2017 Vina Almaviva Puente Alto Chile 750 ml

“For the last 10 years, vintage after vintage, Almaviva vineyard has been quietly, consistently establishing a track record as one of the greatest wine producers in Chile, if not all of the world,” declared James Suckling, before honoring the 2017 Almaviva with a perfect 100-point score and naming it the “Wine of the Decade.” At just $145, this is one of the best-priced 100-point wines in the world. 

Founded by Château Mouton Rothschild’s Baroness Philippine de Rothschild, Almaviva is South America’s preeminent winery, located in what Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate calls the “luxury” subzone of Puente Alto. Here, Château Margaux veteran Michel Friou brings classical French technique to sumptuous, rich Bordeaux varieties grown on the highest terraces of the Maipo Valley. 

The results have been nothing short of astonishing, and 2017 yielded one of the most powerful Bordeaux blends ever released from Chile: Nearly black in the glass, the 2017 opens with an aromatic aria of vivacious black plum, currant, and blackberry, with complex undertones of fresh mint, baking spices, mocha, and fresh herbs. Across the palate, it’s muscular and powerful, blending ripe black fruits with savory spices carried through a long finish by fine-grained, persistent tannins.  

As longtime enthusiasts of the wines of Almaviva, we were blown away by the elegance, complexity, and unique combination of world-class focus and restraint the 2017 shows. It is a wine that crosses categories—combining the freshness and balance of Bordeaux with the power and concentration of Napa, but possessing a unique character that is pure Chile. 

In 1997, Baroness Philippine de Rothschild of Pauillac First Growth Château Mouton Rothschild teamed up with Chile’s Concha y Toro to realize a grand ambition: to produce a Grand Cru Classé wine from the chilly, elevated terraces of the Maipo Valley.

The Rothschilds had already pulled off a visionary viticultural feat in the New World over a decade earlier, when they teamed up with Robert Mondavi to create Opus One, which would go on to become the most famous winery in the Napa Valley. For Almaviva, the Baroness assembled a brilliant team, headed by Patrick Léon (Mouton Rothschild, Opus One) and Enrique Tirado, to tend to 98 acres of vines. The venture wowed critics from the get-go, with Robert Parker declaring the debut vintage “Soft, rich, and multidimensional.” 

Today, another veteran of Bordeaux’s First Growths—Michel Friou, formerly of Château Margaux—has taken up the winemaking torch, presiding over vines up to 38 years of age. Located at the Maipo Valley’s highest point, Puente Alto offers ideal conditions for the cultivation of Bordeaux varieties. The poor, rocky, alluvial soils lend the wines both mineral sophistication and, thanks to low pH levels, richness and elegance. Cold winds swooping down off the snow-frosted Andes cool the vineyards, making for a much longer growing season than in neighboring regions, allowing grapes to ripen slowly to perfection. 

2017 was a challenging season in Chile, with warm temperatures leading Friou to harvest three weeks early. Luckily, his intuition was spot on: After harvest, the winemaker found himself with the makings of a wine—both elegant and refined—that seemed to walk the tightrope between Stags Leap and Bordeaux’s Right Bank.

This wine truly sets a new benchmark for power and elegance in the region. Napa and Bordeaux aficionados can’t afford to miss out.