VIÑA VIK | La Piu Belle | 2018
cabernet sauvignon | carmenère | syrah | merlot

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Alexander Vik had a dream: to create the best wine in the World. To turn vision into reality, the research team took more than 4000 soil samples and investigated all the elements of terroir – they performed soil analyses, hydric flows, thermal amplitude, geographic orientation and the region’s unusual wind conditions. The vineyard’s location was selected only after two years of exhaustive scientific research, after they identified the ideal terroir from which to grow the finest grapes – the Millahue Valley of Chile. The next step was the mapping of the best plots for planting – first, for each plot the research team mapped the rootstocks, then the grape varieties, then the clones of each variety, after all, if you dream to make the best wine in the world, you can not leave anything to chance.

Today we are going to review a true legend, a wine that is considered among the best ever made in Chile – La Piu Belle 2018 by Viña Vik. La Piu Belle is the goddess of nature, love, fertility, beauty and art. She is the goddess of VIK and the personification of the incredible terroir of the Millahue Valley (which translates as ‘the place of gold‘). La Piu Belle embodies the sun that dries the mist at dawn, the cool breeze of the Pacific Ocean and the chilly air of the Andean Mountains – she is the wealth of our soils and the beauty of our valleys – she is a goddess of VIK. La Piu Belle is a homage to art and nature – a french style blend of cabernet sauvignon (46%), carmenère (40%), syrah (13%) and merlot (1%) grape varieties, sourced from the estate’s vineyards that are planted on deep and porous decomposed granitic soils of the Millahue Valley in Cachapoal Valley, aged for 24 months in french oak barrels and 6 months in the bottle before being released on the market. That said and without further ado, let’s take a look at the wine tasting results.
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Take a look at the tasting notes below and our detailed assessment of the wine:

//Visual
colour: deep and opaque ruby color
clarity: hazy ruby shades on the rim of the glass

//Olfactory
intensity: pronounced & elegant
fruit profile: red fruits | black fruits | blue fruits
__red fruits: wild cherry
__black fruits: blackberry | bramble
__blue fruits: blueberry | blue plum
fruit character: ripe & overripe

//Flavor
non fruit: floral | herbal | spice | oak | savory | earthy
__floral: violets | lavender
__herbal: mint | eucalyptus | dried herbs
__spice: cloves | anise | peppercorn
__oak: roasted oakwood | sweet tobacco
__savory: leather
__earthy: granite | graphite
primary layer: fruit & herbs

//Palate
sweetness: dry
acidity: high
alcohol: high
tannin: high
__grip: fine
balance: fine
__dominant: none
body: voluptuous | medium+

//Taste
fruit profile: blue fruits & black fruits
fruit character: ripe & overripe
non fruit: spice & herbs
finish: long
aftertaste: velvety-crisp

//Scoring
VIÑA VIK | La Piu Belle | 2018
variety: cabernet sauvignon | carmenère | syrah | merlot
country: Chile
region: Cachapoal | Millahue
rating: 97.0

//Conclusion
maturity: still developing | age for 4 to 7 years
verdict: exceptional | simply epic | a wine that can reach into the realm of perfection

//Prediction
predicted rating: 91

//RP Rating
actual RP rating: 91

//All Ratings
The critics’ rating distribution:

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This is definitely an exceptional wine of Chile and, with a total of 97.0 points scored, this wine is right there, among the best wines we’ve rated so far. Check our complete database on the wine rating page, where you can find all the wines that we have tasted and reviewed or go to the about us page and find out more about our exquisite rating system.

Verdict: this is a true, genuine, world-class holistic wine: elegant, velvety and voluptuous – a wine with a rich and expressive nose and a lean and supple palate. The wine is still in the development phase, therefore we would recommend to age it for at least 4 to 7 more years in order to allow it to unleash its full potential. On the nose the wine brings a mixture of ripe and overripe blue & black fruits and nuanced dried herbs notes in the foreground, followed by an expressive, spicy-oaky background and a very noble, floral-earthy layer in between the two. On the palate the wine delivers mouth-watering acidity, ripe and fine-grained tannins and a firm touch of alcoholic warmth that is showing through on the mouthfeel, which nicely evolves into a velvety-crisp aftertaste. All in all, this is a round, complex and harmonious wine blend that is mixing power with finesse – a wine that can reach into the realms of perfection, if one would be patient enough. Our recommendation is to pair it with naturally-flavoured meats, like for example Tournedos Rossini or peppercorn-crusted filet mignon with wild mushrooms and cognac cream. Enjoy!

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© The WineStatistics ratings are based solely on our own knowledge of the world of wine and on our personal wine tastes, which may, or may not, differ from yours – the reader. Just remember that there are no absolutes of right and wrong in wine appreciation.