2015 Tabali Talud Cabernet Sauvignon Valle de Maipo 750 ml

Michelin-starred restaurant wine lists are loaded with legendary bottles, so when we find one that steals the spotlight, we know it’s a win. The 2015 Tabalí Talud—which hails from Maipo Valley, a region nicknamed “the Bordeaux of South America”—did just that.

With this thoughtful Cab, Felipe Müller East, Chile’s “Winemaker of the Year,” delivers a knockout. It carries the luxury and boldness you’d expect to find in expensive Bordeaux bottles, and the best part is that you don’t have to go scouring world-class restaurants to find it. We’ve got it exclusively for Wine Access members at just $24 per bottle. 

On our way to Alinea last year, Chicago’s three Michelin star treasure, the Uber driver told us straight-faced that it was “too cold to snow,” so it was a welcome relief when Halsted Street’s frosted storefronts and red brick buildings faded into Wagyu tenderloin hidden under flaming tabletop coals and sage-dusted cheesecake over smoldering oak. As promised, the 13-course avant-garde menu took us on a sensory journey, but we couldn’t stop thinking about the 2015 Talud we’d been served on course five, full of hypnotizing warmth, pure bliss next to our lamb neck and eggplant. 

Even later that night when Eduardo, our VP of Wine, was pulled on stage during an improv show in River North, even as comedians pretended he was an unassuming prom date at their door, a single question hid behind our laughs—how can we get more of that Tabalí?

One sip and you’ll understand our obsession. This is Chilean red wine at its best, full of floral bounty, uplifted acidity, and generous structure. After painting an aromatic landscape of blue fruit, coffee, and crushed violet, it saunters across the palate weaving together layers of blueberry pie, tobacco, and espresso. The finish is well-structured and sticks like a distant memory that wakes you before dawn in a wave of nostalgia. With wines like this, it’s no wonder Tim Atkin classified Tabalí among the First Growths in his 2020 Chile Report.

Tabalí has tapped into the magic of Chile’s most historic Cab region: the Maipo Valley. Wine Enthusiast called this warm, dry locale “the ideal breeding ground for sumptuous red wines” when they named it to their “10 Best Wine Travel Destinations of 2019.” It’s sandwiched between two mountain ranges—the Andes and the Coastal Range—which allow for consistent sunlight, cool nights, and low rainfall, optimal conditions for amazing Cabernet.

If there’s a Chilean winemaker who knows how to extract the absolute best from this mountainous terroir, it’s Tabalí’s Felipe Müller East. A winemaking wunderkind, he won “Best Young Winemaker” from the prominent Chilean newspaper El Mercurio in 2014. But he didn’t fizzle out after that. Instead, he continued to thrive, winning the 2020 “Winemaker of the Year” award from Descorchados, one of the foremost South American wine publications.

Tabalí’s mountainous coastal terrain gives Müller plenty of diverse terroirs to utilize. For Cabernet Sauvignon, he harnesses the colluvial soils on the DOM Vineyard’s south-facing slopes. In the heart of the Coastal Mountains, this site gets plenty of sun and wind, with enough coolness to promote slow ripening and preserve the grapes’ elegance. Stony, low-fertility soil keeps yields low, resulting in higher quality. 

Just like this wine, there’s an ancient and mystical quality to Tabalí’s land. It’s seated next to the “Valle del Encanto” (Enchanted Valley), a sacred site of the ancient Molle and Diaguita culture rife with petroglyphs that tie the land to its former inhabitants. The winery draws inspiration and creative energy from its neighboring sites and, as a result, their Cab is a plush, intricate echo of their historical land. 

For a moment during that night in Chicago, we were swept from our seats around an intimate dining experience, over neo-Gothic structures and steel highrises, and to Tabalí’s Maipo Valley estates. It’s an exceptional find, a noble representative for Chilean wine, and at this price, a deal you don’t want to miss.