2018 Tabali Talinay Pinot Noir PAI Limari Valley 750 ml

Chile is known for extreme vineyards, but Talinay is one of the country’s absolute wildest. It’s steep, rugged, and flanked by cacti, and at first glance, you might wonder what possessed Tabalí to plant here.

But when you taste the 2018 Pai Pinot Noir, you’ll be glad they did.

Pai comes from a special 1.15-hectare plot in the acclaimed vineyard, and this debut vintage is perhaps the greatest Pinot Noir the winery—classified by Tim Atkin MW as a Chilean “First Growth”—has ever produced. That’s no small feat, considering the acclaim their Pinots have already received.

“Tabalí has always produced svelte Pinot Noir and the new Pai wine is next level,” said Decanter in their 97-point review. This bottle is pure velvet elegance, streaked with minerality and suffused with uplifting acidity, and it’s no wonder it earned the second-highest score the magazine has ever awarded ANY Chilean wine.

Located just west of the Atacama Desert—the driest nonpolar place on Earth—Limarí is among Chile’s northernmost wine regions. Located just seven miles from the ocean, the pristine, untamed terrain that surrounds the fog-draped Talinay Vineyard is part of the UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve.

In 2012, Tabalí planted ungrafted massal selections—ones from older vineyards—from Vosne-Romanée and Gevrey-Chambertin at an extremely high density on a 30% slope. Six years later, Chile had one of its best vintages ever, one Wine Advocate rated 96 points.

Winemaker Felipe Müller East, a wunderkind with no shortage of accolades, fermented the Pai with 40% whole-clusters and native yeasts before giving it a year to rest in French oak. The result is a precise rendering of an extraordinary coastal terroir—one that’ll age easily for several years or more.