Wine & Spirits - June 2019 - 74

YEAR'S BEST MAIPO REDS
style of cabernet. Give it some air, and the
Andean influence begins to show, with currant flavors adding a lighter, floral touch to
the deep black-cherry tones, clean and tangy. §
Fetzer Vineyards, Hopland, CA
123846

91 | Peñalolén

$20

2016 Maipo Valley Cabernet Sauvignon ^
Jean-Pascal Lacaze makes Peñalolén from the
younger vines at Viña Quebrada de Macul,
reserving the old-vine fruit for Domus Aurea.
There's a lot of eucalyptus influence in the
aroma of the 2016, but it doesn't diminish
the wine's gentle texture and pretty blackcurrant flavor. Rather, it helps capture the
cool mountain woodland feel of the Andes.
You could take this red in different directions, whether toward shredded braised pork
or rosemary-studded roast lamb. § Global Vineyard Importers, Berkeley, CA
123814

91 | Tabalí

$25

2015 Maipo Valley Talud DOM Cabernet
Sauvignon ^ Felipe Müller makes this wine
from an estate vineyard in the coastal hills
of Maipo, a south-facing slope that moderates cabernet's ripeness to juicy red-currant
flavors and mineral-edged tannins. It's tangy,
with lasting spice, a wine that should evolve
well over the next year or two in bottle. § Biagio
Cru and Estate Wines, New Hyde Park, NY
123784

90 | Casas del Bosque

$60

2014 Maipo Valley Private Reserve Gran
Bosque Cabernet Sauvignon ^ Grant Phelps
and Pilar Gonzalez source this wine from El
Mariscal, a stony vineyard planted in the

1980s just outside Santiago. Those vines
grew a ripe 2014 that takes some time to integrate, starting out with sweet cassis notes and
savory black-olive tones. The disparate elements merge with air, lasting on graphite-like
tannins. Pour it with brisket braised with carrots. § Southern Starz, Huntington Beach, CA

123924

90 | Carmen

$16

2017 Maipo Valley Gran Reserva Los
Quillayes Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon
(Best Buy) ^ With its foresty, ripe red fruit and
darker pomegranate tang, this is a smooth,
rich cabernet that feels cool and lasts with
grace. Pour it with roast lamb. § Trinchero Family Estates, St. Helena, CA
123806

90 | Viña Tarapacá

$18

2017 Maipo Valley Gran Reserva Cabernet
Sauvignon (Best Buy) ^ Spicy red fruit lasts
through this tight and narrow cabernet, with
flavors of black cherry, bay and eucalyptus
lengthening the wine's fresh juiciness. It's
simple and savory, built for sliced flank steak. §
MundoVino/The Winebow Group, NY

B L E N DS
123727

93 | Viña El Principal

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$58

2014 Pirque Memorias ^ Gonzalo Guzmán
Cassanello collaborated on El Principal's
wines with Patrick Léon, the longtime managing director of Bordeaux's Château Mouton-Rothschild, who first came to Chile in
the 1990s to work on Almaviva. In the ripe
2014 vintage, they blended a relatively high
proportion of syrah and petit verdot (22 and
15 percent, respectively) with cabernet sauvignon, creating an intriguing take on Pirque.
Its flavors hint at ripe strawberries and darker
notes of wild blackberries, the sweetness of
that fruit held in a clean, light and delicate
frame. § Kysela Père et Fils, Winchester, VA
123728

92 | Viña El Principal

$99

2014 Pirque El Principal Andetelmo ^ El
Principal comes from the estate's oldest
vines, planted in 1993. It's cabernet sauvignon (90 percent) blended with petit verdot and syrah, opulent and richly saturated.

While the initial impression is all berries,
plums and chocolate-covered cherries, the
structure emerges with air, revealing a cool
savor to the tannins, zesty, firm and built to
age. § Kysela Père et Fils, Winchester, VA
123979

90 | Viñedo Chadwick

$300

2016 Maipo Valley ^ When the Chadwick
family sold their Tocornal vineyard in Puente
Alto to Concha y Toro in 1968, they held onto
the manor house and a small parcel of vines.
Those vines produce this cabernet, its fruit
pointed in a blueberry direction by a little
petit verdot in the blend. It's full and heady,
richly perfumed with mountain herbs, finishing clean and a little short for now. The
flavors should lengthen out with cellar time. §
Vintus, Pleasantville, NY
123835

90 | Xavier Flouret

$17

90 | Viña El Principal

$28

90 | Undurraga

$30

90 | Viña Valdivieso

$35

2015 Maipo Valley Viña Echeverría Oscar
(Best Buy) ^ Roberto Echeverría makes this
wine for Xavier Flouret, blending cabernet
sauvignon, petit verdot and cabernet franc
into a cassis-driven red. It's lean, with a seedy
bitterness against the black-currant-jam flavor, a little tart, but overall soft and mild.
Pour it with braised beef. § Cognac One, NY
123729
2016 Pirque Calicanto ^ A blend of cabernet sauvignon (69 percent) with syrah, petit
verdot, carmenère and malbec, all grown at
El Principal's estate, this is formidably rich,
with chestnut and smoky notes from a year
in French oak, and an intriguing spiciness to
the dark fruit. The wine's umami tones could
take on smoky barbecue. § Kysela Père et Fils,
Winchester, VA
123933
2016 Pirque T.H. Terroir Hunter Cabernet
Sauvignon ^ Grown in a 17-acre vineyard of
alluvial soils in the Alto Maipo, this is dark
in tone, draped in soft tannins that give it
a velvet texture. It's structurally integrated,
emanating warm spice even as the flavors are
closed off for now, needing some bottle age
to grow more expressive. Freedom Beverage
Co., Greensboro, NC
123816
2014 Maipo Valley Caballo Loco Grand
Cru Maipo ^ A blend of cabernets sauvignon
and franc, this has the cool feel of Maipo,
with notes of mint and black olives over dark
cherry flavors. The tannins last with some
tarry bitterness, needing roast lamb to bring
them into balance. § El Catador, Doral, FL ■
https://www.tfewines.com/our-brands/carmen/ https://www.wineandspiritsmagazine.com/wine/tasting-notes
Wine & Spirits - June 2019

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