Don Melchor Cabernet Sauvignon 2003
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Wine Spectator
With a great nose of currant confiture and cocoa powder, this full-scale Cabernet sports dark fig, currant and blackberry fruit layered with loam, cedar, tobacco, mineral and coffee. Long and authoritative finish just sails on thanks to rather regal tannins.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Don Melchor has been considered one of Chile’s iconic wines since its inception in 1987.
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Wine & Spirits
Reflecting the warm vintage, this is a ripe version of Don Melchor. Dark cherry and cinnamon dominate the aromas, while its soft, round texture delivers chocolate flavor with hints of mint and black pepper. Decant it for roast lamb.
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Wine Enthusiast
Hard to believe that this Chilean icon is now in its 17th year. We recall back in the early ’90s when it was just getting going at well under $20 a bottle. With this wine look for potent, almost buttery oak propping up ripe berry fruit. In the folds are notes of tobacco, earth, mineral and mushroom. Tannic on the tail, with some overt wood that needs to find its place. Hold of at least a year. Cellar Selection.
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Don Melchor, named after Concha Y Toro’s founder, is among Chile’s most-acclaimed wines and a Cabernet that belongs in every conversation about world-class interpretations of this singular varietal. Winemaker Enrique Tirado says of his vision for the wine, “Don Melchor’s style, complexity, and elegance are the extension of the perfect balance between the rocky soils in Puente Alto, the cold winds that slide down from the Andes Mountains, the generous climate of the Maipo Valley, the number of years the vines have taken to yield their best grapes, and the meticulous and caring work of the human hand.”
The signature wine from the exquisitely tended Puente Alto vineyard, Don Melchor celebrates its 30th vintage with the 2016 release. Set at the foot of the Andes Mountains on the northern banks of the Maipo River in the Upper Maipo Valley, 650 meters above sea level, the vineyard dates back to the mid-19th century, when the first pre-phylloxera French varieties were brought to Chile. Today, the vineyard consists of 127 hectares, divided into seven parcels, 90% of which are Cabernet Sauvignon, 7.1% are Cabernet Franc, 1.9% are Merlot, and 1% are Petit Verdot. Each parcel has been subdivided in order for very specific, detailed work that responds to the particular needs of each plant, row by row, to achieve the perfect balance with the weather characteristics of each year. Average vine age is over 30 years.
Every year, Winemaker Enrique Tirado travels to the small town of Lamarque, Bordeaux, France, to meet with renowned Bordeaux consultant Eric Boissenot, to taste approximately 150 lots from the vineyard and determine which lots, and in which proportions, will go into the new vintage of Don Melchor. Once the final blend has been defined, the new vintage of Don Melchor is transferred to French oak barrels from the Allier, Tronçois, and Nevers forests. Nearly two-thirds of the barrels are new, and the remaining third have had one prior use. After 14–15 months, the wine is bottled and aged for another year to develop the complexity and elegance that Don Melchor is known for.