2008 Don Maximiano Reserve

The 2008 Don Maximiano Founder's Reserve is blended with Syrah and Carmenere and sees 20 months in new French oak. It has a well-defined bouquet with dark cherries, sous-bois, tobacco and blackberry leaf that shows much more fruit intensity than older vintages. The palate is medium-bodied with succulent blackberry fruit, cedar, graphite and Provencal herbs. It shows superior balance but it is marred by dry wood tannins on the finish. Drink now. It was a pleasure to spend two or three hours in the company of Eduardo Chadwick at his estate and undertake verticals of his wines. Few have done more to promote Chilean wine than him, most notably with his blind comparisons with First Growth to demonstrate that Sena stands shoulder to shoulder with Old World icons. As you might guess, we had a long debate about that! But also, we engaged in a long discussion about viticulture and the philosophy behind his portfolio. Readers may remark on my relatively mean scores. I thought long and hard about this. But I firmly feel that recent vintages from Errazuriz completely outshine the older ones and speaking at length with winemaker Francisco Baettig, there is a sense of a winery changing tack and in my opinion, what this estate will produce in the next twenty years will completely surpass the previous twenty years. Importer: Vintus Wines, Pleasantville, NY; www.vintuswines.com

Dark, healthy crimson. High toned. Something almost Italian about the bouquet of this very ripe wine. The flavour seems a little baked out. There isn’t a really vital core of fruit, but it is very well made. No exaggerations. (JR)

84% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Carmenere, 5% Syrah, 3% Petit Verdot. 20 months in new French oak barrels. pH 3.48, TA 6.19 g/l (tartaric acid), RS 2.86 g/l. Dark purplish crimson. Subtle and layered and with really lively fruit and lots of fine tannin still in evidence. Sophisticated wine. With real potential. Quite a kick of appetising tannins but you could enjoy it already with food. Long. (JR)