don

Melchor was aged two-thirds in new French oak for 15 months,

the Gravas was aged three-quarters in second-use French oak for

14 months, with the remainder in new wood, which helps to ac-

centuate its exuberant dark fruit and spice flavors.

The broader Maipo Valley appellation south of Santiago is the

fount for many value-priced reds highlighting the range of styles

that Chile can produce. The Viña Santa Rita Triple C 2015 (92,

$40) is a mouthwatering blend of Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sau-

vignon and Carmenère; the Viña Santa Ema Cabernet Sauvignon

Reserva 2018 (91, $17) is lively and minerally, with concentrated

flavors; the Viña Tarapacá Carmenère Gran Reserva 2018 (91,

$18) is a rich and spicy version of this savory grape; and the lithe

Cousiño-Macul Cabernet Sauvignon Antiguas Reservas 2017

(90, $17) offers crunchy red fruit and green herbal notes.

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n the Colchagua Valley, about two hours south of Santiago, red

blends are in the driver’s seat. The powerful Viña Montes Alpha

M Colchagua Valley 2017 (94, $105) is a Bordeaux blend based

on Cabernet Sauvignon, while the structured Viñedos Emiliana

Gê Colchagua Valley 2014 (93, $90) brings Syrah into the mix

with Carmenère and Cabernet Sauvignon. In the region’s scenic

Apalta district, where granite- and clay-based soils predominate,

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Concha y Toro, Chile’s largest wine producer, delivered two classic-rated Cabernet Sauvignons from the 2017 vintage, both hailing from the Maipo Valley’s Puente Alto subdistrict.

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