2017 Seleccion de Parcelas Los Primos Chardonnay

Baettig selected the El Triángulo and Llaima Largo plots to produce the 2017 Selección de Parcelas Los Primos Chardonnay because they deliver more vertical, mineral and tense wine to achieve finesse and complexity. The first experimental vinification was 2016, and 2017 was warmer and drier and delivered rounder and complex wines. The clusters were pressed and the juice put to ferment in French barrels with indigenous yeasts. It matured for 17 months in 400-liter oak barrels, 26% of them new. The wine has 13% alcohol and very high acidity (8.9 grams!), keeping a low pH of 3.14. It feels a little honeyed and developed—with faint notes of caramel—riper and more advanced than the 2018, with abundant aromas of pollen and beeswax, a little nutty and with hints of grilled bread. With time, there is a balsamic note reminiscent of camphor. Warm and cold vintages are not as marked as in other zones of Chile, and this is in the south, a cool-climate region, where the vintages can be a bit more homogeneous. But tasting this side by side with the 2018, you can still see it. The palate is quite sharp and grainy, with very focused and tasty flavors, clean and long. 1,788 bottles were filled in October 2018.