If only Don Melchor Concha y Toro could know how his idea to import and plant in Chile pre-phylloxera vinifera vines from Bordeaux has evolved! It started 138 years ago...and one-hundred and four years after that initial planting, in 1987, the first wine named in Don Melchor's honor from the Puente Alto Vineyard was bottled. In 2017 - the year of this vineyard’s 30th anniversary and the wine's 31st bottling, the Viña Don Melchor winery became independent from the Viña Concha y Toro portfolio. 

Viña Don Melchor claims "one terroir, one wine", but with incredible precision, winemaker Enrique Tirado actually vinifies 150 lots from seven parcels in small stainless steel tanks. Nonetheless, this is a contiguous vineyard, save a tiny parcel of Cabernet Sauvignon that sits a short walk from the rest of the vines. 

The vine plantings are 90% Cabernet Sauvignon with 7.1% Cabernet Franc - which usually contributes a small percentage to the final wine, along with 1.9% Merlot and 1% Petit Verdot. The latter two may or may not make the final blend. To fully express the Puente Alto vineyard, a decision was made that no more than 70% of the final wine may come from a single parcel. The wine ages in two-thirds new and one-third once-used French oak for 14 to 15 months.

Underneath the Andes Mountains, the Puente Alto vineyard sits at 650 meters / 2,133 feet. The vines vary in density, but reach up to 8,000 vines per hectare, and they average 30 years in age. 

96
Don Melchor 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Puente Alto Vineyard Vintage No. 32 14.5% $120
Unusually, this 2018 is composed of all four grapes grown in the Puente Alto Vineyard with 91% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Cabernet Franc, 3% Merlot and 1% Petit Verdot. Its perfume stuns with an intense purity of black currants and eucalyptus nuanced by cedar box notes. The palate is gentle and elegant with ultra-suave, seamless tannins caressing a generous fruit core and accented by vivacious freshness on the back palate. The finish goes on and on, its concentrated fruit flavors layered with fireplace smoke, underbrush and graphite. This is headturning yet discreet. Patient, discerning tasters will get the most from this, but it should receive broad appreciation. Frankly, I find it ravishing!
Drink: 2021-33