Fresh and deep nose, full of blueberries, minty cassis, mussels, cigars, dark spice and roasted sesame oak, which will need a year or two to fully integrate. A medium-to full-bodied Almaviva with supple, silky tannins and a wealth of black and blue fruit that provides a lot of charm now.
Reviews:
- Wine Advocate: It still shows the effect of the élevage a bit, with abundant notes of sweet spices, a creamy touch and some smoke.
- James Suckling: Fresh and deep nose, full of blueberries, minty cassis, mussels, cigars, dark spice and roasted sesame oak, which will need a year or two to fully integrate. A medium-to full-bodied Almaviva with supple, silky tannins and a wealth of black and blue fruit that provides a lot of charm now.
Producer Information
Almaviva, a high-profile wine brand based in the Maipo Valley, Chile, is a joint venture between Baron Philippe de Rothschild of Bordeaux and Chilean wine producer Concha y Toro. The eponymous wine is a Bordeaux-style blend, combining Cabernet Sauvignon with Carmenère and other Bordeaux varieties. This is one of Chile’s most prestigious wines. Its first vintage was in 1996, and it has since garnered many high ratings among critics. More recently its credentials as a fine wine have been further enhanced as its ability to mature for two decades or more has been proven. The wine is benchmarked by its producers against the great Cabernet-based wines of the Médoc and Napa Valley. In this respect the presence of Carmenère provides a differentiating factor. Almaviva is unusual among Chilean wines in following the chateau concept of a winery surrounded a contiguous vineyard (in practice many Bordeaux properties consist of more than one plot). In the tradition of top Bordeaux estates, Almaviva also makes a second wine, called EPU (“Two” in the Mapuche language).
