The Drinks Business
byColin Haythe8/27/2025
(Apalta Valley, Colchagua, Chile; 59% Carménère; 33% Cabernet Sauvignon; 5% Merlot; 3% Petit Verdot; 2.7 g/L of residual sugar; pH 3.71; 14.5% alcohol; around 50% new oak; tasted at the CVBG press tasting over Zoom with Andrea Leon, technical director). A sunny and yet somewhat cooler vintage, throughout the ripening period after a very cold winter. The long hang time is the key to the character of the wine. Phenolic ripeness and a crunchy freshness to the fruit. Much more intense, more lifted and if anything more vertical too, though initially a little more closed and serious than the Prélude 2023. Fine, yet dense, intense and concentrated aromatically. This is much more floral too with that gorgeous Carménère signature – gladioli, hyacinth and wild garrigue herbal notes. Black cherry and a little blueberry and mulberry. White and pink peppercorns. The oak is nicely integrated. More ample in frame and with significant layering, the considerable tannins delineating each individual stratum. Granitic, almost gritty tannins. A wine that is very poised and gathered on the finish, with the final pinch of the tannins releasing a sapid juiciness. But just a little dry and grainy. 95.