Seña 2021
Seña was created in 1995 as a joint venture between Eduardo Chadwick and Robert Mondavi, who shared a dream of making a wine that would show Chile’s full potential, a wine that would come to be welcomed, in time, among the world’s First Growths. Modelled on a Bordeaux style, it would have a Chilean soul given by the Carmenere variety, grown under biodynamic farming principles in the Aconcagua Valley.
An outstanding vintage due to moderately cool conditions that translated into a slow smooth ripening of the grapes.
Pure, elegant and refined wine.
The season saw average rainfall with 282mm falling between May and October and this enabled the aquifers in the valley to recover their levels ready for the coming season. With a total heat summation of 1,425 DD, slightly fresher than historical averages, that created an ideal slow growing season. In spring, the temperatures were within historical levels favouring a perfect fruit set. The summer was slightly cooler and cloudier than other years, with some refreshing rain (9mm) in late January, which ensured a gentle ripening of healthy grapes. During late March, the Seña vineyards were blessed with moderately warm days, allowing the grapes to reach perfect maturity.
The 2021 vintage will be remembered as an exceptional year with ideal conditions resulting in a vibrant wine of great purity. A wine with high aromatic complexity, refreshing acidity and delicious linear palate with fine-grained tannins. A vintage with an extraordinary ageing potential.
100 Points James Suckling: #1 James Suckling's Top 100 Wines of Chile 2023 #3 James Suckling's Top 100 Wines of 2023: An extremely pure and elegant vintage for Seña. This is really fresh, nimble and floral on the nose with subtle cherries, plums, redcurrants and wild lavender. More red fruit here with lots of layers and just a touch of sweet spice. Very discreet and subtle, with the elegance, freshness and poise you’d expect from 2021. Medium- to full-bodied on the palate with a bit more flesh and depth if you compare it with Roca de Seña, their second wine. The impeccable tannins show the supreme quality of the fruit this year. Persistent, seamless finish, but comes in a subtle way. 50% cabernet sauvignon, 27% malbec, 17% carmenere and 6% petit verdot. Effortlessly drinkable now, but it will age beautifully.
98+ Points Wine Advocate: One of the finest vintages of the iconic Seña wine, the 2021 Seña comes from a cooler year, following the path of 2016 and 2018, certainly cooler than 2020 and 2019. It has a super expressive nose that is elegant, nuanced, perfumed, subtle and pure, with aromatic finesse, layered and complex. It was picked a couple of weeks later than in the previous two years and still keeping the alcohol below 14%. It was produced with a blend of 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 27% Malbec (cooler years with more), 17% Carmenere and 6% Petit Verdot, fermented mostly in stainless steel and 10% in oak foudre. It's fine-grained and structured but juicy, similar to 2018 but with more finesse. It has the spicy/herbal twist from the Cabernet, ultra-refined tannins that give it great elegance and with length, purity and delineation. Superb! It was bottled in February 2023.
97 Points Decanter: The moderately cool conditions of the year have produced an intensely fragrant and concentrated wine on the nose - this smells powerful and expressive. Smooth, silky and seductive with crystalline, succulent and ample fruit - blackcurrants, cherries and strawberries, but mostly black fruit, with clear menthol, clove, cocoa and a liquorice tang. Bright and lifted, this has clear personality and such a stylish execution. Full and round, forward and intense, but delivered with poise. A delicious wine with so much to like not least the exceptional acidity coupled with the depth and width giving a complete wine with intensity and refinement. Everything feels carefully considered but still giving flavour and verve. Ageing 22 months, 90% French oak barrels (70% new), 10% in foudres. A blend of 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 27% Malbec, 17% Carménère and 6% Petit Verdot completes the blend. Winemaker Francisco Baettig.
