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B-21 Top Recommendation
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"Rich, heady and intense"
Georgina Hindle, Decanter
From an exceptional vintage celebrating the 25th anniversary of Chile's most iconic wine, the bold and powerful 98 pt. 2019 Vina Sena Sena offers silky textured, fragrant dark fruit with sophisticated, polished tannins on a long and luscious finish, a thrilling culmination of the vision of legendary founders Eduardo Chadwick and Robert Mondavi to create "the Opus One of South America" and an outstanding value for collectors of the world's top scoring Bordeaux blends.
Located high in the Aconcagua Valley with a backdrop of the majestic Andes Mountains, Vina Sena's spectacular Quincho Mirador is a contemporary setting for barbecues and tastings set unobtrusively into the steep rocky terrain, surrounded by the Valley's curving vineyards and offering stunning views of towering, snow capped Mount Aconcagua. Inspired to create a benchmark Chilean blend to challenge the world's greatest red wines, pioneering vintner Eduardo Chadwick formed a partnership with Robert Mondavi in the early 1990's and spent four years with Mondavi's son Tim to find the perfect terroir for their joint project, seeking out a cooler site to make a fresher, more elegantly styled red blend built on Cabernet Sauvignon and Chile's emblematic Carmenere grape and subsequently outscoring First Growths Lafite Rothschild and Margaux in a series of blind tastings. Located on the eastern side of the coastal Ocoa range, Sena's 45-hectare biodynamically farmed vineyard is planted mostly to Cabernet Sauvignon with Carmenere and Malbec and smaller plots of Cab Franc and Petit Verdot in well-drained gravel, rock and loam, enjoying a Mediterranean climate of warm, dry summers and bright sunny days moderated by the cooling effects of the Mountains and nearby Pacific. A blend of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 21% Malbec, 15% Carmenere and 4% Petit Verdot vinified mostly in stainless steel with 10% in concrete, winemaker Francisco "Pancho" Baettig aged the refined 2019 Vina Sena Sena for 22 months in a mix of 80% new French oak barrels with 10% in larger foudres, yielding a fresh and beautifully balanced blend described by the Wine Advocate's Luis Guttierez as "incredibly elegant, subtle and harmonious" with the potential for more than a decade of aging.
Living up to its stellar reputation as "a compelling world class wine" according to Jeb Dunnuck, the impressive 98 pt. 2019 Vina Sena Sena delivers on Eduardo Chadwick's mission to craft "a unique Bordeaux style blend with a very Chilean soul," ranking among Bordeaux First Growths and Napa cult Cab blends at a fraction of the price and a top value for savvy collectors of the world's most exceptional red wines. |
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The 2019 Seña was produced with a Bordeaux blend of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 21% Malbec, 15% Carmenere and 4% Petit Verdot with the Chilean character of the high percentage of Carmenere. Most of the volume fermented in stainless steel with some 10% in concrete vats, and the final blend matured for 22 months in French oak barrels, 80% of them new, and 10% in Stockinger vats. It's 13.5% alcohol and has good acidity and freshness, coming through as medium-bodied, elegant and balanced. This is incredibly elegant, subtle and harmonious even at this early stage. It has floral aromas, notes of orange peel, a touch of creamy sweet spices and great freshness. The palate is medium-bodied, seamless and pure, with pungent flavors and a soft texture. It's long, clean, defined and super tasty. I feel this wine is getting better and better by the vintage. The grapes were picked quite early, and that helped to contain the ripeness and seems to have been a great decision. There was also an exception in the Panquehue zone where the Seña vines are, where the summer was cooler than the average, so quite different to many other regions in Chile. 100,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in February 2021.
98 points, Luis Gutiérrez, Wine Advocate (Issue # 256 - Aug 2021)
Such beautiful aromas of crushed berries, currants, walnuts, allspice and nutmeg follow through to a full body with tight, ultra fine tannins that provide length and intensity. A finish of slightly dried cherries with wet earth, slate and stone. Chewy and fine-grained. A wine with soul and length. Give it time.
98 points, James Suckling (Sep 2021)
The 25th anniversary vintage, and an excellent showcase of the supple, nuanced fruits of this wine. Plenty of black cherry and bilberry puree, pure but layered. It has the rich depths that always delivers, where things are almost too much and yet not quite enough, still leaving you wanting more. Fragrant raspberry leaf becomes clearer as it opens in the glass, as does the saline minerality and a smoky finish, with the tannins becoming more delicate by the minute, highlighting freshness and juice. Located in the Aconguacgua foothills, following biodynamic farming. Tasted twice.
96 points, Jane Anson (Sep 2021)
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