Viña Concha y Toro proudly bears the name of its founder, Don Melchor de Concha y Toro, Marqués de Casa Concha, a passionate attorney, politician and historian. In 1883, together with his wife, Doña Emiliana Subercaseaux, he founded the Concha y Toro Vineyard. Along with other visionary developers of the time, he brought to Chile the best grape varieties of the Bordeaux region: Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon, and Merlot.
Concha y Toro is Latin America’s leading producer and occupies an outstanding position among the world’s most important wine companies. The winery’s growth surged in 1987, when the U.S. based Banfi Vintners – famous for its Brunello di Montalcino and other Italian wines – began distributing Concho y Toro’s wines worldwide. At about the same time, Chilean wines started to become popular in the U.S., UK, and other world markets. Today, Concha y Toro wines are available in 135 countries. In 2010, Concha y Toro became a full-fledged international winery, acquiring Brown-Forman’s U.S. wine line, which included Fetzer Vineyards, Bonterra, Jekel, and Little Black Dress.
The winery began making wines in Maipo Valley in Chile’s Central Valley; however, at this point, it is producing wines in almost every winemaking region of Chile – including Limari, one of the newer wine regions, a high-altitude, desert-like area in the north, with strong coastal influences – as well as several regions in Mendoza, Argentina. The five primary varieties in its various wines are Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Carménère (a grape variety originally planted in the Médoc region of Bordeaux, France, where it was used to produce deep red wines and occasionally used for blending purposes), Chardonnay, and Sauvignon Blanc.
Concha y Toro has many subsidiary labels, but its premium wine, Don Melchor Cabernet Sauvignon, which was first produced in 1987, leads the way. Composed entirely of Cabernet Sauvignon (with a touch of Cabernet Franc in some vintages), Don Melchor was Chile’s first ultra-premium wine and remains the finest example of the country’s winemaking art.
Marqués de Casa Concha, one of the winery’s medium-priced brands, is well represented – and highly rated – among United States’ wine lovers and wine critics alike. The 2011 Concha y Toro Marqués de Casa Concha Chardonnay, for example, beguiles the nose with toasty aromas and stimulates the palate with flavors of oak-infused spice.
This is certainly a Chardonnay – no mistaking that – but it’s a far cry from those over-oaked (and overpriced), preposterously ponderous ultra-alcoholic California Chards that have been known to paralyze the taste buds at the drop of a cork. There’s 14% alcohol here… but it’s well integrated with plenty of fruit, a distinct minerality, and a crisp, racy acidity that hangs on through the memorably long finish. This is a food-friendly wine, a marvelous match for white meat, fish, or a variety fresh cheeses & hors-oeuvres… yet possessing enough refreshing character for unaccompanied warm weather quaffing on deck or patio.
This wine normally retails for around the $20.00 mark, but I’ve seen it on sale for a mere $14.99 – and that’s a sweet deal for a first-class vintage. Do a little research online for the best price.
The 2013 Concha y Toro Marqués Casa Concha Cabernet Sauvignon is even more recommendable. “A gorgeous Cabernet Sauvignon,” writes wine critic James Suckling (formerly of the Wine Spectator) after bestowing 93 points. Indeed, there’s a lot to like here – dark ruby red color, aromas of cedar & smoke, beautifully concentrated flavors, fine, firm tannins, soft, silky texture, and a long lingering finish infused with French oak.
And, like the above-mentioned 2011 Chardonnay, this is an eminently food-friendly vintage. This fine Cabernet is a classic steak wine; the perfect accompaniment for prime red meats, firm cheeses, and other rich fare.
Veteran wine writer Steve Body, a.k.a. The Pour Fool, has been telling readers for well over a decade that the Concha y Toro Marqués Casa Concha Puente Alto Vineyard Cab is the best value Cabernet in the world, selling for around the $20.00 mark. To quote the man himself: “It’s not really even a close competition. The damned stuff should, if all were aligned in heaven and on earth, cost about $65.00. Really. In terms of what we look for in a great Cabernet, it simply has it all.”
But as Mr. Body is quick to point out, the Marqués Casa Concha isn’t even the best Cabernet to come out of that near-legendary vineyard… No, that title belongs to its big brother, the above-mentioned Concha y Toro Don Melchor. I just finished sampling the 2010 Don Melchor; and I can tell you, without any equivocation whatsoever, that it is nothing short of phenomenal. I’ll spare you the usual litany of oenological adjectives. Let me simply say that all aspects of this wine – fruit intensity, alcohol (14.5%), tannins, oak infusion, aroma, color, taste, consistency, etc., etc. – are in complete harmony. Mr. Body’s concluding remarks: “The texture is like having your tongue massaged with a velvet swatch and the finish is just, well, perfect.”
The genius behind this incomparable wine is dedicated terroirist Enrique Tirado, who became Don Melchor’s sole winemaker in 1999. According to Mr. Tirado: “Don Melchor’s style captures the complexity and finesse expressed through the perfect balance of the stony Puente Alto soil, the Andean breeze, the generous Maipo Valley climate and the thirty years vines have taken to produce their best grapes.”
Mr. Tirado’s 2010 Don Melchor is composed of 97% Cabernet Sauvignon, 3% Cabernet Franc, and is aged in French oak for 15 months. Highly praised by wine critics across the board – James Suckling, 96 points; Wine Spectator, 95; Wine & Spirits magazine, 94; Cellar Tracker, 93; and Wine Enthusiast, 93 – it placed number 9 on the Wine Spectator’s “Top 100 Wines of 2014.” The Wine Spectator’s 95 point rating was just shy of the 96 point score given to the 2003 and 2005 vintages; the highest rating the Spectator has ever given to a Chilean wine. Don Melchor has also placed in the top 5 of the Spectator’s Top 100 list twice in the last ten years.
The 2010 Don Melchor is quite unlike those gigantic, lethally alcoholic Napa Valley “fruit bombs” that have been littering the oenological landscape of late. No, this is a sophisticated, sumptuous, elegant Cabernet that gently finesses the palate rather than launching a major assault. It is, in short, an ultra-premium world-class wine; and it is Chilean to the core.
Needless to say, a Cabernet of this stature & breeding is not an inexpensive proposition. However, given its impeccable quality, and compared to the extravagant tariffs attached to top-notch Bordeaux and a host of those big California Cabs, its $100.00+ price tag seems a positive bargain. Be sure to check out prices online. The Ultimate Wine Shop, www.ultimatewineshop.com, and Gary’s Wine & Marketplace, www.garyswine.com, both located in New Jersey, have the 2010 on sale for $92.99 and $89.99, respectively. Shipping charges – but of course – are additional. Gary’s, however, should you see your way clear to purchase six or more, will only charge you a buck a bottle shipping.
The 2010 Concha y Toro Don Melchor Cabernet Sauvignon is truly a fantastic wine. If you’re a Cabernet lover – and feeling particularly flush at the moment – I urge you to take the plunge.
Cheers!
TAD
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