2015 Maquis Cabernet Sauvignon Colchagua Valley Chile 750 ml

Xavier Choné has lent his terroir expertise to Opus One, Dominus, Dalla Valle, and Domaine de la Romanée-Conti. The Boissenot family is the “secret ingredient” behind most of the Bordeaux Classed Growths. So we were intrigued when we found out that both worked with the same, single winery in South America. 

Showing a ruby-red color and profound nose of rich red fruit with spicy flourishes of cinnamon, clove, cocoa and red fruits, the 2015 Maquis Cabernet is a vibrant, fresh wine with a smooth mouthfeel, and gentle tannins that produce a beautiful, harmonious finish. It’s the epitome of a spectacular everyday Cabernet. 

The Hurtado family of Viña Maquis has grown grapes on their property for a century, and two decades ago, they made some major moves toward becoming one of South America’s most quality-driven wineries: They built a new gravity-flow facility, which preserves the fruit and aromatics of the grapes from their unique piece of land. They nabbed Xavier Choné as consulting viticulturist, and he brought along the Boissenots: consultants Eric and his (now late) father Jacques Boissenot, the Decanter Winemaker of the Decade who consulted for Latour, Lafite, Mouton-Rothschild, and Margaux.

Xavier’s specialty is vineyard evaluation, Boissenot is a top name in blending, and with the same acumen they’ve applied to the world-class properties listed above—as well as dozens of other properties around the world—they’ve made Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate and James Suckling take notice of Maquis. 

Standing on a neighboring rooftop—where managing director Ricard Rivadeneira Hurtado took us to look down on the Maquis property—it’s not hard to see what might have drawn the Frenchmen to Maquis. The vineyards are located in the heart of Chile’s Colchagua Valley, but are essentially on an island, situated between the Tinguiririca River and the Chimbarongo Creek (think of the peninsula created by the Dordogne and Garonne rivers in Bordeaux). Because of this unique positioning, the vineyards have deep alluvial soils: a six-foot layer of highly concentrated clay sits over a deeper layer of gravel, which means superb drainage, resulting in small berries of concentrated flavors and ripe tannins.

The two waterways also act as conduits for cool breezes from the coast, which has a profound moderating effect on the vines, not only protecting them from frost, but lowering the temperature of the vines during the summer, resulting in wines of gorgeous freshness and vibrancy.

The grapes for the 2015 Cabernet matured during a beautiful warm summer and autumn, before being hand-picked and sorted. After maceration and malolactic fermentation, 80% of the wine spent 10 months in French oak, and the rest remained in stainless steel. The result is the kind of spectacular Cabernet you’d expect from such world-class talent—at a price you’d never see coming.