Vina Pargua Anka 2016

Clos Quebrada de Macul sits on a hillside in the Maipo Valley, in the metropolitan region around Santiago, where Isabelle and Ricardo Pena decided to stop selling their grapes to Chile's leading wineries and make their own wine. Anka is a Bordeaux-style blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Carmenere and Petit Verdot grown on the alluvial and stony soils at the foot of the Andes. The warm days ripen the fruit fully to a generous 14.4 per cent alcohol, while cool air draining off the mountains at night preserves acidity and firms the tannins. The wine spends twelve months in French oak barrels, which adds spice, a cocoa note and slow oxygen that rounds and integrates the tannin. The colour is deep and opaque. The nose shows blackcurrant, plum, cherry, cocoa and tobacco, while the palate is full bodied and structured, with ripe dark fruit, firm tannin and a long, savoury finish. Serve at 17 to 18 degrees and decant an hour ahead. It suits grilled red meat, roast lamb and hard cheeses.