2013 Concha y Toro - Cabernet Sauvignon Concha Puente Alto Vineyard Marques de Casa

I tasted four Cabernets with winemaker Marcelo Papa, starting with the 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon Marqués de Casa Concha Puente Alto Vineyard from the classic Cabernet zone of Puente Alto in the Maipo Valley. In reality, it's a blend with 4% Cabernet Franc, 2% Syrah and 1% Petit Verdot. The vines grow on stony soils and produce classical reds of intense fruit and good structure. The wine fermented in stainless steel tanks with remontage during six to eight days and had a post fermentative maceration of eight to 12 additional days. It aged in 20% new barriques, 60% used barriques and 20% botti from Piemonte. This has a classical nose with the extra dimension and freshness of an earlier harvest and less oak (after an experimental Limited Edition in 2010). There are notes of tobacco, blackberries and graphite but also red cherries and some aromatic herbs that provide freshness. The palate shows even more changes with good grip and tension, with polished texture perhaps not as velvety as in the past, but with a little more tension and very good freshness; the wine is dry, showing the variety and origin, and quite naked -- something winemaker Marcelo Papa attributes to the use of the botti. Great value and typicity. Some 800,000 bottles are produced of this wine that was bottled over two weeks in November 2014.