Wine & Spirits - Fall 2022 - 87

Top 100 Wineries
CHILE | MAIPO
Undurraga
Explorations of Chile's ancient vineyards and new plantings at the
extremes keep Rafael Urrejola focused on terroir-expressive wines.
RaFaEl URREJOla
undurraga was a sleepy winery in the
plains of Maipo's central valley when, in
2006, José Yuraszeck of Chile and the Picciotto
family of Colombia saw the potential
in the historic brand. They brought on
Rafael Urrejola in 2007 to lend a site-oriented
perspective to the winery, lighting
out from the home base of Talagante and
the traditional districts where the company
owned vineyards. They assigned him the job
of " terroir hunter, " to select small parcels
often for experimental lots from what was-
and continues to be-Chile's explosion of
new plantings in untested or long-forgotten
regions. Urrejola bottled the wines under
the T.H. label, a diverse range of curiosities,
some delicious, some revelatory. By 2013,
he had taken charge of winemaking for all
of Undurraga's premium wines. Alvaro Espinoza,
one of Chile's most terroir-sensitive
winemakers, consults for Urrejola's team,
while Francisco Valdivieso manages the company's
1,250 acres of vines, feeding a collection
of nine different brands. This year,
Urrejola's T.H. wines included a cabernet
franc from Maipo and a cabernet sauvignon
from Cauquenes in the Secano Interior-beautifully
crafted outliers that speak
of Chile's vineyards, its mountains and its
coast, with openness and honesty. -J.G.
2021 Cauquenes T.H.(Terroir Hunter) Rarities
Red Blend ($30, 93 points) Initially
weighty, this wine lightens up and lengthens out
with air, the interplay of its red and black fruit
merging into a fresh wild strawberry flavor. In
2021, Rarities is a classical Maule blend of país
(85 percent) and cinsault, cool, rose-scented,
bright and then quietly autumnal in the end.
FOUNDED:
1885
HEAD WINEMAKER:
Rafael Urrejola
VITICULTURIST:
Roberto Pinto
OWNERS:
Mauricio Picciotto,
Daniel Picciotto &
Jose Yuraszeck
ACRES OWNED:
1,250
ANNUAL PRODUCTION:
1,750,000 cases
ESTATE GROWN:
50%
IMPORTER:
Soilair Selections, NY
2019 Peumo T.H. (Terroir Hunter) Carmenère
($30, 93 points) This has the supple texture of
carmenère from Peumo, its tannins riding on flavors
of cocoa, chipped stone and some red chile
spice. The scent starts out with notes of tomato
leaf, but that green note dissipates as the mineral
energy of the wine comes to the fore. Pour it
with carnitas or savory Native American fare.
2019 Maipo Valley Founder's Collection Cabernet
Sauvignon ($50, 90 points) Full of black
cherry flavor, with a nighttime coolness to the
fruit, this wine comes up against a block of simple
tannins, needing cellar time to integrate. This
is estate-grown at the Fundo Santa Ana, Undurraga's
original vineyard in Talagante, on the valley
floor between the Mapocho and Maipo rivers.
SOUTH AFRICA | SWARTLAND
Mullineux
With old-vine parcels in Swartland, and a newly planted estate
vineyard, Chris and Andrea Mullineux present intense wines of place.
aNDREa & CHRIS
MUllINEUX
Chris and andrea Mullineux Met in 2004
while on harvest stints in France, and by
2007 they had married. They returned to
Chris's native South Africa, settling in Swartland
to start their winery, drawn there by
the warm, dry climate and old vines. Focusing
on those old vines planted in schist
and granite terroirs, they quickly garnered
acclaim in South Africa and internationally
for their syrahs and their Straw Wine. The
quality of the syrah coming from the Roundstone
farm played a part in their meteoric
rise, and in 2013, they partnered with Analjit
Singh to purchase the property. By 2018,
they had planted 10 varieties in the rocky
soils at Roundstone, working with viticulturist
Rosa Kruger. The care they take in the
cellar is evident in their reasonably-priced
Kloof Street range on up to the hyper-specific
terroir bottlings of syrah and chenin
blanc. -C.W.
2020 Swartland Chenin Blanc Straw Wine
($50, 95 points) This is old-vine chenin, harvested
at table-wine ripeness then dried on
straw mats to concentrate the juice in the
grapes. That juice then ferments with ambient
yeasts in old French oak barrels. The 2020 fermentation
lasted for 11 months and resulted in a
slow wine, oozing into your brain like a molasses
flood, filling it with fruit that reaches a Platonic
ideal. White peach; apricots three ways, fresh,
dried and jammed; passion fruit and guava,
cresting in waves. The acidity acts like a searchlight,
pinging around your palate and highlighting
one flavor at a time.
FOUNDED:
2007
WINEMAKER/
VITICULTURIST:
Andrea Mullineux
OWNERS:
Chris & Andrea
Mullineux, Analjit
Singh, Peter Dart
ACRES OWNED:
220; 40 planted
ANNUAL PRODUCTION:
30,000 cases
ESTATE GROWN:
50%
IMPORTER:
Skurnik Wines, NY
2018 Swartland Schist Roundstone Syrah
($125, 94 points) These vines weathered a
third year of drought through careful vineyard
management, including increased cover crop
and mulch as well as an early green harvest.
That low yield resulted in a wine of intense concentration:
The tannins feel colossal, while the
aromas are dominated by a vegetal-herbal note
(the wine is made with whole bunches). As tart
fruit and fresh syrah florals come forward, the
flavors built on a dark plum base with accents of
pomegranate and sour cherry. After four days,
the stem tannins make the wine silky-smooth.
2020 Swartland Kloof Street Rosé ($20, 91
points) The Kloof Street wines provide an entry
point into the Mullineuxes' range. This 2020
rosé is a blend from bush-trained syrah, cinsault
and grenache grown on Roundstone Farm. It's
dark and savory, packed with umami, meant for
the dinner table rather than the poolside.
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