Wine legends: Seña 1997, Aconcagua, Chile
Aconcagua, Chile
A legend because…
Robert Mondavi had a knack for forming distinguished joint ventures far from his native California. During his first trip to Chile in 1991, he met Eduardo Chadwick; the first vintage of their new label, Seña, was in 1995, a year before a comparable joint venture, Almaviva, was created by Concha y Toro and Mouton-Rothschild. However, the first wine from the dedicated Seña vineyard was not produced until 2001. From the beginning the wine showed a more European, indeed French influence and polish than Californian weight and brashness. Because of changes in the Mondavi wineries’ structure and ownership, Chadwick bought its 50% share in 2004.
Looking back
The first vintage of Errazuriz’s Don Maximiano Founder’s Reserve Cabernet, arguably Chile’s first ‘icon’ wine, was in 1983, so the development of the Seña label was a natural progression. Viñedo Chadwick would follow in 1999. In 2004, Eduardo Chadwick organised a blind tasting in Berlin, pitching his Cabernets against the best-known versions from Europe, including Bordeaux first growths. Seña took an honourable second place to Viñedo Chadwick. Similar tastings would take place in Asia and New York, again with gratifying results. Chadwick’s aim was not just to promote his own wines, but to ally Chilean reds with some of the world’s most admired wines.
The vintage
The early part of the growing season was cool, but then it warmed up considerably. Before harvest there were alternating periods of heat and cool, foggy weather, which brought some concerns about rot. However, by the time of harvest the weather was dry, although heat spikes retarded maturation so that the harvest was not completed until mid-April. Yields were moderate because of drought conditions.
The terroir
The Seña vineyard was planted from 1998 and occupies 42ha on a hillside in Ocoa, Aconcagua – home to the Errazuriz estate. The site has been farmed biodynamically since 2005. However, the grapes for this vintage were sourced from various parcels, the oldest vines being 26 years old.