Arboleda Chardonnay 2018
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James
Suckling -
Robert
Parker
Product Details
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Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
This yellow-straw Chardonnay with golden hues stands out for its fine, delicate structure and good balance. The fresh, complex nose offers tropical fruits aromas such as pineapple and papaya framed by subtle notes of nuts. The palate offers impressively vibrant acidity with a smooth chalky texture and a persistent and long finish.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A very mineral-driven chardonnay that gets going with flint, citrus, green apples and then cloves and schist. A very taut palate with edgy acidity, but good pear-drop undertones to keep it generous and balanced.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The cooler 2018 resulted in 15% lower average temperatures in the Aconcagua Costa zone. The 2018 Chardonnay Aconcagua Costa was produced with grapes that saw a slow ripening to full flavors while keeping moderate alcohol and very high levels of acidity. The vineyards are 12 kilometers away from the Pacific Ocean and have a strong marine influence. It fermented with native yeasts in oak barrels, with only 40% of the wine going through malolactic fermentation. It matured in second and third use French oak barrels for 11 months. It's very clean, with with a mixture if citrus, herbs and flowers, and it's aromatic without excess, with a medium to full-bodied palate with some restraint but not lacking volume. There is nice balance and freshness, and it ends with a salty twist. 20,090 bottles produced. It was bottled in May 2019. Rating: 91+
Other Vintages
2020- Vinous
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James
Suckling -
Robert
Parker
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James
Suckling
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James
Suckling -
Robert
Parker
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James
Suckling
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Robert
Parker
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James
Suckling -
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Wine
Spectator
Arboleda wines were born in 1999 as part of the shared dream that inspired Robert Mondavi and Eduardo Chadwick to realize the potential of Chile as a world class producer of fine wines. The name "Arboleda" in Spanish means "grove of trees" and is a tribute to the native Chilean trees that have been preserved within the vineyards that produce the Arboleda grapes. The source of the Arboleda grapes comes from two self contained estates within the valley. A stunning hillside property some 40kms inland was acquired and planted in 2000 with a selection of red grape varieties. This property was named "Las Vertientes" due to its natural springs of water. Arboleda red wines aim for complete ripeness, full bodied with high concentration of fruit, complexity and balance.
Arboleda white wines aim to be fresh, crispy with high acidity and intense aromatics. Therefore the vineyards were planted during 2005 in the proximity to the sea, only 14 kms from the Pacific Ocean in a property called "Chilhue", the place of sea gulls in native Mapuche indian language.
One of the most popular and versatile white wine grapes, Chardonnay offers a wide range of flavors and styles depending on where it is grown and how it is made. While it tends to flourish in most environments, Chardonnay from its Burgundian homeland produces some of the most remarkable and longest lived examples. California produces both oaky, buttery styles and leaner, European-inspired wines. Somm Secret—The Burgundian subregion of Chablis, while typically using older oak barrels, produces a bright style similar to the unoaked style. Anyone who doesn't like oaky Chardonnay would likely enjoy Chablis.
The Aconcagua River runs east from the charming costal town of Valparaiso and bisects the land creating the valley after which it was named. While alluvial soils predominate the Aconcagua Valey along its river throughout, its east-west flow creates drastically different conditions on each of its ends. Its western, seaside vineyards, with clay and stony soils upon gently rolling hills, produce cool-climate varieties such as Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Its inner region is one of Chile’s hottest and produces some of its best red wines. Panquehue in the inner Aconcagua is the site of Chile’s first Syrah vines, planted in 1993.