2022 Baettig "Los Compadres" Cabernet Sauvignon Valle de Maule

I also tasted the very young 2022 Vino de Viñedo Los Compadres Cabernet Sauvignon, which has a majority of grapes from a vineyard they finally purchased in Coronel de Maule that has 60-year-old head-pruned, dry-farmed and ungrafted Cabernet Sauvignon, a rarity for the variety, because it was grafted onto 100-year-old País vines. It has 13.8% alcohol with a pH of 3.35, which is extremely low, and very high acidity, 7.12. They used 15% new oak, and part of the wine fermented in barrel. It has the structured tannins from Maule but with amazing tension, lots of fruit, some notes of tobacco and tea leaves, textbook blackcurrant and with balsamic and minty, subtle, juicy, very good complexity, harmony and elegance with grip, serious and a little à la Saint-Estéphe. (ML)