2023 Seleccion de Parcelas Los Padrinos Cabernet Sauvignon

The 2023 Cabernet Sauvignon Selección de Parcela Los Padrinos comes from Cauquenes grafted onto Pais vines. This aged for 15 months in French barrels, 60% new. It offers elegant fruit-cassis and delicate blackberry-alongside licorice, oak nuances and field herbs. Intense and expressive, the palate is youthful, with slightly reactive tannins sharpened by juicy acidity. The fine-grained structure should soften with time. While still primary, the flavor depth and definition are clear. This is focused and expressive with a slightly Saint-Estèphe character.

Excellent depth, with aromas of rich cassis, paprika, tobacco, cigar box, fine spices and just a hint of Mexican chocolate. Full-bodied and broad, with lots of tannins that make you think Barolo or something really powerful and tannin-driven. Still, it’s fine grained and mineral-etched. I do enjoy the austerity, and the subtle new oak gives it a bit more approachability. 15 months in oak barrels, of which 60% were new. Cabernet sauvignon grafted onto 100-year-old pais vines. Give it at least three more years in the bottle. Drink after 2027.

Sourced from 100+-year-old País vines that have since been grafted to Cabernet, the 2023 Selección de Parcelas Los Padrinos Cabernet Sauvignon was aged 15 months in 50% new barrique, mainly from Tonnellerie Taransaud. On the nose, it is pure and youthfully primary, slowly opening with a beautiful bouquet of black and purple fruits with bramble and tobacco accents. The palate is suave, elegant, seamless and concentrated, transitioning to an effortless, spherical and floating finish of remarkably refined tannins. The precision and integration of all elements here are simply spectacular. This is a benchmark Cabernet Sauvignon not just for Maule but for Chile as a whole, and it should have no problem developing for two decades, if not more.