2012 Viñedo Chadwick

100% Cabernet Sauvignon. TA 5.68 g/l, pH 3.49, RS 2.48 g/l. Warmest vintage since 2008 with low yields. The grapes were hand harvested and sorted by hand. Stainless-steel fermentation, three pumpovers per day. Total maceration time ranged from 23–40 days. Aged for 22 months in French oak barrels (90% new). Bright crimson. Very well integrated and sophisticated. Juicy. Even salty. Lots of current and future pleasure here. Slight but not unpleasant inkiness on the end. (JR)

The 2012 Vinedo Chadwick is a wine from Alto Maipo, a separate vineyard from their Aconcagua ones in the classic Cabernet Sauvignon producing region, which is the only grape used here. The vineyards have alluvial soils with clay that are ideal for the variety. In 2012, this wine has good acidity and feels classic and elegant, poised and harmonious, a noble bottling with fine-grained tannin and good structure. Juicy without being clumsy, it seems as though the deeper soils are good at absorbing the heat of the vintage, and this combination works well. A powerful, Old World-styled Cabernet Sauvignon. Drink 2016-2025. Errazuriz is one of the leading producers from Chile. I first spent a morning in Madrid tasting while talking with owner Eduardo Chadwick and winemaker Francisco Baettig and later visited them in their impressive estate in Aconcagua. They have a large portfolio and also own Arboleda, Caliterra and Sena. There is a clear welcome shift toward more freshness and less wood in their wines. Francisco, who everyone knows as -Pancho,- clearly favors 2013, a very cold and higher acidity vintage, against the warm 2012. (2011 was also cold and 2009 was very warm.) He refers to the availability of better vegetal material in Chile when discussing improvements in the wines. The winery is located in the heart of the Aconcagua Valley, which is warmer and produces wines with lower acidity than Aconcagua Costa, the coastal part of the appellation, 10 to 12 kilometers from the ocean on schist soils where they also have vineyards. In the last few vintages, the focus has been on finesse, harvesting early, looking for a balance between ripeness and acidity and working everything - in all their wineries - by gravity. I loved the freshness of the new Aconcagua Costa wines and the balance and restraint of the Aconcagua reds. These notes compile different tastings and have the background of plenty of vertical tastings of the same label, which provided great context. The Max Reserva range is the higher volume line, from their 700 hectares of vineyards in Aconcagua (they own a grand total of 1,100 hectares!) that are hand-harvested in small boxes. The wines are aged for one year before bottling. The old family property on Maipo was replanted to vineyards in the spring of 1992. Chadwick chose an array of the best field selections of Cabernet Sauvignon (12 hectares), Cabernet Franc (1.30 hectares), Merlot; (1.45 hectares) and Petit Verdot (1.50 hectares). The selection of vine material included the best Cabernet Sauvignon from Maipo and from the Don Maximiano Estate in the Aconcagua Valley. This 15-hectare vineyard is planted in one of the best sections of the Maipo Valley. The Antumapu soils are especially suited for growing red varieties of exceptional quality. These soils have a shallow strata of clay loam over a stone-filled riverbed of alluvial origin. Imported by Vintus Wines, Pleasantville, NY; www.vintuswines.com