Almaviva 2014

When Baron Philippe de Rothschild SA and Viña Concha y Toro formalized their joint venture in 1997, their founding premise was deliberately transgressive: apply the French Château concept — one terroir, one bodega, one team, one wine — to Chilean soil, then sell it through La Place de Bordeaux, making Almaviva the first non-Bordeaux wine admitted to that distribution system. The 2014 vintage draws from the Puente Alto estate at 620–650 m elevation, where Andean alluvial fan deposits layer loamy clay over sandy loam, gravel, and rock. That stony, low-nutrient substrate forces deep root penetration, suppresses vigor, and delivers the mineral backbone and lower-pH tension that separates Puente Alto from warmer Maipo floor sites. Harvest is entirely by hand into shallow bins; gravity-only transfer — no pumps — moves must parcel by parcel into stainless steel tanks for cold maceration, then alcoholic fermentation, then spontaneous malolactic fermentation directly into barrel. Aging runs 20 months in French oak at 70–73% new barrels, with basket-press wine integrated in small proportions. The special feature here is structural: Carmenère — a variety phylloxera erased from France and rediscovered in Chile — is woven into the Cabernet Sauvignon frame at roughly 19–24%, introducing roasted pepper, dark herb, and spice that no Bordeaux or Napa peer can replicate by formula. The 2014 vintage, now a decade in bottle, is entering its most expressive window; the Andes' diurnal swings have preserved acidity against the estate's natural ripeness — drink through 2035+.