2021 De Martino, Cuvée, Viñedo Santa Inés, Maipo Valley, Chile

2021 De Martino, Cuvée, Viñedo Santa Inés, Maipo Valley, Chile

Product: 20218301802
Prices start from £100.00 per bottle (75cl). Buying options
2021 De Martino, Cuvée, Viñedo Santa Inés, Maipo Valley, Chile

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Description

3,127 bottles were filled in December 2022.

The new top of the range took years to develop, identifying the best plots from their vineyards in Isla de Maipo to produce the 2021 Cuvée, the second vintage of this wine. It was produced with 91% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Malbec and 4% Petit Verdot from a vineyard, Sant Inés, which is mentioned on the label, and bottled with only 12.5% alcohol and notable freshness and acidity.

It fermented in stainless steel with indigenous yeasts and matured in neutral barrels for three months followed by 17 months in a 2,500-litre oak foudre. The wine is serious, austere and shy, faintly balsamic with a note of camphor I've seen in a number of wines from 2021. The palate is light to medium-bodied, fine-boned, very elegant and harmonious. There is a sense of lightness here.

Drink 2024 - 2029

Luis Gutiérrez, Wine Advocate (April 2023)

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Critics reviews

Wine Advocate95/100

3,127 bottles were filled in December 2022.

The new top of the range took years to develop, identifying the best plots from their vineyards in Isla de Maipo to produce the 2021 Cuvée, the second vintage of this wine. It was produced with 91% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Malbec and 4% Petit Verdot from a vineyard, Sant Inés, which is mentioned on the label, and bottled with only 12.5% alcohol and notable freshness and acidity.

It fermented in stainless steel with indigenous yeasts and matured in neutral barrels for three months followed by 17 months in a 2,500-litre oak foudre. The wine is serious, austere and shy, faintly balsamic with a note of camphor I've seen in a number of wines from 2021. The palate is light to medium-bodied, fine-boned, very elegant and harmonious. There is a sense of lightness here.

Drink 2024 - 2029

Luis Gutiérrez, Wine Advocate (April 2023)

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Jancis Robinson MW16/20

Full bottle of this 'Gran Vino' is 1,217 g – feels so much more, which just shows how skillful bottle manufacturers have become. Sebastian De Martino writes, 'This is a wine that we have been working for several years before release. This is its second vintage. Cuvée is our finest wine from our vineyard [called Viñedo Santa Inés] in Isla de Maipo. We aim to highlight our idea of finesse in De Martino. In the most gravelly part of the vineyard we have some old massal selections (ungrafted) of Cabernet Sauvignon which is the base of this wine, planted in 1997 and 1999. In total the blend is 91% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Malbec and 4% Petit Verdot (both from the same vineyard as well). 3,376 bottles produced.'

Mid to pale crimson. Much fresher than most Chilean Cabernets but I wonder whether this is a good thing and maybe one should just embrace the glorious ripeness possible in Maipo old-vine Cabernet? The Cabernet was picked on 3 March – perhaps a tad too early? I feel like a heel in expressing any doubt about an attempt at finesse from De Martino which I admire a lot.

Drink 2025 - 2030

Jancis Robinson MW, JancisRobinson.com (June 2024)

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James Suckling94/100

91% Cabernet Sauvignon harvested on March 3, 5% Malbec harvested on March 4 and 4% Petit Verdot harvested on March 31.

Refined, complex and nicely understated. Layered and fresh on the palate with touches of paprika, iron and cocoa powder. Subtle and linear, with a medium body and dusty skin tannins that make me think of Italy. Long, juicy and naturally mouthwatering. A wine that shows lovely drinkability.

Enjoy now or hold

Zekun Shuai, JamesSuckling.com (March 2024)

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Decanter93/100

This is an elegant, layered wine which owner Marco de Martino compares to Margaux, if it were to fit into a Bordeaux stereotype. It is quite Margaux-like, with fragrant, floral layers of hibiscus and rosehip, and supple red fruit underneath leading to a fresh, sultry finish.

Drink 2024 - 2034

Amanda Barnes, Decanter.com (June 2024)

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Joaquin Hidalgo96/100

The 2021 Cuvée Gran Vino blends 91% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Malbec and 4% Petit Verdot from Isla de Maipo. Aged for three months in very old barrels, followed by an additional 16 months in 25hL oak casks, this garnet-hued wine unveils a complex nose of cherry, blackberry, menthol, bay leaf, camphor and rose. Dry and intense, its fine-grained palate and delicate, juicy flow deliver a comfortable and deep mouthfeel that vibrates with energy. This Bordeaux-inspired wine leans towards the structure of Saint-Julien, offering a layered and complex experience.

Drink 2026 - 2038

Joaquín Hidalgo, Vinous.com (July 2024)

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About this WINE

De Martino

De Martino

De Martino is one of the most progressive and exciting names on the Chilean wine scene, deservedly named Chilean Winery of the year in 2011. Through a network of intellectual partnerships and vineyard acquisition, it has quickly built up a reputation for organic viticulture of the highest quality, farming from over 350 different vineyards.

The corporate vision focuses on sustainability, terroir, and, by logical extension, excellence. By concentrating on the very best sites for the varieties in question, be they in Limari, Elqui or Maipo, and by the development of a world class winemaking team, De Martino now sits at the very top of the Chilean vinous hierarchy.

The Alto Piedras vineyards make up 5 hectares of the sub-Denominacion of the Isla de Maipo, a de facto island as the vines are surrounded by two branches of the Maipo River. Two other self-evident truths are located in the nomenclature; firstly that the terrain is rocky, volcanic gravel to be precise and secondly that the vines are quite high up. Chile’s indigenous grape, Carmenère, is here aged for 18 months in new French oak.

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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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When is a wine ready to drink?

We provide drinking windows for all our wines. Alongside the drinking windows there is a bottle icon and a maturity stage. Bear in mind that the best time to drink a wine does also depend on your taste.

Not ready

These wines are very young. Whilst they're likely to have lots of intense flavours, their acidity or tannins may make them feel austere. Although it isn't "wrong" to drink these wines now, you are likely to miss out on a lot of complexity by not waiting for them to mature.

Ready - youthful

These wines are likely to have plenty of fruit flavours still and, for red wines, the tannins may well be quite noticeable. For those who prefer younger, fruitier wines, or if serving alongside a robust meal, these will be very enjoyable. If you choose to hold onto these wines, the fruit flavours will evolve into more savoury complexity.

Ready - at best

These wines are likely to have a beautiful balance of fruit, spice and savoury flavours. The acidity and tannins will have softened somewhat, and the wines will show plenty of complexity. For many, this is seen as the ideal time to drink and enjoy these wines. If you choose to hold onto these wines, they will become more savoury but not necessarily more complex.

Ready - mature

These wines are likely to have plenty of complexity, but the fruit flavours will have been almost completely replaced by savoury and spice notes. These wines may have a beautiful texture at this stage of maturity. There is lots to enjoy when drinking wines at this stage. Most of these wines will hold in this window for a few years, though at the very end of this drinking window, wines start to lose complexity and decline.