Every September, La Place de Bordeaux, the négociant system of wine sales, gets ready to sell more wines from different countries, not only France.
This year, there are more wines from Spain being offered through that channel after the success of the Yjar wine from Remelluri in Rioja. Telmo Rodríguez pushed some other producers, most notably Algueira in Ribeira Sacra, to produce a special cuvée to be sold that way, and also an unfortified white from Jerez!
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Dólio, the finest wine I have tasted from Algueira in the last few years
Catena Zapata has offered some stunning 2021s, especially the mineral and austere Malbec River from the Adrianna vineyard in Gualtallary and also a new unoaked white.
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In Chile, the Errázuriz team has crafted an excellent Cabernet Sauvignon from the Chadwick vineyard. The wine is elegant and balanced, a wine of emotion, a coup de coeur that gets my first 100-point score for a wine from Chile. This is also a golden goodbye for winemaker Francisco “Pancho” Baettig, who after 20 years of dedication here, leaves after the 2021 vintage to focus on his personal project.
