2019 Almaviva, Epu, Maipo Valley, Chile

2019 Almaviva, Epu, Maipo Valley, Chile

Product: 20198146612
 
2019 Almaviva, Epu, Maipo Valley, Chile

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Description

Second wine of Almaviva, released through the Place for the first time in 2021. There is spiced damson and blackcurrant fruit, dark chocolate shavings and a sweet, ripe feel overall, plenty of glamour and impact, but traces also of a hot, dry season with a touch of heat on the finish. This needs time to open, so although there is no problem with drinking soon, it will really benefit from time in a carafe to soften the tannins.

Drink 2022 to 2028

Jane Anson, Inside Bordeaux (October 2021)

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Critics reviews

Jane Anson92/100
Second wine of Almaviva, released through the Place for the first time in 2021. There is spiced damson and blackcurrant fruit, dark chocolate shavings and a sweet, ripe feel overall, plenty of glamour and impact, but traces also of a hot, dry season with a touch of heat on the finish. This needs time to open, so although there is no problem with drinking soon, it will really benefit from time in a carafe to soften the tannins.

Drink 2022 to 2028

Jane Anson, Inside Bordeaux (October 2021) Read more
Wine Advocate95+/100

The first truly international release of the second wine is going to be the 2019 Epu, which has changed image and label, looking a little more like Almaviva, and is going to be sold through the Bordeaux négoce. 2019 was a very dry vintage, and the blend is 84% Cabernet Sauvignon, 13% Carmenere, 2% Merlot and 1% Cabernet Franc with slightly higher alcohol than 2018 and with lower acidity, matured in used barriques for one year.

In terms of freshness, the wine is quite similar to the 2018 that I tasted next to it, obviously a little younger, quite intense and fruit-driven, spicy and herbal, with a creamy texture and fine-grained tannins. It's a second wine, but they also want to do something different and Epu is perhaps a little more classical, perhaps this is more Bordeaux and Almaviva is more Chilean. 70,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in December 2020 and January 2021.

Drink 2021 - 2028

Luis Gutiérrez, Wine Advocate (Aug 2021)

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James Suckling94/100
Aromas of blueberries, blackberries and fresh flowers. Very cool and pure. Medium-bodied with fine, linear and very integrated tannins that are compressed and silky-textured. New second wine of Almaviva. Needs time to open. Try after 2024.

James Suckling, jamessuckling.com (Jun 2021) Read more

About this WINE

Almaviva

Almaviva

Almaviva was established in 1996 by Baron Philippe de Rothschild of Château Mouton-Rothschild and Concha y Toro. Their aim was to create the first Bordeaux Grand Cru Classé equivalent in Chile. With 40 hectares of Concha y Toro's best Puente Alto vineyards being dedicated to the task and the steady hand of Patrick Leon (winemaker at Mouton and Opus One), the results have been nothing short of spectacular.

Located in the Maipo Valley, in Chile's central zone, Puente Alto was recognized over twenty years ago as offering ideal conditions for growing the Cabernet Sauvignon grape. It is here that 85 hectares have been reserved exclusively for Almaviva.

Characteristic features of Puente Alto include its stony soil, cold, rainy winters, and the hot days and cool nights of its summers. The Almaviva vineyard is tended with meticulous care from pruning to harvest. A revolutionary underground drip irrigation system has been installed, making it possible to deliver the precise amount of water that each vine needs with a constant concern for quality.

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Maipo

Maipo

Maipo Valley, the northernmost within Central Valley, is one of Chile's most prominent wine regions. It is located east of San Antonio and Casablanca Valley and north of Rapel Valley, and is nestled between two mountain ranges, the Andes and the Coastal Mountains, with Chile's capital city, Santiago, sitting in the middle.

Maipo is renown for its exceptional Cabernet Sauvignon, ripe, subtle, spicy and complex with its signature, powerful eucalyptus and blackcurrant flavours. It amounts for over 60% of the regions 10,000ha. Merlot, Chardonnay and Carmenere are also important.

Maipo plays host to several major, quality Chilean wine companies, including Almaviva, Concha y Toro, William Fevre, Santa Rita, De Martino
 

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Cabernet Sauvignon Blend

Cabernet Sauvignon Blend

Cabernet Sauvignon lends itself particularly well in blends with Merlot. This is actually the archetypal Bordeaux blend, though in different proportions in the sub-regions and sometimes topped up with Cabernet Franc, Malbec, and Petit Verdot.

In the Médoc and Graves the percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend can range from 95% (Mouton-Rothschild) to as low as 40%. It is particularly suited to the dry, warm, free- draining, gravel-rich soils and is responsible for the redolent cassis characteristics as well as the depth of colour, tannic structure and pronounced acidity of Médoc wines. However 100% Cabernet Sauvignon wines can be slightly hollow-tasting in the middle palate and Merlot with its generous, fleshy fruit flavours acts as a perfect foil by filling in this cavity.

In St-Emilion and Pomerol, the blends are Merlot dominated as Cabernet Sauvignon can struggle to ripen there - when it is included, it adds structure and body to the wine. Sassicaia is the most famous Bordeaux blend in Italy and has spawned many imitations, whereby the blend is now firmly established in the New World and particularly in California and  Australia.

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