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B-21 Top Recommendation
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Eduardo Chadwick is one of the most important people of the vine in Chile – the world for that matter – facing multiple obstacles throughout his impressive career. For nearly a decade Eduardo worked to rebuild the iconic Viña Errázuriz, restoring his family's 19th century estate to its former glory. As Eduardo was gaining ground, California's most famous man of the vine paid the country a visit in 1990. Robert Mondavi fell in love with Chile and would soon be introduced to his counterpart in the region. By 1995, the two had reached a pioneering agreement – Seña was born. For four long, grueling years the two passionate visionaries toiled over vineyard sites in search of the perfect terroir for their dream wine. This was to be Chile's icon above all others. Site was paramount.
Located in the Valle de Aconcagua, on a 42 hectare colluvial vineyard of well drained gravel, rock and loam, the Seña vineyard is planted to the perfect mix of Cabernet Sauvignon, Carménère, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, Malbec and Syrah. The slightly cooler temperatures of this elevated, sloping site allow for long, slow ripening. The Seña vineyard is often harvested two weeks after its nearest neighbor. Precious few wines in the country will compete; perhaps none – after all, perfection is incredibly rare.
This is a wine above all others ever bottled in Chile. A wine which is rightly described by Neal Martin as "The peripatetic wine that goes around the world challenging and, let it be said, often defeating First Growths in blind tastings." |
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This is a very thoughtful Seña that shows unique aromas of warm earth, mushrooms and conifer, turning to dark berries and black olives. The palate is more glamorous with ultra-fine tannins that envelop your palate. Shows power and vibrancy at the end. Toned muscles. It’s a very intellectual wine that harkens back to the 2015. Blend of 55% cabernet sauvignon, 18% malbec, 15% carmenere, 7% cabernet franc and 5% merlot. Beautiful to try now, but better after 2023.
100 points, James Suckling (Sep 2020)
The 2018 Seña shows the fresher side of the Ocoa zone of the Aconcagua Valley through a Bordeaux blend of 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 18% Malbec, 15% Carmenere, 7% Cabernet Franc and 5% Petit Verdot; there are small differences, but nothing substantial. As I've seen in other wines from the very complete 2018 vintage, the grapes ripened thoroughly and achieved more flavors and nuances, and the wines are slightly higher in alcohol (14% this year versus 13.3% in 2017, but in reality it's 13.8% ). But the wine seems to have more of everything. The grapes fermented in a combination of stainless steel and concrete vats and matured in new barriques and Stockinger foudres for 22 months, a similar formula as the one used for Viñedo Chadwick. This is a very elegant vintage of Seña, a year with a slow ripening so that the grapes achieved very good ripeness and full development of aromas and flavors, making the wine nuanced and complex, with depth but also freshness and finesse—floral and expressive. The tannins are very fine, polished and elegant, and the wine is long and complex, mixing the best f 2015 and 2016, coming through as a very complete year. It's still a little young and should develop nicely in bottle; it's approachable now, but if you can hold it a little bit more, it should be even better. This has to be the finest vintage of Seña to date. Comparing it with the Chadwick from the same year, there is more freshness and a little more complexity and clout coming form the cooler zone and the palette of varieties used that give more options to achieve more nuance. 100,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in February and March 2020.
98 points, Luis Gutiérrez, Wine Advocate (Issue # 250 - Aug 2020)
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