2020 Almaviva Epu, Maipo Valley Chile
A$124.52
Availability:
Out of stock
SKU
ALMEPU206
Lots of finely roasted sweet spice and roasted sesame to the blackberries, cassis and iron, together with hints of blue fruit and cured meat. A medium-to full-bodied palate, filled with rather generous sweet berries. Fleshy, supple and savory with quite fine-grained tannins and a long finish. First year with 10% new wood. 81% cabernet sauvignon, 12% carmenere, 5% merlot and 2% cabernet franc. Already delicious, but can hold, too.
94 points jamessuckling.com
The current release of their second wine is the 2020 Epu. It's selected from the same terroir and vineyard in Puente Alto, one of the most reputed places for Cabernet Sauvignon in Chile, but from the younger vines (five to 20 years old) and harvested a little earlier to preserve acidity and fruit. In the warm and dry 2020 vintage, the wine was produced with a blend of 81% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Carmenere, 5% Merlot and 2% Cabernet Franc, usually higher in Cabernet and lower in Carmenere than Almaviva. It has red ripe berries, the textbook blackberries and cassis and some creamy oak. It's ripe at 14.8% alcohol and has mellow acidity, good freshness and balance, with a pH of 3.71 and 4.8 grams of acidity (tartaric). It matured for 12 months in French barriques, 10% new and 90% second use. The wine has a bright nose with a clean note of baked "morrón" peppers intermixed with red berry compote. It has a velvety palate with the luxurious texture of the modern Bordeaux, with abundant, slightly dusty tannins. It's approachable and round but should reward some time in bottle. This is a pretty serious Epu. 75,000 bottles produced. It was bottled at the end of 2021 and the first days of 2022. Drink 2023-2030.
I tasted the 2020 wines from Almaviva with winemaker Michel Friou, which represents Almaviva's 25th vintage. The 2020s were bright and expressive, nicely crafted, clean and with integrated oak. 2020 was a dry vintage (one big concern, 2021 and 2022 are almost the same) and also warm, so the wines have to reflect that condition with a very early harvest, almost three weeks earlier than the average. But having an early harvest was a blessing because Covid arrived. As on previous occasions, he provided some back vintages to give context, and the older wines consistently show an animal note. This time I had the 1996, which had hints of leather but felt very classical and still alive, with good color. The wines from the turn of the century show the effect of the new oak; the 2009 still has abundant notes of toast and smoke, with hints of roasted sesame seeds, and it was a ripe year—it still felt tannic, or perhaps the quality of the tannins is not the same as nowadays. I also revisited 2019, the previous vintage, which showed very much in line with the style of the 2020, cleaner, sleeker, velvety and caressing, still powerful but with elegance.
94 points Luis Guttierrez robertparker.com
| Product/Service Sold Out | Yes |
|---|---|
| En Primeur | No |
| New Arrivals | No |
| Wine Type | Red Wine |
| Wine Style | Traditional |
| Country | Chile |
| Region | Central Valley Region |
| Varietals | Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Carmenere |
| Vintage | 2020 |
| Bottle Size | 750ml |
| Wine Points | 94 |
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