2020 Seleccion de Parcelas Los Primos Chardonnay
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Tasting Notes
Much more open now than the 2021, the 2020 Los Primos is rich and concentrated, with riper white peach fruit and honeyed complexity. There’s a softness to the wine, reminiscent of the suppleness of the 2020 Los Parientes, but additional depth here. It’s round and enticing, still with a backbone of taut acidity, and a long finish with just a touch of oak spice. Hard to resist now, drink this over the next five years. Aged for 15 months in 38% new oak. Production: 4,069 bottles
The 2020 Los Primos Chardonnay is much more reductive on the nose than the 2019 tasted alongside. The mineral, struck-match reductive tone eases with air followed by lovely honey and delicate white-flower aromas – bringing beautiful lift to the wine. The textural quality is outstanding, and the oak ageing gives the wine a textural layering that is rich, concentrated and juicy. The orchard fruit and pepper spice from high-quality oak are all beautifully integrated. The refreshing saline notes come through on the finish and leave the palate feeling super fresh.
If Baettig’s Los Parientes bottling is like a volcanic-Chablis, the Seleccion de Parcelas is much more Côte d’Or in character, while never losing that volcanic salinity. Its richer, riper style has more mid-palate weight than the Parientes tasted alongside. The nose has a hint of smokiness with savoury, fresh leather notes, iced lemon and a hint of fragrant tea. There is a lovely fleshy, fullness to the wine – distinctly less skinny than the Parientes. The wine has a lovely energy, verve and intensity, while remaining fulsome, and retaining a taut nervosity.
Critic Scores
Average Score
James Suckling
Joaquin Hidalgo, Vinous
More reviews and scores
The 2020 Selección de Parcelas Los Primos Chardonnay was cropped from a warm and dry vintage, but in Traiguén in the south, it is not as warm as in the central valley of Chile. The grapes were harvested the first half of April; they harvested earlier and finished with more alcohol, still a moderate 13.5%, from a year of more body and rounder wines but without heat. The wine kept a pH of 3.16 and 6.9 grams of acidity. This also makes the wine a little more Burgundian, more Meursault than Chablis or Puligny, tasty, spicy with a tad more oak (all the new barrels for white are 400-liter ones, 38% of them new in 2020), because in warmer years there is a little more extraction from the oak. This is the warmest vintage so far, but the wine is still bone dry and there is no ripeness; but there's more weight and width. The wines have to show the differences of the climate conditions each year... 4,069 bottles were filled in July 2021.
The 2020 Chardonnay Selección de Parcelas Los Primos was 38% aged in new oak. Slightly murky greenish yellow in the glass. The intriguingly attractive aromas feature gentle apple, hints of honey and a touch of damson, followed by a nutty layer of hazelnut. Exuberant without being overly rich, it fills the palate but is tempered by a chalky outline that avoids salinity. Long-lasting, and the bold aftertaste includes both hazelnut and fruity flavors.
Complexity and lots of stamina and verve here! Smoky lemons, nougat, ginger and flint provide a very flavorful palate. Intense and substantial on the palate, but still elegant and nuanced, with a hint of phenolics at the end. Long, focused finish. Think fine Meursault. Drink or hold.
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About the producer
Baettig is the exciting project from leading winemaker Francisco Baettig (of Errázuriz fame). Crafting vibrant, site-expressive wines from Chile’s south, with Pinot Noir and Chardonnay in Malleco and Cabernet Sauvignon from the Maule – this is one of the hottest names in South America.