Wine

La Piu Belle: Best Carmenere from Chile according to The Drink Business Editor in Chief, Patrick Schmitt

By: VIK Marketing
25 January , 2023

“Science and knowledge are our foundation. Passion is our engine. The wine is the expression of our art.”

After an extensive ‘blind’ tasting of Chilean wines last year, The Drink Business picked out 10 brilliant reds based on the country’s emblematic grape: Carmenère and 10 reds based on the country’s most planted grape: Cabernet Sauvignon.

The wines featured in these selections were taken from 28 leading producers in Chile. Wines of Chile asked them to submit no more than two wines for sampling by db. The wineries put forward commercially available samples that they were most proud of, representing new and exciting bottles, along with the latest vintages of established labels. All the samples were assessed ‘blind’ in August 2022, with the full results of the tasting featuring in the September edition of the drinks business.

La Piu Belle 2020, a Blend of 68% Carmenére, 23% Cabernet Sauvignon and 9% Cabernet Franc got the highest score of all the Carmenerés in Chile with 97 points:

LA PIU BELLE 2020

This strikingly packaged bottle from Vik features La Piu Belle, the goddess of Millahue, where the wine estate is based, painted by Gonzalo Cienfuegos specially for this expression. Notable in this 2019 release is the use of unique barrels to age the wine, which were made using oak staves toasted with fires fuelled by fallen branches from French oak trees on the property in the Cachapoal Valley. As for the taste of La Piu Belle, this is a seriously good Carmenère-dominant blend that’s soft and open, but not overdone or excessively alcoholic. It’s surprisingly easy-to-drink for a £50 barrique-aged top-end expression. The fruit is both fine and fleshy, ranging from ripe cherry and raspberry to blackberry, with notes of cracked pepper, roasted coffee, cedar and, finally, dark chocolate and toast. As for the finish, it’s fresh, featuring plenty of fine tannins, offering a gentle drying sensation – there’s a lovely structure to this wine.

On the other hand, Milla Cala 2019, a blend of 61% Cabernet Sauvignon; 7% Cabernet Franc; 8% Syrah; 23% Carmenère; 1% Merlot got 93 points.

MILLA CALA 2019

This relatively affordable wine from Vik’s estate in Millahue, Cachapoal Valley, delivers plenty of appealing characters from a blend of Bordeaux grapes, along with a little Syrah. Mixing red and black fruit, with white pepper, nettle, vanilla, and cedar, followed by a touch of toast, it’s a complex red with a nice fresh finish, and plenty of fine tannins too.

See the full lists here:
https://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2023/01/top-10-carmeneres-from-chile/
https://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2023/01/top-10-cabernets-from-chile/