2022 Vino de Vinedo Los Compadres Cabernet Sauvignon

This is the second vintage of Baettig’s Vino de Viñedo Cabernet Sauvignon. Effectively a “village” wine, the fruit is sourced from various growers in the Maule (to whom the name of the cuvée pays tribute, “Los Compadres”, meaning “close friends”). The vines are old, up to 120 years in age, originally País that has been grafted over to Cabernet Sauvignon. The resulting wine is a glorious expression of bright, modern Cabernet – pure and pristine with crunchy red and black fruit, vivid pencil shavings and an herbaceous green-pepper edge. There’s such intensity to the palate, with its tart red berry fruit, mouth-wateringly fresh and juicy. The abundant fruit is framed by graphite tannins, leading on to a spicy finish. Aged in 20% new French oak for 10 months, with Baettig favouring a high portion of larger oak barrels to reduce the impact of the wood on the wine.

It was brilliant to revisit the inaugural bottling of Los Compadres one year on, which is revealing even more of its potential with another 12 months in bottle. It is wonderfully expressive, the nose packed with aromatics of dried herbs, violets and blackberries that soar out of the glass. Full-bodied and ripe, there’s a plethora of rich, dense fruit that dominates the mid-palate and persists through to the long finish. There’s sappy acidity and pronounced tannins, which still need a bit more time to integrate fully, but give the wine balance, drive and structure.

Francisco Baettig’s inaugural 2022 Los Compadres is a real cause for excitement. The celebrated Chilean winemaker and Cabernet Sauvignon specialist has been responsible for some exceptional Seña and Chadwick bottlings during his time as Errazuriz winemaker. This Cabernet Sauvignon is made from ancient dry-farmed vines in Maule. In keeping with the style of all Baettig’s own-label bottlings, these centuries-old, cool-climate Cabernet vines produce wines with incredible structure, freshness and complexity. The reliable Chilean sunshine also brings wonderful concentrated pure fruit notes to the wine. This inaugural Cabernet Sauvignon release is a blend of three vineyards. One of these sites consists of 120-year-old Pais vines grafted with Cabernet Sauvignon 60 years ago. The other two cool-climate sites are located in Chile’s coastal mountains, Cordillera de la Costa. At altitude, these dry-farmed vines ripen slowly and retain amazing energy. The nose of the 2022 Los Compadres Cabernet Sauvignon is fantastic – loads of floral potpourri aromas, violets, fresh blackcurrants, black cherry and Black Forest gateaux notes. The wine has impressive structural tannins that give a crunchy bite to the palate. The fruit remains very fresh while the added liquorice spice and peppery notes from some quality oak add complexity. It is almost Pauillac-esque with its graphite minerality thanks to the deep gravel soils found in this part of Maule. This is much drier and fresher than is typical of Cabernet from Chile but a fantastic fruit concentration is retained. The wine is aged in 30% new oak and older ex-Almaviva and Seña barrels for 18 months. Give this two to three years in bottle for the tannins to fully integrate and this will be singing.