“A New World Grand Cru” – Decanter

We hadn’t seen Agent Noir this excited in a while. Pacing around HQ, when the delivery driver finally arrived with the sample, his eyes widened, and his hand immediately reached for the closest corkscrew.

With a soft ‘pop’ everyone’s glass soon held pure vinous royalty: blackcurrant and graphite, plum and exotic spice, all woven into a seamless cloak of polished tannin and graceful power. Had to be a First Growth… No?!

The wine was today’s 2022 Almaviva.

If you know the wine, you’re just as excited. Awarded a stunning 99 points by James Suckling, who calls Almaviva “one of the greatest wine producers in Chile, if not the world.” It usually lands on multiple critics’ Top 100 lists (this vintage is already in James Suckling’s current Top 10 Wines of Chile and has in a past vintage been named the ‘Wine of the Decade.’)

For the first time at Wine Spies, its available today only for the best price you will see. Anywhere.

In the mid-90s, hot off the success of Opus One, the next generation of Château Mouton-Rothschild began to search for their next project in the new world. They zeroed in on the Maipo Valley’s highest terraces, Puente Alto, which Wine Advocate praises for its “luxury Cabernet Sauvignon.” Baroness Philippine de Rothschild foresaw what Decanter now calls “a New World Grand Cru.”

Teaming up with Chile’s legendary Concha y Toro, she planted her flag. Their second collaboration, Almaviva was born. She deployed elite winemakers from Bordeaux: first Patrick Léon of Mouton Rothschild, succeeded by current winemaker Michel Friou, a Château Margaux alum. The result, one of Chile’s most elite reds. As Opus One is pure Napa, the team of Almaviva crafts a wine uniquely fresh and vibrant that showcases the best of high-altitude Andean fruit – yet it’s a fraction of its sibling’s price tag!

And they landed at the top of the 2022 vintage. Though the vintage started cool and wet, it soon yielded to a warm, dry summer with plenty of sunshine. Perfect conditions for ripe fruit helped retain structure and age-worthiness. No surprise there, James Suckling awarded them the top score of the vintage.

Our first time offering this icon – and at an unbeatable price… secure yours now!

99 Points – James Suckling “What fabulous perfumed aromas of lavender, blackcurrants, graphite, tapenade and hints of sweet tobacco. So complex and sophisticated. Medium- to full-bodied with tannins that have an incredible finesse and length. It goes on for minutes. It’s all about elegance and class. There’s harmony and freshness for a dry year. Seductive and so long. Drinkable now, but one for the cellar. Drink from 2028.”