Like every year, Viña Don Melchor CEO and winemaker Enrique Tirado traveled to the small town of Lamarque, in the heart of the Médoc, in France, to meet with Eric Boissenot, consultant to the most important French châteaux, to create the blend for the 2022 vintage of Don Melchor.

During long tasting sessions, Enrique and Eric tasted more than 200 samples of wines from the Don Melchor Vineyard’s seven parcels. Each of the sample represents a part of the vineyard, and after tasting all of them, they decided which would be combined to best reflect the Puente Alto terroir. Only the best wines become part of the final blend.

The years that they have worked together blending Don Melchor along with the meticulous work done in the vineyard has enabled them an increasingly better understanding of the unique character of the Puente Alto terroir and achieve its best expression in every vintage. As Eric Boissenot says, “This is a very lovely blend. We have increased our ability to understand the place, and we have more samples. Although it’s the same place, we stand before a blank page to make something truly beautiful.”

And in Enrique Tirado’s words, “The 2022 is a tremendous blend that combines elegance and smoothness, but with energy and strength, with lots of fruit and great intensity. This is a great wine from a great vintage,” adding, “This is a vintage that speaks of this terroir, of the concept of blending, of the parcels, of all of the care and attention to detail behind it all to achieve this tremendous blend.”