San Pedro 1865 Tayú Pinot Noir 2019 (Chile) - Wine Review

I enjoyed the excellent 2018 San Pedro 1865 Tayú Pinot Noir at the beginning of the year and for tonight's wine review I am delighted to try the next vintage that arrived at the LCBO in the October 30th LCBO VINTAGES Release over the weekend.

The Tayú project celebrates Chile's indigenous roots through an honest collaboration between the Buchahueico community in southern Malleco Valley and San Pedro Winery. The name "Tayú" means "ours" in the Mapudungun language of the local Mapuche peoples in Buchahueico.

Working with San Pedro's winemakers, the Mapuche used their intimate knowledge of the soils to craft a lovely, one-of-a-kind Pinot Noir that truly expresses its origin. The 15 hectares of vineyards are located in the foothills of the Nahuelbuta Mountains in the Purén area of the Malleco Valley in the Araucanía region, approximately 540 km south of Santiago, in south-central Chile. The soils in the vineyard at Buchahueico are very old, red-coloured, and of granitic origin with a clay-loam texture and an abundance quartz and granite. The soils are naturally acidic, which comes through as vibrant acidity in the wine.

The 2018 vintage of this wine was its debut and came from an excellent vintage, while 2019 was a warmer year which produced smaller bunches with concentrated, generous fruit. Although the Malleco Valley is considered a cool-climate winegrowing region, the micro-climate in Buchahueico is considered moderate due to its latitude and because it is protected from coastal influences by the Nahuelbuta Mountains in Traigue, thus allowing the grapes to ripen slowly and later than other regions. The grapes was fermented in a combination of concrete eggs and stainless steel tanks, followed by ageing in French oak foudre, concrete eggs, and used French oak barrels. Let's see how the 2019 is tasting tonight...

Tasting Note:

SAN PEDRO 1865 TAYÚ PINOT NOIR 2019 - Buchahueico, DO Valle del Malleco, Chile (#16628) (XD) - $19.95
From a warmer vintage, the medium-high to highly aromatic nose offers lovely notes of exotic spices, cinnamon, and sweet spice layered over wet earth and dark berry with a hint of minty herb. On the medium to medium-full bodied palate it is richly concentrated and slightly warming with move exotic spice, earthy, and tangy dark berry replays on the flavour profile, support by fresh, juicy acidity. Quite chalky on the mid-palate with grainy textured tannins that seem a bit tight and will reward ageing. Earthy with a slight tang on the long finish. Highly recommended buy! Score: 92 pts

Other lovely wines from San Pedro can be found at the LCBO, as well as through their Agent - Dandurand.