Don Melchor Cabernet Sauvignon, 2017 – 2018 - 2021
A rare opportunity to purchase up to three vintages of one of the finest cabernets in South America and the World
June 2, 2025
Limited quantities of the wines are offered subject to prior sale.
The Wine Spectator named the 2021 vintage of Don Melchor Cabernet Sauvignon as its wine of the year in 2024. Critics on both sides of the Atlantic and the Panama Canal have lavished praise on the three vintages.
The Don Melchor vineyard is in the Puente Alto uplands of Maipo Valley, whose alluvial soils, like those of Bordeaux’s most favored Pauillac or St Julien, together with sun-ripening warm days and acid-fixing cool nights, make it Chile’s greatest wine area.
Last fall, I had the privilege of tasting several recent vintages and found all of them Outstanding, with the 2021 and 2017 possibly Superb at maturity. Francophile, I admit I was skeptical, but all lived up to the hype, or I would not be offering them.
The vintages vary, with their differences more in style than in quality. While not lacking in substance, they exhibit a great degree of nuance and have a more measured quality akin to a Bordeaux in a ripe vintage, rather than the extravagance of Napa Cabernet Sauvignon.
There are numerous rave reviews for these wines, but here are some samples from critics.
2021
… to my palate, the most classic and timeless iteration presented in this vertical. …. sumptuous yet elegant, combining a sleek, refined texture with the soft, gentle richness that is characteristic of this blend. Matthew Luczy, Wine Advocate
A remarkable effort that channels the finesse of the vintage with rich, muscular edges, offering a base of graphite and cassis notes that gather around elegant layers of dried rosemary and white pepper. The richly textured core of raspberry and plum flavors shows precision and just enough acidity to keep things sailing onto the finish around well-integrated tannins and touches of cocoa, Wine Spectator.
Shows great balance and persistence in this stellar vintage. Long and fine, the nose is redolent of red bramble fruit, forest floor, cedar, exotic spice, and a touch of mint. Decanter
The restrained nose offers pure fruity notes such as blackcurrant with hints of leaves and black tea, refined woody aromas, and gentle touches of plum and red bell pepper. In the mouth, it's intense with mild juiciness and rounded tannins. The taut palate gradually grows more profound as it develops cedar flavors at the back of the throat before the long, rewarding finish. A wine that is more suggestive than explicit, as it slowly envelops you in its different layers. Vinous
2018
it is garnet red in the glass, with a very complex expression that unfolds in ayers, beginning with black currant and sour cherry notes, followed by mint, cedar and pepper and a faint whiff of red pepper. Juicy in the mouth with fine-grained tannins and a concentration that centers the wine, channeling and stretching out the fruity backdrop, this is an unusually harmonious and delicious Bordeaux blend. Vinous
My preference .., from a cooler and rainier vintage that produced a very complete and balanced wine with the aid of 5% Cabernet Franc, 3% Merlot, and 1% Petit Verdot. It has power and finesse, integrated 14% alcohol and a classical profile with the ingredients to develop nicely in bottle. It's tasty and has polished tannins. Wine Advocate
This seduces with its precision and elegance. Made following a massal selection of pre-phylloxera vines from Puente Alto, a 'grand cru' of Maipo Valley, this outstanding Cabernet is fragrant with aromas of redcurrant, graphite, thyme, and cigar box before the silky, tense flow leads into an exciting, prolonged finish. Decanter
2017
The winery considers 2017 to be the acme of its recent vintages.
A wine that transcends vintages and shows great regularity, always combining elegance and power, with subtle mintiness and superb elegance. It's juicy, textured, and velvety. This is a superb showing in 2017, a warm year and a fresh wine. Bravo! Wine Advocate
The Offer
All wines are direct from the winery.
2021 Don Melchor $175
2018 Don Melchor $285
2017 Don Melchor $299
Three Bottle Vertical $649
FREE DELIVERY!
downtown on orders more than $75;
in Greater Boston on orders more than $199
