Don Melchor Cabernet Sauvignon 2021

Winemaking Notes

The clusters were hand-harvested into 10-kg bins. Once at the winery, the grapes underwent a double selection - clusters and then berries - prior to starting the vinification process.

The alcoholic fermentation took place in stainless steel tanks at temperatures of between 25°C and 26°C and lasted 8-10 days. During the first half of the fermentation, 3 daily pump-overs were implemented, moving a proportion of the juice each day. This quantity was reduced to a half or a third of the volume towards the end of the alcoholic fermentation.

Once the fermentation was complete, the tank was hermetically sealed and the wine spent around a week macerating at temperatures of 23°C-25°C to extract smoother tannins. Once the maceration was complete, the wine from each tank was racked off, tasted and selected by the Don Melchor winemaking team and put into French oak barrels to undergo malolactic fermentation and ageing.

In July, all the wines were tasted and selected to prepare the final blend, which was then transferred to barrels again to finish the ageing process. 15 months in French oak barrels (68% new and 32% second use).

Vineyard Notes

Is composed of 127 hectares, 90% of which is planted to Cabernet Sauvignon, 7.1% to Cabernet Franc, 1.9% to Merlot, and 1% to Petit Verdot. As the result of extensive research on the Puente Alto terroir, the Don Melchor Vineyard has been subdivided into seven primary parcels of Cabernet Sauvignon plus other smaller parcels of Cabernet Franc, Merlot, and Petit Verdot. Each of these is then further divided into micro-parcels for a total of 151 parcels that are used to work in a specific and detailed manner, row by row, to meet the needs of each plant to achieve a perfect balance in accordance with the weather conditions of each specific year. The vines in the old vineyard average more than 35 years old.