Region | |
---|---|
Subregion | Chile |
Colour | White |
Type | Still |
View all vintages of this wine | View all wines by Viña Errazuriz
The structure and length of this white highlights its greatness. Full body, yet tight and structured with a superb linear backbone of ripe fruit and fine phenolic tension. Cream, stone, flint and apple. All about refined texture. Drink or hold.
Francisco Baettig thinks this is the best wine he's ever made and I'm inclined to agree, as it sets a new benchmark for South American Chardonnay. Savoury, focused and stylishly oaked, with notes of lemon zest and baking spices, it wouldn't look out of place in a line up of Grands Crus Burgundies.
On its second vintage now, the 2015 Aconcagua Costa "Las Pizarras" Chardonnay was sourced entirely from their Aconcagua Costa Vineyard from specific plots that have a significant component of "pizarra" (schist), hence the name. 2015 was a warm and dry year, but they still managed to bottle a white with 13% alcohol, a low pH of 3.1 and with almost nine grams of acidity! The figures talk about an extreme wine, yet it's wonderfully balanced and pleasant. The full clusters were pressed and the juice put to ferment with indigenous yeasts after 24 hours in French oak barrels. Only half of the wine underwent malolactic fermentation. It matured in barrique (15% new) for 12 months. This has an incredible texture and sharp, pungent acidity more often found in a Riesling than a Chardonnay and also has superb minerality and salinity. I'd be pressed to say this was not a Grand Cru Chablis if tasted blind. A world class Chardonnay from Chile. I'd love to see this wine in ten years. 3,916 bottles were filled in March 2016.
There are less than 4000 bottles produced of this magnificent Chardonnay from Errazuriz, which spent 13 months in French oak, of which 15% was new. Vivid pale lemon in the glass, there is a light struck-match character to the nose that reveals pure lemon, lemon zest, light toasty oak, and a hint of orange blossom with a flinty minerality throughout. The palate is taut and fresh, with high, steely acidity providing the structure for incredible concentration of fruit. Pure lemons, crisp apples, and salty minerality are layered with wonderfully integrated and lightly smoky notes from the touch of new oak. The palate fleshes out and broadens to give white flowers and peach blossom through the mid palate, with the line of flinty, subtle toast running right through to the finish. This incredibly pure, long, perfectly balanced Chardonnay is the best white wine ever tasted from Chile, breaking through the ceiling of what is possible here. You could drink this now but it will be better after two years in bottle and the tension makes it look like it will go the distance. Brilliant, and very exciting. Tasted at the winery in November 2016.
The 2015 Pizarras Chardonnay sets a new standard for South America.
Wow, wow and wow!