Central Valley

We are delighted to be working with the brilliant De Martino on this new addition to our range. The wine is surprisingly restrained, a nod to Bordeaux evident in its lean, focused character and fine, grainy tannins. This is, however, still full of fresh blackberry fruit with sweet black cherries completing the long yet refreshing finish. Perfect to pour straight away, this also has the gravitas to merit decanting – if you have the patience, that is.
Catriona Felstead MW, Wine Buyer

The wine is an attractive garnet red with purple highlights. The intense and delicate nose reveals luscious ripe fruit aromas mingled with succulent milk chocolate and liquorice notes.

The supple and smooth attack shows mature, elegant, well-rounded tannins, while the packed and elegant mid-palate expands on red fruit flavours accompanied by notes of toast, leaving an impression of succulence and fullness. Distinguished, the very long finish lingers on elegant fruit.

Last time I tasted the 2010, so now it's time for the second vintage, which is the 2011 Auma -- the top-of-the-range blend that changes with the vintage; in 2011, it contained Carménère (37%), Cabernet Sauvignon (25%), Malbec (18%), Syrah (13%) and Petit Verdot (7%) from their Los Lingues Estate in the mountain part of Colchagua, the Colchagua Andes appellation. The vines were planted in 2008 at 500-550 meters on clay and basalt soils. The uncrushed grapes fermented with indigenous yeasts in 600-liter oak barrels that are rolled and no pumps whatsoever are used. Each variety matured separately for two years in 225-liter barrels, except for the Syrah that goes into 400-liter barrels, all made of French oak. After the time in oak, the different wines are blended and put into egg-shaped cement vats for a further nine months before bottling, completing a total upbringing of some 33 months before the wine is put in bottle. There are plenty of notes of cigar ash, balsamic woods and some roasted aromas -- a quite classical Bordeaux blend -- with blackberries, tobacco and graphite. The wine is terribly balanced with great freshness, still marked by the élevage, but nothing a little bottle aging would not fix. A monumental kind of wine. 3,700 bottles produced.
Luis Gutiérrez - 31/12/2015

The 2016 harvest was complicated by rain in late April, which made them hurry up and finish two weeks earlier than normal. The year was also cooler, and the 2016 Almaviva, a blend of 66% Cabernet Sauvignon, 24% Carmenère, 8% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot has less alcohol at 13.9% compared to 15% in 2014. The élevage was shortened to 16 months, and they decreased the percentage of new French barrels used—down to 77% from the 82% in the previous year. The wine is fresher and less marked by the oak, a more fluid version, with fine tannins. This is a little different, a lighter and fresher year. It was a very dry winter, complicated by rains. I found very good harmony and fine tannins, balance and freshness in one of the most elegant vintages I remember from Almaviva. This has contained power, very accessible tannins and no green notes at all. It's young but accessible and should develop nicely in bottle, as it has the balance and freshness. This is an elegant and fresh vintage for Almaviva, young and tender, taking advantage of the natural conditions for it. Well done! 180,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in December 2017.
The Wine Advocate

Lapostolle Wines was founded in 1994 by Alexandra Marnier Lapostolle, heiress to the Grand Marnier empire, to create world class wines using the French experience and the magnificent terroirs of Chile. The company now owns 370 hectares of vines, producing around 200000 cases annually, with the jewel in the crown being Clos Apalta, a single vineyard cuvee from a sub region of the Colchagua valley.

First launched in 1997, the wine is a blend of Carmenere (Chile’s signature red grape), Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Made with a firm nod to Bordeaux, but from the more Mediterranean climate provided by this part of Chile, the 2014 vintage is the finest to date.

Almaviva was established in 1996 by Baron Philippe de Rothschild (of Ch. 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 and the steady hand of Patrick Leon (winemaker at Mouton and Opus One), the results have been nothing short of spectacular.

The nose is elegant and multi-layered, revealing a generous bouquet of ripe cassis, wild berries and violets, with underlying notes of vanillin, espresso bean and dark mocha. The palate is packed full of rich and dense fruit, yet there is a cool definition and character to the wine. The tannins are perfectly balanced and ripe. The cool growing season has no doubt balanced out the rich character of fruit with a real sense of harmony and balance.

Rich, intoxicating, complex and exotic! Really restrained for a New World blockbuster, this has the sophisticated complexity and hedonistic creamy finish of its founding father, Ch. Mouton-Rothschild. A very rewarding two minute finish to boot. Not the cheapest South American wine but the best in my opinion.
(Simon Staples - Berrys' Fine Wine Director)
Almaviva was established in 1996 by Baron Philippe de Rothschild. With the steady hand of Patrick Leon (winemaker at Mouton and Opus One), the results have been nothing short of spectacular. The old world savoir faire has been put to good use to tame the exuberance of the ripe Cabernet Sauvignon which dominates the wine. The 2007 is particularly successful; notes of cassis plum and damson, held in check by gravely tannins and a sophisticated structure which could come straight from one of the better properties in Pauillac.
(Simon Field MW - BBR Buyer)

Rich, intoxicating, complex and exotic! Really restrained for a New World blockbuster, this has the sophisticated complexity and hedonistic creamy finish of its founding father, Ch. Mouton-Rothschild. A very rewarding two minute finish to boot. Not the cheapest South American wine but the best in my opinion.
(Simon Staples - Berrys' Fine Wine Director)

This is a wine that simultaneously defines elegance and power. Complex aromas of blueberry, black currant, and black licorice. Full-body yet refined and beautiful with stunning length and complexity. It has a transparency that shows such greatness and beauty. Half the normal production. Has an energy and brightness. Chile's first perfect wine and well deserved. Better in 2020. 100 points.
James Suckling, Sept '16

A “perfect summer” in 2015 has resulted in great volume of fruit on the nose, hints of new oak too, a much bigger wine than previous vintages. The Cabernet dominates on the palate with notes of ripe blackcurrant, cedar and spice, rich and full-bodied. Merlot and Carmenere are in evidence too, rounding-out and filling-out the mouthfeel on the palate and adding some depth and complexity. The rich fruit is balanced by crisp acidity and full, firm tannins. A big, rich Clos Apalta, clearly built for the long-term, this will need a few years in the cellar, but has a wonderful, long life ahead of it. Drink 2022-2040+.
Chris Pollington, Private Account Manager