Given all the superb Bordeaux wine we import, coupled with all the succulent California Cabernet at our fingertips, it’s not often you see Chilean Cabernet or Bordeaux-style blends offered on SommSelect. Frankly, it’s a big oversight on our part—as today’s wine so insistently reminded us. Chile can compete with the very best, and as evidenced by Pérez Cruz’s “Pircas de Liguai,” they can do it for less.
This is an extraordinary value for Cabernet Sauvignon of this self-evident pedigree: I wasn’t just impressed when I learned the price, I was incredulous. We all were, and only became more so as we learned more about Pérez Cruz, which is the kind of well-situated, beautifully appointed winery you’d expect to charge much, much more for its wines. Today’s wine is sourced from the upper Maipo Valley, an unimaginably beautiful terroir in the shadow of the towering, snow-capped Andes, then vinified in a state-of-the-art, gravity-flow winery. We taste a lot of great Cabernet Sauvignon around here, but this one elbowed its way to the front of the line and demanded a place at the table. We are more than happy to oblige, and believe me, you will be, too!
None of this, of course, should be a surprise: Chile’s aptitude for world-class Cabernet Sauvignon has drawn California legends like Robert Mondavi and Paul Hobbs to its wine country, not to mention countless French wine families—including the Rothschilds, whose joint venture with Chile’s Concha y Toro, Almaviva, is one of the world’s critical darlings. Pérez Cruz, meanwhile, is a homegrown endeavor: The Pérez Cruz family saw what was happening in the Maipo Valley and recognized that the same fields they owned for cattle grazing could be converted to world-class vineyards. In 1994, they sprang into action, planting Bordeaux varieties alongside Syrah and Carménère, designed a stunning winery, and by 2002 had released their first wine.
The Maipo Valley, to the south and east of Santiago, is the country’s most important wine-growing region—often referred to as “the Bordeaux of South America.” Santa Rita's Casa Real and Concha y Toro’s Don Melchor (now a stand-alone wine) are perhaps among the most recognized names from the area, the latter for its $100+ Cabernet from the famous Puente Alto Vineyard in the upper Maipo Valley, or “Maipo Alto.” This is the most distinguished sub-region of the Maipo Valley, and it happens to be the home of Pérez Cruz. Nearby is Viña Antiyal, which is owned by Álvaro Espinoza, one of Chile’s leading champions of biodynamic farming; Espinoza has become a regular at Pérez Cruz, consulting with French-trained winemaker German Lyon, who farms organically, but always with an ear to Espinoza’s biodynamic entreaties.
The “Fundo Liguai” Estate vineyard—the source of today’s 2014 Pircas de Liguai—is considered the crown jewel of the Pérez Cruz estate. At just over 1,700 ft. in elevation, it’s only about a 5-minute walk from the center of the vineyard to the base of the Andes Mountains. A mix of large stones, gravel, and colluvial deposits (debris that slid down from the Andes and collected over centuries) all makes for rather gruff growing conditions in which Cabernet vines have to work pretty hard to find nutrients.
The 2014 Pircas de Liguai is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, hand-harvested, fermented in stainless steel with native yeasts, and then aged in second-use 225-liter French oak barrels for up to 16 months. It shows a medium-deep ruby color with subtle bricking at the rim, just hinting at its 5 years of age. Powerful aromas run the gamut of ripe blackberry, tart raspberry, pencil shavings, muddled plums, just a hint of peppery dark chocolate, wild savory herbs, and a touch of anise, but above all, extremely fresh and vivid. This is a mouth-filling wine with a buoyancy and a supple texture, supported by layers of black currant, blackberry jam, crème de cassis, blueberry, and grippy, cedar-like dusty tannins calling to mind the structure of Pauillac or Rutherford Cabernet along with an elegant floral through-line like just-blossomed red wild-flowers, that sticks with you from the nose to the finish. I also find this dazzling underlying mineral component, like pulverized volcanic rocks rich in iron minerals. After a few minutes in the glass, these fantastic charred meat notes emerge along with a chocolate note, almost like a rich mole sauce, and the wine just keeps building on this tremendous energy, finishing with loads of brown spices and fragrant wild herbs. All this is supported by a firm, Bordeaux-like spine of acidity, so don’t be afraid to lay a few bottles down to catch further moments of greatness over the next 5-7 years. Decant for about 30 minutes at cellar temperature and serve in large Bordeaux stems, and you can’t go wrong pairing it with c
azuela (a traditional Chilean stew of beef or chicken with corn, rice, and potatoes) or a platter of your favorite grilled meats with roasted potatoes. It’s a game-changer—don’t miss it!
