Vintus

Kai Carmenère, Aconcagua Valley

• 2008 Vintage

  • "Opaque ruby. Highly perfumed aromas of dark berry preserves, gingerbread, licorice and white pepper, with an assertive floral quality. Broad, palate-staining black raspberry and boysenberry flavors are lifted by a tangy mineral note and complicated by violet and Asian spices. Brightens up with aeration, ultimately offering an intriguing blend of richness and vivacity. The long, sappy finish echoes the floral and spice notes and shows excellent clarity." 92 Points International Wine Cellar

  • "Staunch and varietally correct from the opening gun; this is one big, obvious Carmenere with a ton of spice, extract, ripeness and quality. The palate is deep, powerful and rich, with tobacco, blackberry, fig, graham cracker and strong herbal influences. The finish is lush, long and spicy, with richness and a final dose of herbs." 92 Points Wine Enthusiast

  • "Errázuriz's best selection of carmenère, this aged in new French oak for 20 months, time that built it into an expansive, ample, voluptuous wine and softened the tannins to chocolate richness. The ripe flavors have warm depths, backed by hints of fresher, herbal notes. For the cellar." 90 Points Wine & Spirits Magazine

• 2007 Vintage

  The 2006–2007 season registered overall temperatures that corresponded quite closely to those of a normal year. Restrictive water management, low yields, and delaying the harvest by 10–14 days allowed the grapes to reach good levels of maturity and reach phenolic ripening with very high quality sweet tannins, rich flavors, and excellent acidity. Given this season’s low yields, (small-size clusters and berries) the red wines from 2007 exhibit great aromatic intensity, very good fruit concentration, juicy palates, and sweet, well-rounded tannins.

  The hand-picked grapes were carefully selected on a sorting table and then deposited into stainless steel tanks for fermentation. Aerative pumpovers were used throughout fermentation, especially with Carmenère, to help the polymerization of reactive tannins, eliminate herbaceous traces, and encourage color set to enhance the already excellent expression of the wine’s fruit character. Small portions of Syrah and Petit Verdot (7% each) were included in the final blend for greater complexity and depth to add layers of flavor to the blend. The new wine was then racked directly to 100% French oak barrels, 95% of which were new, and aged for 18 months.

  • "The 2007 Kai Don Maximiano Founder’s Reserve is made up of 86% Carmenere, 7% Petit Verdot, and 6% Syrah aged in new French oak. Purple/black in color with a dramatic perfume of wood smoke, pencil lead, chocolate covered peppermint, earth notes, violets, blackcurrant, and blackberry. This leads to an opulent offering that combines elegance with power. Layered, with superb intensity and volume, and a lengthy, seamless finish, it is likely to have a lengthy evolution of 6-8 years and provide prime drinking from 2015 to 2027." 94 Points Wine Advocate

  • "Opaque ruby. Pungent, slightly high-toned aromas of blackberry, cherry-vanilla, herbs and pepper. Dense, sweet and intense, with gentle grip and underlying structure to the oak-spiced cherry, dark berry and floral flavors. Full but in no way heavy. Really saturates the palate, finishing long and sweet, with fine-grained tannins and a lingering perfume of smoky herbs and cherry skin." 92 Points International Wine Cellar

• 2006 Vintage

  Deep, bright-violet-red in color, the wine has an attractive and intense nose of spicy aromas and black fruit. Notes of black pepper, truffles, and blackberries add complexity. The wine has a voluptuous mouthfeel and great structure that fills the palate with a brilliant balance of fruit and oak. Sweet tannins add depth and an incredibly long finish.

  • "My favorite of the so-called icons is the 2006 KAI Don Maximiano Estate, a blend of 87% Carmenere with the balance Petit Verdot and Syrah. It reinforces my feeling that when grown in the right terroir and left to fully ripen, Carmenere is Chile's most unique and possibly finest varietal. A saturated purple color, it offers up a brooding nose of cigar box, scorched earth, incense, black cherry, and blueberry. Plush, layered, and opulent, it has tons of flavor, great depth, and a very long finish. It is a wine for hedonists only!" 96 Points Wine Advocate