2021 Pérez Cruz Cabernet Sauvignon Reserva

94% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Carménère; farmed sustainably.

Aged for eight months in 25% new oak barrels, of which 60% were American and 40% French barrique. 14% alcohol. 

Excellent quality to price ratio here on this bold, full bodied wine. Dark fruit, tobacco, leather, chocolate and oak on the nose and palate. There’s just a hint of Chilean peppery spice, but its in a supporting role and doesn’t make itself obtrusive. Finishes long and smooth.

A Cabernet Sauvignon specialist from the Andes portion of the Maipo Valley of Chile, Vina Perez Cruz is a family-owned winery specialized exclusively in the production of red wines from mostly Bordeaux varieties that are bottled on site and reflect the character and identity of the Maipo Alto Valley.  The wines are 100% single-estate origin, which affords the winery total control of the outstanding fruit which arrives at full maturity and with uniform ripeness. French-trained winemaker German Lyon, assisted by the occasional consult from Álvaro Espinoza, one of the leading biodynamic experts in the country, takes a gentle and diligent approach to handling the fruit, which flows through the multi-level gravity-fed winery without pumps. The winery was built of native types of wood with two barrel-shaped central naves, exterior arches that evoke the passing of wind through trees, and stone foundations that recall the structures the Incas left behind in the area. Its sustainable design incorporates a gravity-flow process and has a three-million-liter capacity. By taking advantage of the conditions below ground, temperature and humidity are controlled naturally in the barrel cellar, which has a capacity for 5,000 barrels.