Viñedo Chadwick, Cabernet Sauvignon, Maipo Valley, Chile, 2018

Overview of the Wine
Born in 1914 to Alejandro Chadwick and Leonor Errázuriz, Don Alfonso Chadwick is the man most responsible for the family’s proud commitment to forward-thinking winemaking.

Passionate about wine from an early age, Alfonso began his career by setting up Chile’s first wine brokerage in the early 1930s. From then on, he was always in close contact with vineyard owners and wineries. In 1942, long before he became responsible for Viña Errázuriz, Don Alfonso Chadwick had bought the Viña San José de Tocornal estate situated in Puente Alto on the rural outskirts of Santiago. It was here that Don Alfonso built his home and polo field.

Looking to the future, Viñedo Chadwick will continue to thrive and prosper because of the love, belief and support of the Chadwicks. The family will always place its profound faith in this Andean vineyard. Firstly, to showcase its quality. And secondly, to honour the memory and achievements of Don Alfonso. Thirty years after the planting of Viñedo Chadwick, the baton of responsibility has now been passed on to Eduardo’s four daughters – Magui, Mane, Pepa and Ale. They are intensely proud to carry on the important work for this label which bears their surname. Therefore, there will be no let-up in their efforts to produce a world-class wine that reflects the finest expression of this unique place. Just like their father, they are all deeply committed to respecting and enhancing the vineyard and to building a timeless legacy for future generations.

Winemaker
Francisco Baettig

Grape / Blend
97% Cabernet Sauvignon, 3% Petit Verdot

Origin
Maipo Valley, Chile

Winemaker's Tasting Notes
The outstanding 2018 vintage benefited from ideal conditions throughout the season. A winter with good rainfall was followed by a mild spring. December was warm and January slightly fresh. Then came warmer temperatures in February and March enabling a long, gentle ripening of the grapes. The harvest began on March 12 and finished on March 29.

Tasting the grapes that month, Francisco Baettig recalled the perfect ripeness of the skins and seeds, not to mention their outstanding balance, flavour and acidity. This year, 3% Petit Verdot made it into the blend alongside the mainstay of Cabernet Sauvignon. On bottling the wine in February 2020, Baettig noted its ‘unique depth’ and suggested that this was perhaps ‘the most balanced vintage of Viñedo Chadwick ever crafted, promising great ageing potential.’

98 Points - James Suckling
The aromas show blackcurrant, pine-tree, violet and light spearmint character. Full-bodied, yet reserved and tight with fine, creamy tannins. Hints of currants and fresh herbs. Extremely long and layered. Try after 2022.

98 Points - Vinous
The 2018 Viñedo Chadwick is a wine made during a perfect year in which a wet winter was followed by a mild spring and similarly mild harvest period. Considered one of the great vintages in Chile, the balance and intensity achieved in Puente Alto DO offers one of the best versions for the last 20 years: a combination of the ideal climate with gravel soils defined a perfect maturity for Cabernet Sauvignon. Viñedo Chadwick, with a 3% dash of Petit Verdot, was 80% aged in new French barrels and the rest in for 22 months. It is garnet red with a purple sheen in the glass. It has a complex nose of herbs, blackcurrant, sour cherry and licorice over a bed of blackberry, cedar and orange petit fours. Broad but smooth, it develops good juiciness and depth with balanced flavor and tension while the richness and acidity combine harmoniously with the 13.5% alcohol.

97 Points - Wine Advocate
They talk about textbook climate conditions during the growing season for the grapes used for the 2018 Viñedo Chadwick, mostly Cabernet Sauvignon with a 3% dash of Petit Verdot. The vines are planted on alluvial soils, and the grapes were picked in the morning and transported to the winery to be fermented in a combination of stainless steel (75%) and troncoconic concrete vats. Eighty percent of the wine matured in new French oak barriques and the remaining 20% in Stockinger oak foudres for a period of 22 months. It's 13.5% alcohol and has very good acidity. Viñedo Chadwick is a little warmer as a zone than the vineyards of Seña, but the wine is still very fresh, with moderate alcohol, perfectly ripe fruit and super integrated oak, coming through as elegant within the powerful style of the zone, with red and black fruit, some aromatic herbs, the cedary and spicy notes of the variety and the signature tannins of Cabernet, keeping the juiciness of the last few years. The little bit of Petit Verdot in the blend gives it a spicy touch. It's vibrant, balanced and intense, still a little young and creamy, and I'd wait a little bit longer before pulling the cork. This can surely age in bottle, as it has the ingredients and the balance to do so; it has the elegance of 2016 with a little more structure and depth—and a little more clout too. 10,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in February 2020.

94 Points - Wine Spectator
Refined, with a fine-grained texture to the vibrantly structured dried red fruit and spice flavors that show an umami-like richness. Lithe accents of dried green herbs midpalate lead to a mineral-filled finish, with plenty of savory muscle. Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot. Drink now through 2027. 800 cases made.

Product size: 750ml