Almaviva 2016

When Baron Philippe de Rothschild SA and Viña Concha y Toro formalized their joint venture in 1997, the founding principle was uncompromising: one estate, one bodega, one technical team, one wine — the French Château concept transplanted to the foot of the Andes. That discipline is the reason only ~50% of total vineyard production is selected for the final blend each vintage.

The single estate sits at 620–650 m elevation in Puente Alto, Alto Maipo's highest sub-zone, on classic alluvial Andean fan deposits: loamy clay to 50 cm, underlain by sandy loam, gravel, and rock. Poor, stony, and freely draining, these soils suppress vigor and concentrate phenolics while the Andes' diurnal swings preserve acidity at full ripeness.

Hand-harvested fruit is cold-macerated for color and aromatic extraction, then fermented in parcel-specific stainless steel tanks via gravity-only transfer — no pumps at any stage. Malolactic fermentation occurs spontaneously, and the wine is drained directly into French oak barrels (70–73% new) for 20 months in the estate's Grand Chai vault; basket-press wine is added in small proportions.

The 2016 blend's Carmenère component — a variety phylloxera erased from France and rediscovered in Chile — delivers roasted pepper, herbal complexity, and dark spice that no Bordeaux or Napa equivalent can structurally replicate. The 2016 is drinking well now but carries the architecture for extended cellaring through the late 2030s.