Vina Almaviva estate spotlight
Michel Friou presents Almaviva 2021 on the official launch film from Puente Alto, the exact vintage in this bottle.
2021 Vina Almaviva Puente Alto, Chile
Michel Friou's cool-vintage Puente Alto blend, Rothschild and Concha y Toro, a 2021 you can open at one hundred twenty-five dollars.
The 2021 Almaviva is 71% Cabernet Sauvignon with 22% Carmenere, 5% Cabernet Franc, and 2% Petit Verdot: cassis, blackberry, violet, and ultra-fine tannin after 20 months in French oak, James Suckling scored this 2021 at 98. K&L lists it at $147.99 and Saratoga Wine lists it at $176. Would you open it at $125?
Chile's chateau idea, in a cool year built to age
Baroness Philippine de Rothschild and the Guilisasti family at Concha y Toro built Almaviva as a 50/50 chateau in Puente Alto. Michel Friou called 2021 one of the coolest vintages of the last decade: a rainy winter after the 2020 drought, then a slow, tense ripening. James Suckling 98: pencil shaving, cigar box, cassis, chili chocolate, peppermint, ultra-fine tannin. This is the bottle that puts Chile's first-growth idea on a table you can actually set.
The house
A 1997 joint venture between Baron Philippe de Rothschild and Concha y Toro. Chateau concept, Bordeaux blend, Puente Alto terroir.
The wine
71% Cabernet Sauvignon, 22% Carmenere, 5% Cabernet Franc, 2% Petit Verdot. 20 months French oak. Michel Friou.
The vintage
Friou: one of the coolest of the last decade. Rainy winter, January rain, harvest from March 24. Freshness and length.
The drinker
Decant 45 to 60 minutes. Serve 60 to 64 F. Skirt steak with chimichurri or rosemary lamb.
Cassis and cigar box, then violet and polish
Friou's launch note: fresh, complex nose of ripe red fruit and florals, cassis, blackberry, ink, licorice, tea, violet, a juicy attack, delicate structure, smooth polished tannin. James Suckling found pencil shaving, cigar box, chili chocolate, and peppermint on a cool, balanced frame.
A cool year after the extreme drought of 2020. 170 mm of winter rain, then 54 mm in late January. Harvest started March 24. Friou wanted fruit tension, length, and balance, a wine built to age for decades.
Cassis, blackberry, red fruit, violet, ink, licorice, tea, cigar box, peppermint.
Medium-bodied, ultra-fine tannin, 20 months French oak, cool-vintage line.
Long, polished. Decant 45 to 60 minutes. Serve 60 to 64 F.
Cabernet for the spine, Carmenere for the roundness
On the 2021 launch film, Michel Friou bottles 71% Cabernet Sauvignon, 22% Carmenere, 5% Cabernet Franc, and 2% Petit Verdot, then ages 20 months in French oak. Cabernet gives cassis and texture. Carmenere adds smoothness and length. That is the Almaviva conversation in a cool year.
Old-vine Cabernet in Puente Alto, planted from the late 1970s, is the core. Precision viticulture keeps lots separate until the blend.
Serve 60 to 64 F. Forty-five minutes of air is for violet and cigar box.
Two families, one chateau idea in Maipo
Almaviva is the Rothschild chateau concept translated onto Puente Alto gravel, with Concha y Toro as the Chilean partner.
The families met in the mid-1990s. The brief was 50/50, a Bordeaux blend, a chateau. First vintage 1996, formal joint venture 1997.
Patrick Leon shaped the early years. Michel Friou has made the wines since 2008, chasing precision over volume.
The 2021 is that house in a cool, generous year: freshness, length, and a tannin line built to last.
Fire, herbs, and Cabernet structure
Almaviva wants charred beef, herbs, and enough fat to catch the tannin. Chimichurri and rosemary keep the floral detail in front of the smoke.
Two plates. One Argentine-style skirt steak with chimichurri. One rosemary-garlic lamb chop.
Decant 45 to 60 minutes. Serve 60 to 64 F in a Bordeaux bowl.
Grilled Skirt Steak with Chimichurri
Charred beef gives this blend enough richness to lean against, while chimichurri adds herb and vinegar lift.
Why it works: Beef fat rounds the tannin. Parsley and garlic draw out violet and the herbal side of Carmenere.
View Recipe for grilled skirt steak with chimichurri (opens in a new tab)
Rosemary-Garlic Lamb Chops
Lamb has the depth for Almaviva without hiding its perfume. A hard sear adds char.
Why it works: Lamb softens the Cabernet line. Rosemary echoes tea and licorice.
View Recipe for rosemary-garlic lamb chops (opens in a new tab)Put Almaviva 2021 in the cart
Michel Friou, James Suckling 98, a cool Puente Alto year. One hundred twenty-five dollars.
Put six in the cart. This is the Almaviva bottle for a cellar that wants Chile's chateau wine, not a generic Maipo slogan.
