Alba de Domus 2021

Clos Quebrada de Macul is a well known Chilean estate in the Maipo Valley whose flagship wine is Domus Aurea. Alba de Domus is its second wine, made from the same fruit and terroir in the foothills of the Andes and offered as a more approachable expression of the house style. The blend is built on Cabernet Sauvignon with Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Merlot, grown on stony alluvial soils where warm days ripen the fruit fully to 14.9 per cent alcohol and cool mountain air at night holds acidity and firms the tannin. The wine spends twenty-four months in French oak barrels, a long elevage that softens and knits the tannin through slow oxygen exchange while adding spice and a cocoa note. The colour is deep and dense. The nose leads with blackcurrant, plum, cherry, cocoa and cedary tobacco, while the palate is full bodied and structured, with ripe dark fruit, firm ripe tannin and a long finish. Serve at 17 to 18 degrees and decant an hour ahead. It suits grilled red meat, roast lamb and mature cheeses.