2020 Viña Vik Winery La Piu Belle Magnum
| Type of Wine | Red |
|---|---|
| Country | Chile |
| Region | Colchagua Valley |
| Winery | |
| Vintage | 2020 |
| Grape | , , , Syrah-Shiraz |
| Content (Alc) | 1.5 ltr (14.5%) |
| Drink window | 2023 - 2036 |
In stock
7 items available
Description
VIK's La Piu Belle is a blend of 76% Carmenere, 19% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Cabernet Franc from the Andean vineyards in Millahue, Cachapoal Valley. The soil consists of elm, porous decomposed granite soil with good drainage. The wine has been aged for 24 months in 85% French oak and 15% in Barroir (toasted oak barrels from trees on our own property). This version is a 1.5 liter magnum. The outfit is a piece of jewelry on the table.
La Piu Belle is a brilliantly intense wine. Different from the many Carmanere driven wines because we are talking about an elegant and fresh wine and not about the often very 'jammy-like' wines. The altitude, the cool moist wind from the Pacific Ocean and the big difference between day and night temperatures produces an amazing wine with black fruit and refreshing herbs with flowers such as violets and lavender and rose petals that frame the complex layers of flavors very elegantly. This together with beautiful acids provides a great balance and makes us long. The Piu Belle shows the different personality of the Carmenere, precisely the elegant and complex side. FThis is a meditative wine to enjoy and dream away. The art on the bottle also makes it a jewel and is of course recommended with beef fillet filled with goat cheese accompanied by pumpkin and sage gnocchi. Also delicious with Smoked duck breast, grilled salmon.
Suckling writes in his review (95/100): ".....This is seamless and polished, underscored by ultra-fine, almost ethereal tannins, before a lengthy finish. ...."
In the tab: Attachment you will find the official fact sheet of this wine. We will send it to you automatically when you order this wine. Here you will also find a nice presentation about VIK. Under the tab: Winery you will find extensive information about the winery with a number of interesting videos
About Viña Vik Winery
In 2004, Alex and Carrie Vik started an entire team with the audacious goal of creating one of the best wines in the world. After a two-year search, the best terroir was found, located in the Millahue Valley in Chile. Millahue Valley means "Place of Gold".
The vineyard is planted in the interior of the valley, offering a variety of terroirs and small microclimates cooled by coastal breezes. The vineyards consist of Cabernet Sauvignon, Carmenere, Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Syrah.
The winery was designed by Chilean architect Smiljan Radic in collaboration with Alex and Carrie Vik. It has been carefully designed to have minimal impact on the landscape. A state-of-the-art, highly sustainable, technologically creative and visually breathtaking experience. The winery was completed in 2014.
Under the leadership of Chilean Patrick Valette (wine consultant, Château Pavie and with French roots) and current winemaker Cristián Vallejo, involved in the project from the start, a wonderful company has been built since 2005. The work is very sustainable, harvesting is completely manual and fermentation takes place naturally without added yeasts.
Today VIK produces four exceptional red wines and a rosé. They are rightly very proud that VIK, La Piu Belle, Milla Cala and "A" have received ratings well into the 90s, such as 99 points from James Suckling, a Master Medal from The Drink Business and platinum and gold medals of the Decanter, along with many other awards.
A water level in the wine cellar cools the barrel cellar without consuming energy. The translucent roof makes daytime work possible without artificial light. Inspired by the purity of our wines, we developed the concept of "Barroir". We roast used and new French barrels with oak from our hills and build our own barrels in our cooperage. These estate crafted barrels embody the flavor of the terroir. Because they approach all the work holistically, they only use fallen centenarian trees that can be found on the immense estate.
In 2019, Wine Enthusiast Magazine unveiled their 20th annual Wine Star Awards and named VIK the Wine Star for 'Best Winery Experience'. In 2021, the competition ranked VIK as the 8th prestigious winery among the 50 World's Best Vineyards and iViña Vik has therefore quickly joined the ranks of iconic wines from Chile and is now among the global top.
Read more under the tab: Winery with a number of beautiful videos about the wines and the winery.
Specifications
| Type of Wine | Red |
|---|---|
| Country | Chile |
| Region | Colchagua Valley |
| Winery | Vina Vik Winery |
| Grape | Cabernet Sauvignon, Carmenere, Merlot, Syrah-Shiraz |
| Biological certified | No |
| Natural wine | No |
| Vegan | No |
| Vintage | 2020 |
| Drinking as of | 2023 |
| Drinking till | 2036 |
| Alcohol % | 14.5 |
| Alcohol free/low | No |
| Content | 1.5 ltr |
| Oak aging | Yes |
| Sparkling | No |
| Dessert wine | No |
| Closure | Cork |
| Parker rating | 90 |
| James Suckling rating | 96 |
| Vinous rating | 93 |
| Tasting Profiles | Aards, Donker fruit, Droog, Houtgerijpt, Krachtig, Tannines, Vol |
| Drink moments | Barbecue, Lekker luxe, Met vrienden, Open haard |
Professional Reviews
Parker
The 2020 La Piu Belle was produced with a blend of 68% Carmenere, 23% Cabernet Sauvignon and 9% Cabernet Franc, fermented in stainless steel and matured in barrel, 45% of them new and from Chilean oak, for 26 months, including malolactic, with 15% of the wine kept in clay pots produced from the clay in their soils. It's quite ripe and heady and hits the scale at 14.7% alcohol with 3.36 grams of residual sugar. This comes from a warmer part of the vineyard and is mostly Carmenere, so it has a slightly different profile from the rest of the reds. It's peppery and herbal with high ripeness, a round and lush palate that's generously oaked and with some tannins that would welcome powerful food. 80,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in November 2022.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua...
James Suckling
VIK VALLE DE CACHAPOAL LA PIU BELLE 2021
Thursday, March 21, 2024
CountryChile
RegionValle Central
Vintage2021
CHECK PRICE
DOWNLOAD SHELFTALKER
Score
96
Rich nose with plenty of black cherries, tile, graphite and a touch of ginseng. Creamy, fine tannins aplenty on the palate with a full body and a flavorful and lengthy finish. Opulent but refined. 76% carmenere, 19% cabernet sauvignon and 5% cabernet franc. Drink or hold.
Zekun Shuai
Senior Editor
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua...
Wine Spectator
VIK VALLE DE CACHAPOAL LA PIU BELLE 2020
Friday, December 8, 2023
CountryChile
RegionValle Central
Vintage2020
CHECK PRICE
DOWNLOAD SHELFTALKER
Score
96
Ripe and plush to the nose with some opulent spicy fruit, blackberries, dark plums and a hint of chocolate. Full-bodied and rich on the palate with dense, nicely chewy tannins and a pretty long finish. Nice acidity freshens it up. A blend of carmenere, cabernet sauvignon and cabernet franc. 23 months in barrels, of which 45% is new Barroir oak (French barrels toasted with local oak trees). Around 15% of the wine was aged in amphorae made with local clay for eight months. Drink from 2025.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua...
Vinous
93
Drinking Window
2022 - 2029
From: Chile in Transition (Jun 2022)
The 2019 Red Blend La Piu Belle consists of 44% Carménère aged in amphorae, 41% Cabernet Sauvignon, 14% Syrah, and 1% Merlot from Millahue, Cachapoal. Garnet red in color, with intense floral notes, sweet spices, blackberry and prune, it’s juicy and fruity on the palate, where grippy tannins make themselves felt on the gums. Broad and medium-volume.
- By Joaquín Hidalgo on June 2022
Norwegian businessman Alexander Vik arrived in Cachapoal in 2006 and set up a luxury hotel and a winery on a 4,200-hectare estate in the Millahue region. The property, situated on the north side of the Cordón Apalta, contains 323 hectares of vineyard, whose grapes are processed at a pretty winery under the supervision of Cristian Vallejos. Following the 2018 harvest, the focus has shifted to the brands Vik, La Piu Belle and Milla Cala.
91
Drinking Window
2023 - 2032
From: Chile: Thinking Outside The Box (Jun 2023)
The 2020 La Piu Belle consists of 68% Carménère, 23% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 9% Cabernet Franc from Millahue, Cachapoal. It was aged for 20 months in French barrels and 5 in amphorae. Garnet red in the glass. The nose is dominated by balsamic, dry forest aromas over blackberry notes and hints of ash. Indulgent with a voluminous palate, the expansive ripe fruit character lent by the warm year intensifies the bold expression.
- By Joaquín Hidalgo on March 2023
The Norwegian businessman Alexander Vik arrived in Cachapoal in 2006, where he set up a luxury hotel and a winery in a 4,200-hectare estate in the Millahue region. The property, situated on the north side of the Cordón Apalta, includes 323 hectares of a vineyard whose grapes are processed at a pretty winery under the supervision of Cristian Vallejos. Following the 2018 harvest, the focus has shifted to the Vik, La Piu Belle and Milla Cala wines.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua...
98
"Alex and Carrie Vil are the Art-Collecting Couple behind two of South America's best Boutique Hotels. Their newest project, a hotel and winery in Chile's untamed Millahue Valley is their most ambitious yet." - Salma Abdelnour
Condé Nast Traveller"Norwegian-born financier and hotelier Alexander Vik has been hailed for his attention to detail at his celebrated hotels in Uruguay. He and his wife Carrie have applied the same Nordic precision when creating Viña Vik, one of Chile's most ambitious wineries, from 4,400 hectares of scrub-covered hillside in the Cachapoal Valley. Star winemaker Patrick Valette, who learnt the trade at his family's Chateau Pavie in France, established the vineyard from scratch, planting 303 hectares of high-density, drip-fed Cabernet and Carmenere vines that yielded the first ultra-premium blend in March. "
The New York Times"But the alchemy of this beautiful spot is not just a lucky accident; the land under us had been analyzed and dissected extensively in a lab to see what would thrive here. "We wanted to bring the quality of a top estate in Bordeaux," said Patrick Valette, the head winemaker at Viña Vik, stopping to take a look at a particularly ripe bunch of grapes, "while emphasizing what makes the Chilean terroir so unique". … This is especially evident at the Viña Vik, which, though separated from Colchagua by the imposing mountain range, has similar, if not better, conditions for grape growing: plenty of sun, an ideal level of precipitation and varied altitudes and soil types. The estate itself has a state-of-the-art cantina, designed by a star Chilean architect, Smiljan Radic. Results suggest that they are on the right path: their first vintage, the 2009, sold out at $100 a bottle — though we were able to get a taste before it did; it is a delicious red blend, combining five different grapes, with complex flavors of ripe fruit and a long finish. For Old World palates like mine, it’s a familiar taste but one different enough to prove exciting — like a continent-spanning offshoot of Bordeaux. And Mr. Valette believes that the 2010 vintage, released last November, is even better. -Victor Ruiz Caballero
James Suckling Com"Exceptional. VIK is certainly the new star of Chile. - Jessica Harnois, President of the Canadian Association of Professional Sommeliers.
Christian Callec Com"The place is really fabulous, like the Eldorado in your best dreams; an island of peace and beautiful nature, in a place that even well-informed Chilean wine professionals never heard of. And yet, the heavenly site of Millahue in the Cachapoal valley is not much than 1 hour away on horse-back from the well-known Apalta, just the other side of the hill… But Viña VIK is much more than only a paradisiacal place; it is a wonderful that becomes reality. The dream of one man, Alexander VIK. This famous Norwegian businessman might be one of the richest people in the world, he is also and may be on the first place, a sensible and very sensitive person with a great love for nature and culture. His big dream was to have his own vineyard. Therefore, Alexander VIK asked the famous French-Chilean wine specialist and consultant Patrick Valette, to find the best place in South-America to realize this big dream.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua...
Exclusive Content
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Wijnhuis
The absolute top from Chile is, without a doubt VIK Wines. All wines receive unanimously very high ratings with scores of 98 and 99 out of 100 points. They have four red wines and also launched a rosé in 2022. At VIK, science, technology, and knowledge are the basis, with passion as the engine.
The holistic approach is the perfect combination between man and nature; the base and result of the beautiful dynamic terroir, together with best agriculture practices and excellence in environmental management, gives wines in which only the very best is good enough. In 2019, VIK received the "Best Winery Experience" award from the prestigious Wine Enthusiast magazine in recognition of all the work done during these years.
James Suckling also highlighted VIK's wine innovations, such as the "Barroir" concept, making the terroir concept the purest. The idea is a pioneering process in Chile and the world. Using local oaks, VIK also developed its "barroir" concept to give a sense of place to the oak aging process. With the help of Jean Luc Sylvain of Tonnellerie Sylvain, VIK winemaker Vallejo believes the "barroir" process gives them the precision they want from micro-oxygenation and the subtle flavors of barrel aging. Click here for more information about the Barrier process.
The vineyards are planted in 12 small valleys, totaling 327 hectares of vines. More than 6,000 soil analyzes were performed to match the clonal selection of rootstocks and varieties.
Cabernet Sauvignon, Carmenere, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, and Syrah are planted varieties. Soil types include colluvial, alluvial, sand, clay, and gravelly. The VIK wines are seen in style as the Bordeaux but then of the best kind.
The viticulture concept at VIK is based on optimizing every stage of grape growing and wine production, with a significant focus on science and technology. All are based on reaching optimum levels of maturity in the fruit in each valley to make the best wine. Yield isn't just quality that counts. To obtain only the best quality grapes, they carry out up to three nightly harvests when the grapes are chilled —and always by hand.
Winemaker Cristian Vallejo oversees VIK agriculture, ensuring the grapes are harvested by hand and fermentation occurs naturally with no added yeasts. The wines are aged in a combination of new and used French oak barrels. Currently, the winery is introducing wines aged in amphorae custom made from the vineyard's clay and wines aged in oak barrels roasted with the estate's oak wood.
The VIK wine cellar was designed by celebrated Pritzker Prize candidate Chilean architect Smiljan Radic in collaboration with Alex and Carrie Vik and the team at VIK. It has been carefully designed to have minimal impact on the surrounding landscape.
At VIK, sustainable development is another fundamental pillar that stems from caring for the environment in which the grapes grow. Some of the (far-reaching) measures are:
- We can reuse water to irrigate the vineyard with our own water treatment plant.
- The vines are surrounded by 10,000 hectares of forest.
- Taking care of the natural biodiversity at VIK: there is a great diversity of wildlife (ducks, cormorants, swans, eagles, pumas, etc.) thanks to its geographically isolated location in the interior of the VIK valley.
In addition, the proximity of the forest to the vineyard promotes healthy plant development and a good balance between flora and fauna.
- Have a highly sustainable, state-of-the-art winery using free cooling, solar energy, and natural insulation.
The 5 wines of VIK are:
VIK-A
MILLA CALAI
LA PIU BELLE
LA PIU BELLE ROSÉ
VIK
VIK and Milla Cala grapes come from vineyards in the Los Lazos Valley, the Los Mineros Valley, and the El Boquerón Valley. In contrast, the fruit for La Piu Belle comes from the Almendro Valley, the La Feria Valley, and the Colchagua Valley.
Attachments
+ 3 more attachments
VIK's La Piu Belle is a blend of 76% Carmenere, 19% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Cabernet Franc from the Andean vineyards in Millahue, Cachapoal Valley. The soil consists of elm, porous decomposed granite soil with good drainage. The wine has been aged for 24 months in 85% French oak and 15% in Barroir (toasted oak barrels from trees on our own property). This version is a 1.5 liter magnum. The outfit is a piece of jewelry on the table.
La Piu Belle is a brilliantly intense wine. Different from the many Carmanere driven wines because we are talking about an elegant and fresh wine and not about the often very 'jammy-like' wines. The altitude, the cool moist wind from the Pacific Ocean and the big difference between day and night temperatures produces an amazing wine with black fruit and refreshing herbs with flowers such as violets and lavender and rose petals that frame the complex layers of flavors very elegantly. This together with beautiful acids provides a great balance and makes us long. The Piu Belle shows the different personality of the Carmenere, precisely the elegant and complex side. FThis is a meditative wine to enjoy and dream away. The art on the bottle also makes it a jewel and is of course recommended with beef fillet filled with goat cheese accompanied by pumpkin and sage gnocchi. Also delicious with Smoked duck breast, grilled salmon.
Suckling writes in his review (95/100): ".....This is seamless and polished, underscored by ultra-fine, almost ethereal tannins, before a lengthy finish. ...."
In the tab: Attachment you will find the official fact sheet of this wine. We will send it to you automatically when you order this wine. Here you will also find a nice presentation about VIK. Under the tab: Winery you will find extensive information about the winery with a number of interesting videos
About Viña Vik Winery
In 2004, Alex and Carrie Vik started an entire team with the audacious goal of creating one of the best wines in the world. After a two-year search, the best terroir was found, located in the Millahue Valley in Chile. Millahue Valley means "Place of Gold".
The vineyard is planted in the interior of the valley, offering a variety of terroirs and small microclimates cooled by coastal breezes. The vineyards consist of Cabernet Sauvignon, Carmenere, Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Syrah.
The winery was designed by Chilean architect Smiljan Radic in collaboration with Alex and Carrie Vik. It has been carefully designed to have minimal impact on the landscape. A state-of-the-art, highly sustainable, technologically creative and visually breathtaking experience. The winery was completed in 2014.
Under the leadership of Chilean Patrick Valette (wine consultant, Château Pavie and with French roots) and current winemaker Cristián Vallejo, involved in the project from the start, a wonderful company has been built since 2005. The work is very sustainable, harvesting is completely manual and fermentation takes place naturally without added yeasts.
Today VIK produces four exceptional red wines and a rosé. They are rightly very proud that VIK, La Piu Belle, Milla Cala and "A" have received ratings well into the 90s, such as 99 points from James Suckling, a Master Medal from The Drink Business and platinum and gold medals of the Decanter, along with many other awards.
A water level in the wine cellar cools the barrel cellar without consuming energy. The translucent roof makes daytime work possible without artificial light. Inspired by the purity of our wines, we developed the concept of "Barroir". We roast used and new French barrels with oak from our hills and build our own barrels in our cooperage. These estate crafted barrels embody the flavor of the terroir. Because they approach all the work holistically, they only use fallen centenarian trees that can be found on the immense estate.
In 2019, Wine Enthusiast Magazine unveiled their 20th annual Wine Star Awards and named VIK the Wine Star for 'Best Winery Experience'. In 2021, the competition ranked VIK as the 8th prestigious winery among the 50 World's Best Vineyards and iViña Vik has therefore quickly joined the ranks of iconic wines from Chile and is now among the global top.
Read more under the tab: Winery with a number of beautiful videos about the wines and the winery.
| Type of Wine | Red |
|---|---|
| Country | Chile |
| Region | Colchagua Valley |
| Winery | Vina Vik Winery |
| Grape | Cabernet Sauvignon, Carmenere, Merlot, Syrah-Shiraz |
| Biological certified | No |
| Natural wine | No |
| Vegan | No |
| Vintage | 2020 |
| Drinking as of | 2023 |
| Drinking till | 2036 |
| Alcohol % | 14.5 |
| Alcohol free/low | No |
| Content | 1.5 ltr |
| Oak aging | Yes |
| Sparkling | No |
| Dessert wine | No |
| Closure | Cork |
| Parker rating | 90 |
| James Suckling rating | 96 |
| Vinous rating | 93 |
| Tasting Profiles | Aards, Donker fruit, Droog, Houtgerijpt, Krachtig, Tannines, Vol |
| Drink moments | Barbecue, Lekker luxe, Met vrienden, Open haard |
Parker
The 2020 La Piu Belle was produced with a blend of 68% Carmenere, 23% Cabernet Sauvignon and 9% Cabernet Franc, fermented in stainless steel and matured in barrel, 45% of them new and from Chilean oak, for 26 months, including malolactic, with 15% of the wine kept in clay pots produced from the clay in their soils. It's quite ripe and heady and hits the scale at 14.7% alcohol with 3.36 grams of residual sugar. This comes from a warmer part of the vineyard and is mostly Carmenere, so it has a slightly different profile from the rest of the reds. It's peppery and herbal with high ripeness, a round and lush palate that's generously oaked and with some tannins that would welcome powerful food. 80,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in November 2022.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua...
James Suckling
VIK VALLE DE CACHAPOAL LA PIU BELLE 2021
Thursday, March 21, 2024
CountryChile
RegionValle Central
Vintage2021
CHECK PRICE
DOWNLOAD SHELFTALKER
Score
96
Rich nose with plenty of black cherries, tile, graphite and a touch of ginseng. Creamy, fine tannins aplenty on the palate with a full body and a flavorful and lengthy finish. Opulent but refined. 76% carmenere, 19% cabernet sauvignon and 5% cabernet franc. Drink or hold.
Zekun Shuai
Senior Editor
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua...
Wine Spectator
VIK VALLE DE CACHAPOAL LA PIU BELLE 2020
Friday, December 8, 2023
CountryChile
RegionValle Central
Vintage2020
CHECK PRICE
DOWNLOAD SHELFTALKER
Score
96
Ripe and plush to the nose with some opulent spicy fruit, blackberries, dark plums and a hint of chocolate. Full-bodied and rich on the palate with dense, nicely chewy tannins and a pretty long finish. Nice acidity freshens it up. A blend of carmenere, cabernet sauvignon and cabernet franc. 23 months in barrels, of which 45% is new Barroir oak (French barrels toasted with local oak trees). Around 15% of the wine was aged in amphorae made with local clay for eight months. Drink from 2025.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua...
Vinous
93
Drinking Window
2022 - 2029
From: Chile in Transition (Jun 2022)
The 2019 Red Blend La Piu Belle consists of 44% Carménère aged in amphorae, 41% Cabernet Sauvignon, 14% Syrah, and 1% Merlot from Millahue, Cachapoal. Garnet red in color, with intense floral notes, sweet spices, blackberry and prune, it’s juicy and fruity on the palate, where grippy tannins make themselves felt on the gums. Broad and medium-volume.
- By Joaquín Hidalgo on June 2022
Norwegian businessman Alexander Vik arrived in Cachapoal in 2006 and set up a luxury hotel and a winery on a 4,200-hectare estate in the Millahue region. The property, situated on the north side of the Cordón Apalta, contains 323 hectares of vineyard, whose grapes are processed at a pretty winery under the supervision of Cristian Vallejos. Following the 2018 harvest, the focus has shifted to the brands Vik, La Piu Belle and Milla Cala.
91
Drinking Window
2023 - 2032
From: Chile: Thinking Outside The Box (Jun 2023)
The 2020 La Piu Belle consists of 68% Carménère, 23% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 9% Cabernet Franc from Millahue, Cachapoal. It was aged for 20 months in French barrels and 5 in amphorae. Garnet red in the glass. The nose is dominated by balsamic, dry forest aromas over blackberry notes and hints of ash. Indulgent with a voluminous palate, the expansive ripe fruit character lent by the warm year intensifies the bold expression.
- By Joaquín Hidalgo on March 2023
The Norwegian businessman Alexander Vik arrived in Cachapoal in 2006, where he set up a luxury hotel and a winery in a 4,200-hectare estate in the Millahue region. The property, situated on the north side of the Cordón Apalta, includes 323 hectares of a vineyard whose grapes are processed at a pretty winery under the supervision of Cristian Vallejos. Following the 2018 harvest, the focus has shifted to the Vik, La Piu Belle and Milla Cala wines.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua...
98
"Alex and Carrie Vil are the Art-Collecting Couple behind two of South America's best Boutique Hotels. Their newest project, a hotel and winery in Chile's untamed Millahue Valley is their most ambitious yet." - Salma Abdelnour
Condé Nast Traveller"Norwegian-born financier and hotelier Alexander Vik has been hailed for his attention to detail at his celebrated hotels in Uruguay. He and his wife Carrie have applied the same Nordic precision when creating Viña Vik, one of Chile's most ambitious wineries, from 4,400 hectares of scrub-covered hillside in the Cachapoal Valley. Star winemaker Patrick Valette, who learnt the trade at his family's Chateau Pavie in France, established the vineyard from scratch, planting 303 hectares of high-density, drip-fed Cabernet and Carmenere vines that yielded the first ultra-premium blend in March. "
The New York Times"But the alchemy of this beautiful spot is not just a lucky accident; the land under us had been analyzed and dissected extensively in a lab to see what would thrive here. "We wanted to bring the quality of a top estate in Bordeaux," said Patrick Valette, the head winemaker at Viña Vik, stopping to take a look at a particularly ripe bunch of grapes, "while emphasizing what makes the Chilean terroir so unique". … This is especially evident at the Viña Vik, which, though separated from Colchagua by the imposing mountain range, has similar, if not better, conditions for grape growing: plenty of sun, an ideal level of precipitation and varied altitudes and soil types. The estate itself has a state-of-the-art cantina, designed by a star Chilean architect, Smiljan Radic. Results suggest that they are on the right path: their first vintage, the 2009, sold out at $100 a bottle — though we were able to get a taste before it did; it is a delicious red blend, combining five different grapes, with complex flavors of ripe fruit and a long finish. For Old World palates like mine, it’s a familiar taste but one different enough to prove exciting — like a continent-spanning offshoot of Bordeaux. And Mr. Valette believes that the 2010 vintage, released last November, is even better. -Victor Ruiz Caballero
James Suckling Com"Exceptional. VIK is certainly the new star of Chile. - Jessica Harnois, President of the Canadian Association of Professional Sommeliers.
Christian Callec Com"The place is really fabulous, like the Eldorado in your best dreams; an island of peace and beautiful nature, in a place that even well-informed Chilean wine professionals never heard of. And yet, the heavenly site of Millahue in the Cachapoal valley is not much than 1 hour away on horse-back from the well-known Apalta, just the other side of the hill… But Viña VIK is much more than only a paradisiacal place; it is a wonderful that becomes reality. The dream of one man, Alexander VIK. This famous Norwegian businessman might be one of the richest people in the world, he is also and may be on the first place, a sensible and very sensitive person with a great love for nature and culture. His big dream was to have his own vineyard. Therefore, Alexander VIK asked the famous French-Chilean wine specialist and consultant Patrick Valette, to find the best place in South-America to realize this big dream.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua...
Exclusive Content
Sign in to unlock professional wine reviews from world-renowned critics
The absolute top from Chile is, without a doubt VIK Wines. All wines receive unanimously very high ratings with scores of 98 and 99 out of 100 points. They have four red wines and also launched a rosé in 2022. At VIK, science, technology, and knowledge are the basis, with passion as the engine.
The holistic approach is the perfect combination between man and nature; the base and result of the beautiful dynamic terroir, together with best agriculture practices and excellence in environmental management, gives wines in which only the very best is good enough. In 2019, VIK received the "Best Winery Experience" award from the prestigious Wine Enthusiast magazine in recognition of all the work done during these years.
James Suckling also highlighted VIK's wine innovations, such as the "Barroir" concept, making the terroir concept the purest. The idea is a pioneering process in Chile and the world. Using local oaks, VIK also developed its "barroir" concept to give a sense of place to the oak aging process. With the help of Jean Luc Sylvain of Tonnellerie Sylvain, VIK winemaker Vallejo believes the "barroir" process gives them the precision they want from micro-oxygenation and the subtle flavors of barrel aging. Click here for more information about the Barrier process.
The vineyards are planted in 12 small valleys, totaling 327 hectares of vines. More than 6,000 soil analyzes were performed to match the clonal selection of rootstocks and varieties.
Cabernet Sauvignon, Carmenere, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, and Syrah are planted varieties. Soil types include colluvial, alluvial, sand, clay, and gravelly. The VIK wines are seen in style as the Bordeaux but then of the best kind.
The viticulture concept at VIK is based on optimizing every stage of grape growing and wine production, with a significant focus on science and technology. All are based on reaching optimum levels of maturity in the fruit in each valley to make the best wine. Yield isn't just quality that counts. To obtain only the best quality grapes, they carry out up to three nightly harvests when the grapes are chilled —and always by hand.
Winemaker Cristian Vallejo oversees VIK agriculture, ensuring the grapes are harvested by hand and fermentation occurs naturally with no added yeasts. The wines are aged in a combination of new and used French oak barrels. Currently, the winery is introducing wines aged in amphorae custom made from the vineyard's clay and wines aged in oak barrels roasted with the estate's oak wood.
The VIK wine cellar was designed by celebrated Pritzker Prize candidate Chilean architect Smiljan Radic in collaboration with Alex and Carrie Vik and the team at VIK. It has been carefully designed to have minimal impact on the surrounding landscape.
At VIK, sustainable development is another fundamental pillar that stems from caring for the environment in which the grapes grow. Some of the (far-reaching) measures are:
- We can reuse water to irrigate the vineyard with our own water treatment plant.
- The vines are surrounded by 10,000 hectares of forest.
- Taking care of the natural biodiversity at VIK: there is a great diversity of wildlife (ducks, cormorants, swans, eagles, pumas, etc.) thanks to its geographically isolated location in the interior of the VIK valley.
In addition, the proximity of the forest to the vineyard promotes healthy plant development and a good balance between flora and fauna.
- Have a highly sustainable, state-of-the-art winery using free cooling, solar energy, and natural insulation.
The 5 wines of VIK are:
VIK-A
MILLA CALAI
LA PIU BELLE
LA PIU BELLE ROSÉ
VIK
VIK and Milla Cala grapes come from vineyards in the Los Lazos Valley, the Los Mineros Valley, and the El Boquerón Valley. In contrast, the fruit for La Piu Belle comes from the Almendro Valley, the La Feria Valley, and the Colchagua Valley.
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