Don Melchor Cabernet Sauvignon 2020

Professional Ratings

• 97 James Suckling
  Deep and serious with black olives, blackberries, blueberries, tobacco leaf, sweet red capsicum, ash, dried meat and a hint of black chocolate. This is a more direct, full-bodied Don Melchor, filled with solid blackberries and wrapped by tight, fine-grained tannins. Long and deep. 92% cabernet sauvignon, 6% cabernet franc, 1% merlot and 1% petit verdot. Better after 2024.
• 95 Wine Spectator

  Inviting aromas of chocolate-covered cherry, dried rose petal and petrichor set the stage for this well-structured red, which balances concentrated berry and mission fig flavors against vibrant acidity, lending a lush, mouthwatering quality to a finish that swirls with cassis, spices and fine tannins. Drink now.

• 95 Vinous

  The 2020 Cabernet Sauvignon Don Melchor has a 6% dash of Cabernet Franc along with 1% splashes of Merlot and Petit Verdot from Puente Alto, Maipo, and was aged for 15 months in 71% new French barrels. Vivid garnet red in the glass. The aromatic profile features red fruit such as cherry and black currant along with hints of mint, spice and pepper over secondary aromas from the aging process, including a gentle whiff of cedar. Intense in the mouth, with juicy freshness and young tannins that will integrate better in time. The fruit was especially vivid this year, adding greatly to the nuance and subtle details. This will growth deeper in the bottle.

• 94 Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
  The 2020 Don Melchor is the iconic Cabernet from Maipo, from a warm and dry year. It contains 6% Cabernet Franc, 1% Merlot and 1% Petit Verdot and fermented in stainless steel followed by malolactic in barrel and 15 months élevage in 71% new French barriques. It has 14.5% alcohol, going back to the classical parameters, with good ripeness and balance. This is very classical, produced mostly with ungrafted vines with a massal selection that deliver the purest expression of the grapes on the rocky Maipo soils in Puente Alto. It's polished and sleek, elegant, without any heat, balanced and with developed aromas, starting with tertiary notes of brick dust, cedar and tobacco. The tannins are very polished and elegant, with pungent, ripe flavors in the finish. It's approachable now, but it has a good track record for longevity.
• 93 Wine Enthusiast
  Full bodied, this classic Cabernet Sauvignon displays ripe red-plum aromas followed by oak spice. It has a very fine balance on the palate between ripe fruit and good acidity that will keep this fresh as it evolves. Oak flavors are a bit intense but still pleasant providing notes of chocolate in the supple finish.
• 92 Decanter
  Packed full of vibrant fruit, plum, blackberry and tar. Exceptional concentration of fruit and sophisticated tannins. Oak and spice but lots of juicy curranty fruit.