Seña, Red Blend, Aconcagua Valley, Chile, 2020

Overview of the Wine
In the early 1990s, Chile was just emerging into the international world of wine. However, Eduardo Chadwick, who had joined his father in the family wine business, Viña Errázuriz, in 1983, already knew from his extensive travels to the wine regions of the world that Chile’s land and climate were particularly suited for producing fine wines and had great potential. And when family friend and vintner Agustín Huneeus asked him to spend some time showing Robert Mondavi and his wife Margrit around the Chilean wine country, he was delighted to have the opportunity.

Robert Mondavi found a kindred spirit in young Eduardo Chadwick, who spent a week showing him around central Chile in 1991. They visited many wineries in the Aconcagua, Maipo, and Colchagua valleys.

By the time they were done, they were both convinced that Chile had all the potential that California had shown two decades earlier and that together they could make an outstanding wine—a true Icon—that could prove Chile’s world-class potential.

Winemakers
Robert Mondavi and Eduardo Chadwick

Grape / Blend
53% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Malbec, 15% Carmenere, 7% Petit Verdot

Origin
Aconcagua Valley

Winemaker's Tasting Notes
Warm, early season. Dense, powerful and rich wine with rounded tannins.

This warm vintage complemented with a precise irrigation enabled a rapid and even bud break on a regular date, showing early signs of a great wine. The warm temperatures allowed for good development in the vineyard, with early flowering in the spring. December and January continued with more moderate temperatures, allowing veraison to proceed beautifully under very healthy and homogeneous conditions.

The milder conditions during February, influenced by the cool winds from the Pacific Ocean, helped preserve the acidity and aromatic compounds in the grapes.

Temperatures rose again in March, resuming the season’s trend of high temperatures, determining a rich and opulent style for the wine.

98 Points - James Suckling
Complex, with savory, spicy character, showing tobacco, salted plums, olives, black cherries, cassis and a hint of white pepper on the nose, followed by a refined, savory, balsamic accent. A full-bodied Seña with juicy fruit chiseling into the tight, extremely fine-grained tannins. Long, bright and still elegant from this warm vintage.

97 Points - Wine Advocate
The 2020 Seña is a blend of 53% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Malbec, 15% Carmenere and 7% Petit Verdot (a little higher in search of acidity) from grapes harvested early, the second week of March, and fermented mostly in stainless steel and 10% in concrete eggs. It has a moderate 13.5% alcohol and good freshness. It's subtle and layered, not only fruit but with more spice; it has polished tannins and very integrated oak after 22 months in barrique, 78% new, and with 10% of the volume in large Stockinger barrels. The warmer years seem to be nicely managed, so that it's not reflected in the ripeness but is more a matter of texture and quality of the tannins; in the warmer years, like 2017 or this 2019, the wines have a little more grip, but these are definitely finer than those from the 2017 vintage. This wine has intensity and complexity, with no mintiness or herbal notes; it's spicy and juicy, with energy and depth. It has structure, color, stuffing and acidity to develop nicely in bottle. (LG)

95 Points - Decanter
Beautiful fruit expression, clear and well defined, lovely texture, concentrated but smooth and round. This is full of sweet, juicy ripe fruits with a chalky, creamy texture underpinned by lifted acidity. It's bold and clearly powerful with a depth of ripe blackcurrants, black cherries, plums and raspberries alongside notes of freshly-cut flowers, herbs and sweet spices; rosemary, violets and cinnamon. Tannins are fine and well integrated and this feels well worked with finesse. Beautifully expressive - I like the styling here, everything feels very polished and purposeful. 7% Petit Verdot completes the blend. Ageing 22 months in French oak barrels (78% new) and 10% foudres. (GH)

95 Points - Wine Enthusiast
Violets, ripe cherry and red-plum aromas are delicate. Light notes of cinnamon and dried herbs fill up the bouquet. This is one of Chile's iconic wines from a warm vintage in Aconcagua Valley that delivers good concentration of fruit on the ripe palate. Blackberry and cherry flavors are followed by light notes of oak spice. It has lively linear acidity and big tannins. (JV)

Product size: 750ml