A 98-pt. Chardonnay for Only $44! ‘World Class’ (Suckling)

WHAT THEY'RE SAYING:

James Suckling stunned us all with his 98-point assessment of the Amelia Chardonnay, an “elegant” wine, he wrote, with "hidden depth and a touch of creaminess," a "super chalky, substantial and fine" palate, and "a lot of fine, salty flavors” that arrive in near-perfect integration. His verdict: "a world-class Chardonnay.” (N.B.: DM/05 has yet to be reviewed.)

OUR TASTING NOTES:

There's a moment, early on, with DM/05 where you find yourself anticipating the density that nearly every Puente Alto Cabernet trains you to expect, but instead the wine goes the other way entirely. Bright red fruit and graphite lead, the entry is smooth, and then … everything just lifts, like a jet taking off the tarmac. A vein of acid carries everything up and up, keeping this from being heavy and plodding. The tannins are so fine that they barely register as tannins at all, and the finish is well-developed and long. As for Amelia … what can we say? Every so often a wine comes along that makes you want to call someone and tell them to stop what they're doing and pour a glass. This is one of those. It drinks like a great Chablis, or a top-tier Sancerre, with chalk and salt woven through the fruit so completely that you'd swear the vineyard sat somewhere on the French coast, as opposed to the reality: the fog-swept Valle de Limarí. Nothing here strains for effect. Everything is in control and precise. Just a gorgeously made wine.

THE STORY:

Enrique Tirado divided the Don Melchor vineyard into sub-parcels back in 1997, vinifying each independently, and patiently, for decades. This was long before "single-block" became a marketing term other producers reached for. The Parcels series only exists because Tirado eventually realized some of those blocks were too distinctive to keep folding into the flagship blend. DM/01, the vineyard's oldest section (planted in 1979 with a pre-phylloxera massal selection from Bordeaux) got the first standalone bottling. DM/05 is a different beast. It’s a wine that's less about age and more about the freshness and nervous energy that this particular patch of Andean gravel contributes to the larger Puente Alto matrix. Amelia comes to us from Concha y Toro, the parent company behind Don Melchor, which built the label around a simple bet: that Chile's most extreme, most overlooked coastal sites could produce white wines capable of standing alongside Chablis and Sancerre. In other words, that broke free of the riper, more familiar New World styles. The Valle de Limarí's Quebrada Seca vineyard, cooled by fog rolling in off the Pacific, is exactly that kind of site, and this 2025 vintage is definitive proof that the vision is bearing real (and thrilling) fruit.

WHAT TO PAIR THEM WITH:

The DM/05 calls for a slab of red meat with real char — ideally, a wood-grilled ribeye or an Argentine-style asado, something with heft and richness and depth. Amelia is a wine built for shellfish and delicate fish, from Dungeness crab to whole roasted branzino to oysters on the half shell, though it’ll make a kind of magic with a creamy risotto, as well.

FUN FACT:

Puente Alto's nickname, "the Pauillac of Chile," isn't a piece of glibness. Both regions share gravelly, well-draining alluvial soils and a similar temperature rhythm that stresses Cabernet Sauvignon into concentration rather than sheer size, which is why so many Bordeaux collectors are smitten right now with Chile.

OUR GUARANTEE:

We always buy and source direct from the estates, so rest assured: your wines will arrive in your hands with pristine provenance. Secure your bottles and cases today!