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Tasting notes
The 2011 Seña was harvested at the end of a low-yield season in which temperatures were cool and ripening slow. A blend of 58% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Carménère, 15% Merlot, 7% Petit Verdot and 5% Cabernet Franc, aged for 22 months in three quarters new barrels. Garnet red in the glass. The nose is rewardingly fruity with delicate notes of blackcurrant, orange petit fours, country herbs, spice and dried flowers. In the mouth the palate is refined with a moderate structure and a flavorful, slightly juicy flow that lingers at length. A well-focused wine.
Critic scores
Average Score
Luis Gutiérrez, Wine Advocate
James Suckling
More reviews and scores
56% Cabernet Sauvignon, 21% Carmenère, 13% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc, 6% Petit Verdot. TA 5.79 g/l, pH 3.45, RS 2.45 g/l. Fruit from their Seña hillside vineyard, 41 km from the Pacific Ocean. Cool temperatures throughout the growing season, harvest delayed by up to two weeks. Hand-picked and sorted by hand. Stainless-steel fermentation, three pumpovers per day. Total maceration time ranged from 14–32 days. Aged for 22 months in French oak barrels (77% new). Quite tight and young on the nose but going in the right direction with good tension. Deep crimson. Very well integrated with only a lifting hint of Carmenère’s greenness. Good freshness and ripeness. A bit sweeter than a typical bordeaux but not uncomfortably sweet. Fine tannins. (JR)
Extremely clear and complex with dark berry, spearmint and flowers. Full body, ultra-fine tannins and a long, long finish. The tannin quality in this is exceptional. Tight and beautiful. Drink or hold. Made from biodynamically grown grapes. 58% cabernet sauvignon, 15% carmenere, 15% merlot, 7% petit verdot and 5% cabernet franc. 22 months in 75% new French oak.
The 2011 Sena is a blend of 58% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Carmenere, 15% Merlot, 7% Petit Verdot and 5% Cabernet Franc aged in 75% new French oak barrels for 22 months. It has a bright cherry color and restrained aromas of blackberries, spices, cedar wood, tobacco and a hint of mint. The palate is a little tight and restrained, and the wine medium-bodied, with balanced concentration and good acidity. Young but accessible, it shows great elegance and balance. I like it more than the older vintages that I had the chance to taste for context. It needs to develop the bouquet and complexity that, without a doubt, will come with time in bottle.
About the producer
Seña – literally meaning “signal” – was Chile’s first icon wine. In the early 1990s, the country had a reputation mainly for lower-end, high-volume wines, but Eduardo Chadwick, owner and president of Viña Errázuriz, set out to change that.