Concha y Toro/RothschildAlmaviva 2010

A joint venture of Concha y Toro and Château Mouton Rothschild, Almaviva made a wonderful red in 2010. Full-bodied, it shows purity of fruit, with violets, currants and hints of mint, and has ultra-fine tannins and a long, intense finish. Needs three or four years to soften. Mostly cabernet sauvignon.

(made from a blend of cabernet sauvignon, carmenere, cabernet franc and petit verdot): Opaque purple. Ripe cherry, cassis, pipe tobacco and vanilla on the highly perfumed nose, with a subtle smoky overtone. Fleshy dark fruit liqueur flavors are supported by zesty acidity and become spicier with aeration. Shows a compelling blend of depth, power and vivacity, finishing sweet and persistent, with harmonious tannins and lingering dark berry and vanilla qualities.

-- Josh Raynolds

The 2010 Almaviva is a Cabernet Sauvignon-based blend complemented with Carmenere, Cabernet Franc, and for the first time in 2010, a small quantity of Petit Verdot. 2010 was a cool vintage, giving the wine an herbaceous character with good freshness and balance. It is still young with some lactic notes and some aromas derived from the elevage (roasted coffee and dark chocolate), with terse black fruit and some beef blood overtones. This vintage seems to be a worthy follower of the 2005, with sweet round tannins, intense flavors, very good balance and the stuffing to live a long life in bottle. Drink 2015-2025.

Almaviva is the joint venture of Baron Philippe de Rothschild and Concha y Toro in Puente Alto, the small appellation for luxury Cabernet Sauvignon in the Maipo Valley. Michel Friou arrived in Chile through Paul Pontallier from Chateau Margaux to do a couple of harvests at their Aquitania winery, and was later at Lapostolle until 2004. Since 2007 he has been the winemaker at Almaviva. I met him to taste the latest vintages and discuss the wines. They produce two labels from their 85 hectares of vineyards, but their second wine is only sold in Chile and Brazil. The vineyards were planted in 1978 in the third terrace of the Maipo River by Concha y Toro. The original 40 hectares were used for the first vintage, 1996, and since 2001 they have bought more land and planted vines to complete the 60 hectares they own in total. They replant a small percentage of vines every year to keep a constant average age in the vineyards and at the same time increase density. The initial vintages (I tasted 1996 and 1999) were quite marked by animal aromas which seem to have disappeared lately. I feel a special brightness in the fruit from 2005 on (perhaps as they started harvesting by smaller plots from the vineyards) and the last few vintages show more precision, freshness and balance and are quite classically proportioned with better-integrated oak. The last five harvests have been drier that the average, so for Michel the issue of how and when to water the vineyards is now vital. He’s also moving toward organic farming of the vineyards, believing that they have to move from producing great wines to creating great vineyards. (Ideally, it should have been the other way ‘round.)