Sena - Valle de Aconcagua 2018 (750ml)
Sena is a phenomenal red with aromas of blackberry, liquorice sandalwood and hot stones turned into a cigar box with hints of sweet tea. Full body, with incredible depth and concentration, it is dark red in colour with aromas of berries, tobacco, cocoa and pepper. The flavour is intense with a wealth of nuances and a very nice balance, which gives it a very classic French flavour. Grapes are biodynamically grown.
Sena Description
Blend: 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 18% Malbec, 15% Carmenere, 7% Cabernet Franc, 5% Petit Verdot
In 1995 Robert Mondavi and Eduardo Chadwick pioneered an international joint venture with a very challenging goal: to reach the full potential of Chile’s wine country and to create a world-class Icon-level wine like none other in Chile. Sharing their dream, efforts and dedication, in 1997 they released the first vintage of Seña (1995), Chile’s first icon wine. This marked a milestone and initiated the path for making ultra-premium wines in Chile.
Seña needed a vineyard of its own, and Tim Mondavi and Eduardo Chadwick began searching for just the right terroir. Tim was ahead of his time in insisting they seek out a cooler site in order to make a fresher, more elegant wine than was the norm in the mid-1990s. And because they agreed that the use of sustainable practices was a key element from the beginning (which has since been converted to biodynamics), they also looked for a site that was relatively self-contained for better environmental protection and to prevent cross-contamination from neighbours involved in conventional agricultural practices. Seña’s 42-hectare hillside vineyard was planted in 1998 to Cabernet Sauvignon, Carmenere, along with Malbec, Petit Verdot, Merlot and Cabernet Franc.
James Suckling: 100 Points
This is a very thoughtful Seña that shows unique aromas of warm earth, mushrooms and conifer, turning to dark berries and black olives. The palate is more glamorous with ultra-fine tannins that envelop your palate. Shows power and vibrancy at the end. Toned muscles. It’s a very intellectual wine that harkens back to the 2015. Blend of 55% cabernet sauvignon, 18% malbec, 15% carmenere, 7% cabernet franc and 5% merlot. Beautiful to try now, but better after 2023.
Wine Advocate: 98 Points
The 2018 Seña shows the fresher side of the Ocoa zone of the Aconcagua Valley through a Bordeaux blend of 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 18% Malbec, 15% Carmenere, 7% Cabernet Franc and 5% Petit Verdot; there are small differences, but nothing substantial. As I've seen in other wines from the very complete 2018 vintage, the grapes ripened thoroughly and achieved more flavors and nuances, and the wines are slightly higher in alcohol (14% this year versus 13.3% in 2017, but in reality it's 13.8% ). But the wine seems to have more of everything. The grapes fermented in a combination of stainless steel and concrete vats and matured in new barriques and Stockinger foudres for 22 months, a similar formula as the one used for Viñedo Chadwick. This is a very elegant vintage of Seña, a year with a slow ripening so that the grapes achieved very good ripeness and full development of aromas and flavors, making the wine nuanced and complex, with depth but also freshness and finesse—floral and expressive. The tannins are very fine, polished and elegant, and the wine is long and complex, mixing the best of 2015 and 2016, coming through as a very complete year. It's still a little young and should develop nicely in bottle; it's approachable now, but if you can hold it a little bit more, it should be even better. This has to be the finest vintage of Seña to date. Comparing it with the Chadwick from the same year, there is more freshness and a little more complexity and clout coming form the cooler zone and the palette of varieties used that give more options to achieve more nuance.
Decanter: 97 Points
2018 was a return to a more balanced growing season after the drought of 2017, and the cooler conditions of 2016, with long slow ripening that has ensured an intense deep colour, and both concentration and juice in the body of this wine. The aromatics jump straight out of the glass, cedar, black fruit, cloves and cinnamon spice. This is intense, with polish and balance, and will gain further depth over ageing. Layers of complexity on display, extremely impressive vintage of Seña that pulses with life. 7% Cabernet Franc and 5% Petit Verdot completes the blend. 85% new oak.
Vinous: 95 Points
The 2018 Seña is a blend of 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 18% Malbec, 15% Carménère, 7% Cabernet Franc and 5% Petit Verdot from Ocoa, Aconcagua Valley, that spent 22 months in new barrels, 15% of them foudres. “I really whittled the wine down to 13.8% for greater elegance,” said oenologist Francisco Baettig, and it shows. Purplish red in the glass, it has an enticingly refined nose of black currant and blackberry over secondary woody notes plus balsamic, peppery aromas and hints of mint and saffron. A real joy to drink: relaxed and juicy with polished tannins sustained by a delicate freshness. This is a wine that delivers layer after layer, presenting its own interpretation of elegance. Drinking window: 2021 - 2033
