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90POINTS
16½/20
Clos des Fous Caquenina 2014
Itata Valley, ChileClos des Fous is an exciting project between four Chilean friends: Pedro Parra (the terroirist, aka Dr. Dirt), François Massoc and Paco Leyton (the winemakers) and Albert Cussen (the business). Fous is French for 'crazy men,' a reference to how their peers described them for exploring Chilean viticulture's extremes. Cauquenina means a girl from Cauquenes and is a blend of several varietals from Itata. In 2014, the mix is old-vine, dry-farmed 27% carmenère, 25% carignano, 11% petite sirah, 10% cinsault, 10% malbec, 10% pais, 7% syrah from red granite soils. Each lot was natively fermented in cement vats and aged separately, with 20% of the wine going into new French oak and the rest in 1-year-old wood. Even now, 7 years along, this needs airtime to relax and stretch. This initially opens with roasted meats, fire smoked branch, resin, dark earth seasoning the ripe, dense, wild black fruit. With some time, the assertive nature tames some, and wild mint, crushed violet, anise perfumes push through. The tannins have just now shed some of their ferocity, sinking into rather than sticking out of the potent fruit, guiding it to the cracked peppercorn finish — quite an interesting wine to unravel over an evening or a couple of days.Tasted: 11 February 2021Tasted by: Treve RingPrices:| BC | $27.00 | 750ml | private wine stores |
Blend: Carménère - Carignano - Petite Sirah - Cinsault - Malbec - Pais - Syrah
