DON MELCHOR

Today it was a pleasure to taste this wine after LOOONG time

I am still in love with this BEAUTY

Don Melchor de Santiago Concha Y Toro ( 1833 - 1892 )

He was a Chilean businessman, lawyer, and politician, and Marquis of Casa Concha by the Spanish Crown.

In 1883, The Marquis Melchor de Concha y Toro entered the wine-making industry by deciding to plant grapevines in the Maipo River Valley. He brought vines from France, Bordeaux region: Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon, Merlot, and Carmenere.

But The history of Don Melchor, Chile's first icon wine, began in the mid-1980s as the result of Vina Concha y Toro desire to produce world-class wines. Goetz Von Gersdorff, the winemaker at that time, was asked to select the best wines from de Puente Alto vineyard to make the first Don Melchor, the emblem of Vina Concha y Toro and the Chilean Industry.

Enrique Tirado has been the Don Melchor winemaker since 1997 and has been in charge of positioning Don Melchor among the great examples of Cabernet Sauvignon at the global level.

After more than 30 years, Don Melchor has reached a solid position that enables it to face new challenges, highlighting its maturity and ability to express its own identity, that it is build upon a base of three fundamentals pillars: 1.-Its impeccable heritage and history, 2.- The Peerless conditions of its terroir, and 3.- The deep understanding and expertise in the making of the Don Melchor Wine.

Every year winemaker Enrique Tirado Travels to the small town of Lamarque, Bordeaux, France to meet with renowned Bordeaux consultant Eric Boissenot, to taste approximately 150 lots from the vineyard and determinate which lots, and which proportions, will go into the vintages of Don Melchor.

The renowned French wine master Emile Peynaud - consider the father of modern winemaking - tries a Cabernet Sauvignon from Puente Alto in the Maipo Valley and immediately recognized the excellent of this terroir. He suggest that his closest collaborator Jacques Boissenot, who later lead the project to bring Don Melchor wine to life. Jacques Boissenot continues

working with Don Melchor until 2013 vintage, then his son Eric Boissenot takes over to continue his legacy, working alongside with Don Melchor winemaker Enrique Tirado.

1987 with its first vintage, Don Melchor reinvents the Chilean wine industry, providing to the world that great wine that can just be produced in this unique terroir.

Located on the third alluvial terrace, 650 meters above the sea, the oldest and most complex of the Maipo river. This Terrace has a rocky soil throughout the profile, and deeper down it is loaded with minerals, clay gravel, silt, and round stones as a result of the thousands of years of erosion.

These alluvial soils of volcanic origin allow good drainage and low fertility, which help limit the vegetative growth of the vines. The cold influence of the Andes is very important and takes the form of cool breezes and a high daytime-night time temperature variation during the ripening period. This climate phenomenon encourage the tannins to ripen well, helps balance the acidity, brings out fresh red fruit, and enhance the concentration of color and aromas in the bunches.

These characteristics work together perfectly to produce the highest quality which is expressed in the wine.

Meticulous research, careful study and dedication of winemakers have seen these 127 hectares divided into

Each of these in then precisely subdivided into micro-parcels, so that every detail and characteristics can be managed, with winegrowers responding to the need of Each Area, Each Row, Each Vine. When the factors that affect the vines, from soil composition and root growth to nutrients, water retention and temperature changes, are perfectly managed they ultimately influence the unique expressions of each vine.

The Cabernet Sauvignon vines average more than 30 years of age and correspond to a selection originally brought over from Bordeaux at the end of the 19th century.

DON MELCHOR 2018

A PERFECT VINTAGE

The 2018 vintage of this Icon Cabernet Sauvignon from Puente Alto was launched during October. Thanks to the ideal weather conditions, allowed for an unprecedented vintage and final product that expresses the unique emotion only found in great wines.

2018 is one of the greatest vintages in the history of Don Melchor, and the wine harvest was carried out in nearly perfect conditions.

The wine is very expressive, with perfect maturity and clear expression of the Cabernet Sauvignon. It is very concentrated, but have soft, elegant tannins, as well as different layers of aromas and flavors that when mixed in the final blend create an amazing experience

REFERENCES\

CONCHAYTORO.COM