• 2001 Concha y Toro Cabernet Sauvignon Don Melchor Puente Alto - Chile, Valle Central, Maipo Valley (10/8/2005)
  Very dark ruby color. Beautiful, intense cabernet nose of black currant right after serving. After swirling, tobacco leaf, loamy wet earth , black pepper and some eucalyptus emerged from the glass. The tannin is very ripe and almost completely integrated in this medium to full bodied cab that, while more complex and elegant than its predecessors, remains very true to this producer's style. The finish is fruity and long. I really liked this Don Melchor vintage and I think more people than usual will too, given that the eucalyptus/minty note that is so characteristic of this bottling and that is perceived by many as a "green" note, is not as overwhelming as in other vintages. (92 pts.)

On Terroir
Almaviva and Don Melchor are produced from adjoining (or the same) vineyards in the Maipo Valley, yet I have never found the eucalyptus note in Almaviva that I almost always do in Don Melchor (and I have had every vintage of both wines for the last 8-10 years). Given the non existant difference in terroir, this has to be due to human intervention (i.e. decisions about harvesting at different times, remontage frequency and technique, leaving or removing stems, maceration time and temperature, percentage of new oak, etc.), yet the difference is frequently cited as "different terroirs" by some ignorant people.

Is it possible that human decisions like the ones cited above account for a good portion of the differences in wine tastes and aromas attributed to different terroirs?

Do Pavie & Monbousquet reflect their terroir better after Gerard Perse dramatically changed the human decisions involved in their wine making? or did the earlier style of these wines reflect their "true" terroir better?

These human decisions influence how a wine tastes, so much so, that if a producer chose to vinify half of his grapes in one way and the other half in a radically different one, they would turn out very differently despite the fact they come from identical grapes. Would the terroir be discernible in both? Which would reflect the "true" terroir better?

Can a good percentage of what we think of a particular terroir's characteristics actually be due to a particular estate's consistency in vinification technique over many years? (i.e. Jean Delmas' several decades rule over Haut Brion). Would Haut Brion taste the same if it were made by Perse? Would Dominus retain the same discernible style if made by Helen Turley or Roumier?

I am sure that terroir does influence a wine's flavor and aromatic profile, but I also think that too many critics and producers over estimate its influence. If terroir had such a strong influence in wines made from grapes grown in these particular sites with specific sun exposures and microclimates, the dramatic, fast turnarounds achived by Perse and other would simply not be possible.