Top 100 Wines of Chile 2024

100 TASTING NOTES
Friday, Dec 06, 2024

The precision, tension and restraint found in our Chilean Wine of the Year, the Vik Valle de Cachapoal VIK 2021, comes from the stunning cabernet franc at the center of the blend.

The Top 100 Wines of Chile this year honors the adventurous spirit embodied in the 1,546 bottles of Chilean wines we reviewed in 2024, spotlighting the generally more precise, refined 2021 vintage alongside standouts from the solid 2022 harvest.

James and I visited dozens of producers during our trip there this year, traipsing through dozens of vineyards and talking to winemakers who were excited to tell us about their new offerings and methodologies as well as the diversity that can now be found through the country's myriad grape varieties and terroirs.

With this list, we aim to provide a panoramic view of the country's outstanding and exciting bottles, as well as those that are daring and awe-inspiring. As prices continue to rise in the premium segment of Chile’s wine market, wine lovers should consider an array of lesser-known options that offer exceptional value, many with price tags below $30. Scroll through the tasting notes below and you will discover a bounty of affordability.

VIK's unique wine aging space, StoneVIK, is 1,000 meters up a mountain near the vineyard of Vik. Reds are aged outside in a cool space in amphora made from the area’s clay for eight months before bottling.

One of those exceptional values is our Chilean Wine of the Year, the Vik Valle de Cachapoal VIK 2021, which hails from a producer committed to quality and one that is constantly refining its winemaking to showcase the uniqueness of its offerings. Vik’s latest vintage is not only the best one we have tasted so far from this estate, but also a daring departure from its previous focus on cabernet sauvignon.

This new blend sees cabernet franc (77 percent) taking center stage, with cabernet sauvignon (23 percent) now playing a secondary role. I remember tasting the pure cabernet franc sample the year before the final wine was blended, and it was already stunning.

Tabalí’s viticulturist, Hector Rojas, holds our No. 2 Chilean wine, the parcel-specific and strikingly delicious Caliza chardonnay.

Vik winemaker Cristian Vallejo and owner Alex Vik also believed in the potential of their cabernet franc, which the cooler and milder conditions of 2021 lent a newfound precision, tension and restraint to. The result is fresher, more precise and streamlined offering than its more opulent predecessors, and there is greater minerality and vibrancy as well, with fine tannins and a linear, lengthy finish.

At No. 2 stands another adventurous bottle from the northern reaches of Chile’s viticulture zone that pushes the terroir extreme but without excess. The parcel-specific Tabalí Chardonnay Valle de Limarí Caliza 2022 is a unique and individual expression from Limari that will knock your socks off.

Nestled within the 3.7-hectare, calcareous Talinay vineyard is a tiny 0.7-hectare parcel that has the highest concentration of limestone in its soils, hence the name, “Caliza.” The porous, friable limestone contributes a strikingly chalky, fine-boned quality to the palate of this wine with a dissolved texture, eschewing the easy pleasures of big, fleshy fruit and creaminess.

The proximity to the ocean – the Pacific is just 12 kilometers away – makes it one of the coolest spots in the area. The final wine has low pH and alcohol but high acidity. It tastes salty, pungently limey and almost briny – a real treat to go with oysters! The wine has limited availability but provides striking value for money at around $25.

Our No. 3 wine, the biodynamically farmed Viña Koyle Garnatxa Alto Colchagua Cerro Basalto Los Lingues Vineyard 2022, marks the first apperance for garnacha in the Chile Top 10, and it shows how well this grape has adapted to the unique terroir of Los Lingues in the upper Colchagua Valley, where it thrives in the Mediterranean-like microclimate atop basaltic bedrock with soils rich in minerals.

The result is a racy and almost ethereal garnacha, characterized by unparalleled tension, pepperiness and fragility. It’s akin to the best offerings from Gredos, Spain, yet purer and less reductive.

In fact, Cristobal Undurraga’s Viña Koyle has emerged as an overachiever this year. Not only do their 2022s excel, but the much drier and warmer 2020 also shines, as can be seen with their remarkable Viña Koyle Valle de Colchagua Los Lingues Auma 2020, which is at No. 15 on our list.

We would have included even more wines from this estate had we not limited selections to two per brand. Hats off to Undurraga and his team!

The Viña Koyle Garnatxa Alto Colchagua Cerro Basalto Los Lingues Vineyard 2022 is the best version of the wine to date.

Among other exciting Mediterranean expressions in this year’s Top 10 are a pair of outstanding bottles from 2021. The 100-point Clos du Lican Apalta 2021 (No. 4), a pure syrah, highlights the granitic context of Apalta, which is capable of producing rich, sun-kissed but fresh reds. Yet, tempered by the milder weather conditions in 2021, the wine has an exceptionally floral lift and notes of Mediterranean herbs, about which James exalted, ”I’ve never smelled a wine like this. The captivating aromas are amazing…”

The biodynamically farmed vineyards of Clos Apalta are some of the most beautiful in the world.

The biodynamic Emiliana Valle de Colchagua Los Robles Estate Gê 2021 stands out at No. 7. For the flagship wine of the estate, the winery has boldly moved away from cabernet sauvignon – a change for the better that started with the challengingly warm and dry 2020. Today, winemaker Noelia Orts is increasingly confident in showcasing the wine's Mediterranean sensibility – an approach that remains underdeveloped among many of Chile’s “icon” wines, which often emphasize cabernet sauvignon. This blend of syrah, carmenere, garnacha, malbec, and carignan boasts freshness and better drinkability than past iterations.

A parcel of carignan from Montes’ sloped vineyard in Apalta shows the austere terroir with huge stones beneath the shallow topsoils.
James in the vineyard at Montes Wines, in Colchagua Valley, with owner Aurelio Montes (left) and his son, Aurelio Jr., The vineyards are home to some cool Rhone-inspired plantings of grenache and syrah.

KING CABERNET

Premium cabernet sauvignons and their top-level blends still help put Chile on the world map for fine wines, and they continue to impress. Two great cabernet sauvignons are found in the top 10 this year, including the consistent Viña Don Melchor Cabernet Sauvignon Puente Alto 2022 (No. 5), which is very close in quality to its predecessor, the exciting 2021 vintage. It is a true cabernet sauvignon from Puente Alto, with notes of graphite and a spot-on Don Melchor balance, showing depth and intensity as well as structure and freshness.

Also making an impact is the Montes Cabernet Sauvignon Valle de Maipo Muse 2021 (No. 6), which introduced cabernet franc and petit verdot into the blend this year – each at 2.5 percent. The third release of this wine shows the poise and precision that are the hallmarks of the 2021 vintage, with the unique spiciness that winemaker Aurelio Montes Jr. is very fond of. Like many winemakers we talked to, he called 2021 a “generally great” year. The same can be said for many Argentine reds.

Two 2022 offerings from two of Chile’s top producers – Seña and Almaviva – highlight the complexity that can be achieved through exquisite blending.

The Seña Valle de Aconcagua 2022 (No. 8) and Almaviva Puente Alto 2022 (No. 9) continue to impress with their  harmonious blends, which are centered around cabernet sauvignon. In recent years, malbec seemed to have played an increasingly important role the composition of the Seña Valle de Aconcagua, and it also forms the base of their second wine, Roca de Seña.

VSPT winemaker Viviana Navarrete made our No. 22 Chilean wine, the San Pedro Pinot Noir Valle de Malleco 1865 Tayu 2022, as well as No. 23, the Leyda Syrah Valle de Leyda Lot 8 2022.
Pedro Parra’s Newk 2022 (right), our No. 10 Chilean wine, represents the best of the country's cinsault offerings.

The Almaviva Puente Alto remains consistent, showcasing refined elegance and suppleness with subtle generosity. Despite the drought conditions of the year, the 2022 vintage still delivered a classy and sophisticated wine, marked by notes of fine, sweet tobacco leaves and berry fruit.

We must also shine a light on the intriguingly delicious wines emerging from Chile’s south. The usually fruity cinsault from the region becomes exciting when the fruit is contained and terroir is prioritized. At its finest, you will get wines like our No. 10, Pedro Parra’s Newk 2022, or the Leonardo Erazo Valle de Itata Guarilihue Tinajacura Alto Amigo Piedra 2019 (No. 66).

The century-old pais vines found in the south offer a tempting alternative for those who enjoy authentic, fluid reds that are paradoxically structured. The grape is often viewed as rustic but at its best is like a wilder expression of nebbiolo with nervy white pepper funk, red berries and savory notes of citrus. Notable expressions on our list include the De Martino Valle de Itata Guarilihue Las Olvidadas 2022 (No. 18), the slightly cloudy Henriquez-Herrera Pais Valle de Bio Bio Secano Interior Santa Cruz de Coya 2021 (No. 25), Ana María Cumsille País Valle de Itata Aguila Vino de Parcela 2022 (No. 29), Morandé País Valle de Itata Adventure Colinas de Ranquil 2022 (No.45), Leonardo Erazo Valle de Itata Guarilihue Tinajacura Alto La Resistencia 2022 (No. 57) and Laberinto País Valle de Maule Colbun Arcillas 2022 (No. 93).

Francisco Baettig,the former technical director of Familia Viñedos Chadwick, is now fully devoted to his own project, Baettig, in Traiguén. He had two wines – a chardonnay and pinot noir – in our Top 100 of Chile.

This assembly of excellent pais wines is for the adventurous, and we invite consumers to embrace the unexpected from this ancient grape.

Equally daring are some of the fresher expressions of carmenere, which have more peppery, spicy appeal than ever. Concha y Toro’s premium and expensive Carmin de Peumo 2022 (No. 81) stands out alongside the early-picked, value-oriented Caliterra Carmenere Valle de Colchagua Pétreo 2022 (No. 37), which showcases the grape's fresh and spicy pyrazine notes with spot-on ripeness.

And don’t overlook some of the rarer and more audacious wines on the list, such as the “vino de pasto” (unfortified sherry wine) Carmen Semillon Apalta Florillón #6 (No. 17), which is mainly from 2022 with slightly higher alcohol and more texture than usual, although it remains tangy and soulful. It is one of my favorite Chilean whites.

Extremely old país vines in P.S. Garcia's Piedra Lisa vineyard.

The 22 outstanding whites on this list comprise chardonnay, semillon and sauvignon blanc, as well as a rare chenin blanc – the Longaví Valle de Maule Huerta de Maule Cementerio 2022 (No. 42) – and a good-value field blend – the Santa Rita Valle de Colchagua Floresta Field Blend Blanco 2022 (No. 38).

As we observe a gradual increase in the price of top-quality Chilean wines, the country remains a bastion of affordability and value for those willing to explore beyond the well-known names. We invite you to explore this curated list. It is a year that we celebrate the adventurous spirit, and toast for Chile’s growing diversity from the north to the south.

– Zekun Shuai, Senior Editor

Note: The list of wines below is comprised of bottles tasted and rated in 2024 by the tasters at JamesSuckling.com. You can sort the wines by vintage, score and alphabetically by winery name. You can also search for specific wines in the search bar.

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