Concha y Toro Don Melchor 2010

The Wine Advocate
RP 94
Reviewed by:
Luis Gutiérrez
Drink Date:
2017 – 2035
I had the chance to revisit some older vintages of the top Cabernet Sauvignon-based wine from Puente Alto, including the 2010 Don Melchor from a cooler and drier than average year that resulted in a later harvest. It contains 3% Cabernet Franc and aged in 76% new French barriques for 15 months. 110,000 bottles were produced in 2010. This has to be one of the finest vintages of Don Melchor. It has absorbed the light lactic touch from its youth and is developing at what seems to be the pace of this bottling, extremely slowly. There is great balance and a combination of power and elegance that is unusual. This has to be one of the best zones in Chile for Cabernet Sauvignon, and this is a great example of it. It was bottled in November 2011.

Concha y Toro has some 9,000 hectares of vineyards spread across nine different valleys of Chile. Of course, they are one of the largest wineries in the world, if you put together all the wineries in the group, most probably the largest of all. Under the Concha y Toro brand they market some 15.2 million cases per year, which is 182 million bottles.

I tasted with different winemakers including a mini-vertical of the classical iconic Maipo Cabernet Don Melchor with Enrique Tirado. The wine seems to age effortlessly for 20+ years. I also walked the vineyard and saw a pit to understand the alluvial soils where the vines are planted.

Published: Apr 28, 2017