Almaviva in originele kist van 6 flessen, Baron Philippe de Rothschild and Concha Y Toro 2019

James Suckling : 97/100

Vintage 2019 in Chile was magnificent, a worthy successor of the superb 2018, in line with the greatest Chilean vintages of the last twenty years. The vintage was notably dry with only 150mm of rainfall
measured in Puente Alto between May and September 2018, compared to historical figures of 262mm. During the same winter growing season, temperatures dropped lower than usual, pushing budbreak to occur a couple of weeks later than expected. Temperatures increased in November at higher levels than usual before returning to normal in December. Spring was also very dry with 11mm of rainfall, followed by an extremely warm summer. The acute conditions of heat and drought obliged us to start irrigation early, monitoring it closely, managing the hydric stress with precision. Veraison started a bit later than average but was fast and homogeneous. The initial late budding was misleading as it hinted at a late harvest. However, the first vines harvested arrived at maturity a week earlier than usual. Picking started on March 21st for the Merlot and March 27th for the youngest Cabernet Sauvignon. Cooler temperatures in April slowed down the ripening of the old Cabernet Sauvignon vines and other varieties, which ultimately resulted in a long harvest period of 10 weeks, until the last of the Carménère was brought in on May 27th. The drier than average vintage 2019 gave us smaller berries,
superb for all our Bordeaux varieties, packed with rich color and intense flavor, wonderfully balanced, generous in fruit and tremendous in quality.