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#1 On The Wine Spectator's Top 100 Wines Of 2024!

96 Points Wine Spectator
From its inaugural vintage in 1987, Viña Don Melchor aspired to demonstrate that Chilean terroir can produce world-class wines. Maintaining that credo, several years ago it became a stand-alone brand, separate from its parent company, Concha y Toro. The move signaled a shift to distinguish the flagship from Concha y Toro’s primarily large-volume and lower-priced labels. Now in its 35th vintage, the exemplary Viña Don Melchor Cabernet Sauvignon Puente Alto Vineyard has undoubtedly succeeded in its endeavor as a reference for excellence, both in Chile and worldwide, and its 2021 version earns Wine Spectator’s 2024 Wine of the Year honors.

97 Points Vinous
The 2021 Don Melchor is dark garnet red in the glass. The restrained nose offers pure fruity notes such as blackcurrant with hints of leaves and black tea, refined woody aromas, and gentle touches of plum and red bell pepper. In the mouth, it's intense with mild juiciness and rounded tannins. The taut palate gradually grows more profound as it develops cedar flavors at the back of the throat before the long, rewarding finish. A wine that is more suggestive than explicit as it slowly envelops you in its different layers. The added freshness brings out the clarity of the fruity flavors.

MSRP is $175 a bottle.

94+ points Wine Advcate
Their second wine, the 2021 Epu is from the same terroir and vineyard in Puente Alto as Almaviva but comes from the younger vines, around 12 years on average. In 2021, the blend is 80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Carmenere and 5% Merlot (no Cabernet Franc this year). It has a ripe and heady nose, with 14.68% alcohol (15% on the label), mellow acidity and intense notes of red peppers, ripe blackberries and cassis and some spiciness from the oak. It matured for one year in French barriques, only 10% new and 90% second use. It has a little less structure and softer tannins, making it more approachable than previous years, a profile that seems to be the signature of the year. It's medium to full-bodied with velvety, more polished tannins, and it is more delicate and less concentrated, with more finesse. But I find these quite homogeneous and regular, this year with no raisins or dehydrated grapes, and in this vintage, it feels open and expressive.

Organic / Biodynamic

Fermented in small stainless steel vats (2 to 5 tons), the fermentation is done with native yeast only, with soft pumping over and a long maceration of 25 days before pressing. After pressing the wine is racked to French barrels, 50% three years old, and 50% four years old where the malolactic fermentation takes place. Aging: 10 months in French barrels (3 and 4 years old )