Don Melchor Cabernet Sauvignon 2013
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Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Don Melchor Cabernet Sauvignon is appropriate with any hearty dish, especially lamb and steak.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A really cool red with blackcurrants and fresh flowers. Some fresh mint and spice. Full-bodied, extremely refined and polished with wonderful length and focus. It goes on for minutes. Drink or hold.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
2012 is a short vintage, so the 2013 will be released towards the end of 2016. I tasted the 2013 Don Melchor, which contained 9% of Cabernet Franc to complement the Cabernet Sauvignon from Puente Alto in the Maipo Valley; the final blend was created from 23 lots of free-run juice wine and 39 lots of press wine. The blend is done with the help of Eric Boissenot (previously with his father Jacques). The wine matured in 66% new French oak barrels for some 15 months. I see this 2013 more in the line of the 2010 (and 2011). In fact, 2013 was a very cold year. The nose combines aromas of tobacco, iron and blood, dark cherries and some herbs. The palate shows something in between 2011 and 2012, medium to full-bodied with fruit, tannins and a slightly bitter finish. It should get polished with a little bit more time in bottle. 109,200 bottles produced. I also had the chance to preview the 2014 and 2015 vintages that were aging in barrel, still very young and primary.
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Wine Spectator
An elegant and refined red, featuring concentrated dark plum and cherry flavors full of subtle savory notes. Offers mouthwatering acidity, with a rich finish delivering forest floor and mineral accents. Drink now through 2022.
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Wine & Spirits
From vines planted in the early 1970s on an alluvial terrace above the north bank of the Maipo River, Don Melchor is a classic among Chilean wines. Enrique Tirado has made this wine from the same vineyard at Puente Alto since 1997. This latest release comes from a cool year, and you might notice that in the herbal notes and the vibrant acidity, underlining the generous core of sweet red fruit. The wine’s restrained ripeness will allow it to mature unencumbered by any excess weight. In fact, it needs ten years of age to show its best.
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Wine Enthusiast
Initially this smells foxy, with jumpy untamed berry and plum notes racing across the nose. After the aromas come around, this is hard and choppy on the palate, while herbal black-plum and carob flavors finish more lushly than before, but still fairly tannic. Drink through 2023.
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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.
A noble variety bestowed with both power and concentration, Cabernet Sauvignon enjoys success all over the globe, its best examples showing potential to age beautifully for decades. Cabernet Sauvignon flourishes in Bordeaux's Medoc where it is often blended with Merlot and smaller amounts of some combination of Cabernet Franc, Malbecand Petit Verdot. In the Napa Valley, ‘Cab’ is responsible for some of the world’s most prestigious, age-worthy and sought-after “cult” wines. Somm Secret—DNA profiling in 1997 revealed that Cabernet Sauvignon was born from a spontaneous crossing of Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc in 17th century southwest France.
The Maipo Valley is Chile’s most famous wine region. Set in the country’s Central Valley, it is warm and quite dry, often necessitating the use of irrigation. Alluvial soils predominate but are supplemented with loam and clay.
The climate in Maipo is best-suited for ripe, full-bodied reds like Cabernet Sauvignon (the region’s most widely planted grape), Merlot, Syrah and Carmenère, a Bordeaux variety that has found a successful home in Chile.
White wines are also produced with great prosperity, especially near the cooler coast, include Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc.