A red from the Chilean winery Morandé obtained 97 points (out of a total of 100) and a platinum medal in the 20th edition of the Decanter World Wine Awards, the largest and most important wine competition in the world. The Morandé Black Series Pinot Noir 2021 was one of the highest scoring wines in the tournament; and Viña Morandé, the most awarded South American winery. In addition to platinum, he received two gold medals, six silver medals and four bronze medals.
— Scoring and awards in relevant magazines and competitions such as Decanter are very important to us because they reaffirm the work we are doing and the direction we give to the style of wines. I personally attach a lot of importance and am very pleased to have this type of recognition,” says oenologist Ricardo Baettig.
More than 18,500 wines from 54 countries were tasted. The judging panel includes 70 masters of wine and master sommeliers, including British writer and presenter Peter Richards (MW); British journalist and editor Amanda Barnes; the British writer and consultant Alistair Cooper (MW) and the Brazilian Eduardo Milán, editor of Revista Adega.
Black Series Pinot Noir 2021 has complex floral, ripe red fruit and pomegranate aromas, with hints of toasted oak and spicy, roasted coffee. Its tannins are elegant and firm.
— Pinot Noir comes from the Malleco Valley, a region with a unique style. They are short summers, an elegance in the fruit. We seek more texture than fruit. Volcanic soils also give a different profile to granite or limestone, especially in terms of tension and red fruit, concentration. It’s a cold climate, the grapes cannot ripen very much. There are three tons, four tons per hectare. It’s very little. The idea is to handle or intervene as little as possible, to show the place and the fruit. Maturation in barrels is done with 30% new barrels, which Pinot Noir supports, and gives it structure and complexity,” reveals Baettig.
Chile won ten gold medals, including Morandé Vitis Única Sauvignon Blanc 2021 (95 points) and Morandé Selección de Viñedos Gran Reserva Sauvignon Blanc 2022 (95 points).
— Both Sauvignon Blancs are from Casablanca and speak a little about the possibilities in this valley in terms of places. Gran Reserva comes from a colder sector than Vitis Única. They have a very direct style, very fruity, tense, with salinity. They represent the Chilean Sauvignon Blancs very well, which for me are the middle way between the ultra herbaceous New Zealand ones and the more austere and elegant ones like the French ones. It’s a very unique way, very Chilean, very Casablanca, which has citrus, a lot of lemon. Vitis Única and Gran Reserva have a style that I really like. I consider it more citric, it has more stone, not minerality. This interpretation we make reflects the place. We ferment Vitis Única 80% in foudre and 20% in concrete eggs. We work the dregs. We sacrificed a little the nose, but we won in the mouth – describes the winemaker.
Morandé received silver medals with the labels: Terroir Wines Cinsault-Pais 2021 (92 points); Terroir Wines Carmenère-Malbec 2020 (92 points); House of Morandé 2020 (91 points); the Vitis Única Mourvèdre 2021 (90 points); Black Series Chardonnay 2021 (90 points); and the Selección de Viñedos Gran Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon 2021 (90 points).
Those with bronze medals are: Vitis Única Cabernet Sauvignon 2021 (89 points); Vitis Única Chardonnay 2021; Terrarum Patrimonial Semillón 2022 (89 points); and the Selección de Viñedos Gran Reserva Merlot 2021 (87 points).
In Rio, the wines are on sale at the Zona Sul chain and, starting this week, at The Wine https://www.thewine.com.br/.