Highlights: Morandé La Capilla El Cabernet de Ránguil 2021 Itata, Chile
This is quite special. It’s from 130 year old ungrafted vines planted on degraded granite soils, with a red clay matrix and a high presence of quartz. Aged 16 months in used French oak. It’s not normal to find old vine Cabernet in Itata: most of the old vines here are País, Cinsault or Muscat.
Morandé La Capilla El Cabernet de Ránguil 2021 Itata, Chile
13% alcohol. This is supple and elegant with delicious, fresh, slightly gravelly blackcurrant fruit with a chalky, mineral texture and nice focus and precision. There’s a faint hint of that Chilean pastille-like fruit character. It’s a refined, understated, elegant expression of this grape variety showing beautiful poise and balance. Supple and massively drinkable, but with some seriousness, too. I much prefer this style to the very ripe, full-on Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon style. 94/100
