Outstanding Recognitions for Don Melchor 2017

The latest vintage of Don Melchor obtained great recognition by the most prestigious specialized media outlets in the world.

Don Melchor, the iconic Cabernet Sauvignon from Alto Maipo was awarded exceptional scores for its 2017 vintage. Acclaimed U.S. critic, James Suckling assigned 99 points to the harvest, highlighting it among over 1,200 Chilean wines. Suckling described this vintage as a wine with, “Fantastic aromas of blackcurrants and other dark fruit with crushed stone, iron and oysters, following through to a full body that shows incredible energy and depth, offering ripe yet fresh fruit, together with bright herbs and earth. Precision and balance of the intensity of the vintage. Layered. Perhaps the greatest Don Melchor ever made.” The U.S. magazine Wine Spectator also recently recognized Don Melchor 2017 with a score of 95 points. The vintage–which is the 31st of this iconic Cabernet Sauvignon–, represents a great harvest for Don Melchor, with extraordinary elegance and balance. Critic Kim Marcus highlighted this vintage as “Suave, complex and elegant, with fine-grained tannins supporting the dried cherry, red plum and currant flavors. Cedar and forest floor notes show midpalate, leading to a long finish of cocoa powder and baker's chocolate details, accented by hints of apple wood smoke and white pepper.”

This new score adds to the Don Melchor’s past achievements in Wine Spectator, where it has been recognized nine times among the 100 Top Wines of the World –and three times among the top 10, confirming its position among the top Cabernet Sauvignons in Chile and the world.

Likewise, acclaimed British critic and Master of Wine, Tim Atkin, gave an outstanding 94 points to Don Melchor 2017, while The Wine Advocate, the website by renowned critic, Robert Parker, awarded 94+ points to this vintage and included it among the top Cabernet Sauvignon of this harvest in the website's latest report on Chile.

Luis Gutiérrez, who was responsible for tasting the Chilean wines for Robert Parker, said the following about Don Melchor: “It is a wine that transcends its vintages and displays a great consistency, always combining elegance and potency, with subtlety and elegant excellence. It is juicy, velvety, and textured. This is an excellent display of the 2017 harvest, a warm year and a fresh wine. Bravo!”

Meanwhile, the specialized magazine Wine Enthusiast rated the 2017 vintage with notable 95 points, while the specialized journalist Patricio Tapia awarded it 96 points. Also, the U.S. website Vinous also gave 94 points to Don Melchor 2017.
The extraordinary score given by Argentine critic, Joaquin Hidalgo, was published on the U.S. website Vinous.com, highlighting Don Melchor among over 700 Chilean wines. The 94 points received by Don Melchor represent the highest score awarded to the wine by the website.

Additionally, the English journalist Jancis Robinson also ranked this vintage among the best in Don Melchor’s history, giving 18 points, one of the highest scores achieved by a Chilean wine on JancisRobinson.com.

In this way, the wine from the famous terroir of Puente Alto has consistently received the highest recognitions throughout its career, making it the most highly awarded Cabernet Sauvignon from Chile and one of the maximum representatives of the variety in the world. 2017 Don Melchor accolades:


99 pts James Suckling
96 pts Descorchados 
95 pts Wine Spectator
95 pts Wine Enthusiast 
94+ pts Robert Parker´s Wine Advocate 
94 pts Tim Atkin
94 pts Vinous
18 pts Jancis Robinson