2017 Errazuriz, Las Pizarras Pinot Noir, Aconcagua Costa, Chile
Critics reviews
Luis Gutirrez - 31/10/2018
About this WINE
Errazuriz
Vina Errazuriz was established by Don Maximiano Errazuriz in 1870 and today the company is run by his descendent, Eduardo Chadwick. The company has four separate estates, with its original estate and spiritual heartland being in the Panquehue sub-region of the Aconcagua Valley. Here the vines benefit from the cool and rainy winters, as well as the warm summers. Most importantly, the majority of the vineyards are situated on slopes, which ensures that the grapes reach optimum ripeness.
Californian winemaker Ed Flaherty joined in 1997 and he has taken the wines to new heights, largely through fine-tuning vineyard practices and by reducing yields.
Without doubt one of the very best Chilean producers.
Pinot Noir
Pinot Noir is probably the most frustrating, and at times infuriating, wine grape in the world. However when it is successful, it can produce some of the most sublime wines known to man. This thin-skinned grape which grows in small, tight bunches performs well on well-drained, deepish limestone based subsoils as are found on Burgundy's Côte d'Or.
Pinot Noir is more susceptible than other varieties to over cropping - concentration and varietal character disappear rapidly if yields are excessive and yields as little as 25hl/ha are the norm for some climats of the Côte d`Or.
Because of the thinness of the skins, Pinot Noir wines are lighter in colour, body and tannins. However the best wines have grip, complexity and an intensity of fruit seldom found in wine from other grapes. Young Pinot Noir can smell almost sweet, redolent with freshly crushed raspberries, cherries and redcurrants. When mature, the best wines develop a sensuous, silky mouth feel with the fruit flavours deepening and gamey "sous-bois" nuances emerging.
The best examples are still found in Burgundy, although Pinot Noir`s key role in Champagne should not be forgotten. It is grown throughout the world with notable success in the Carneros and Russian River Valley districts of California, and the Martinborough and Central Otago regions of New Zealand.
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Description
As with the Chardonnay, the 2017 Aconcagua Costa Las Pizarras Pinot Noir is also fresher and sharper than the 2016 I tasted next to it, despite the year being somewhat warmer. They used 20% full clusters for the fermentation in open tanks. The levage was in 35% new French oak barrels and lasted some 14 months. This feels very young and fruit-driven, open, aromatic, exuberant and, in a way, less mineral than the 2016. Perhaps it's only a matter of age, but this doesn't seem to have the same level of complexity and depth. I see this more in line with 2015. 10,000 bottles were filled in May 2018.
Luis Gutirrez - 31/10/2018
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