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2020 Laberinto Sauvignon Blanc

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2020 Laberinto Sauvignon Blanc

JJB: $18.94*

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Laberinto has quickly emerged as one of Chile’s, and really South America’s, most impressive top-tier Sauvignon Blancs, with a style and quality that can easily be compared to a high level Sancerre. The Wine Advocate has actually compared past vintages to Dider Dagueneau, calling it “one of the best Sauvignon Blancs ever produced in Chile.

The cool 2020 vintage has produced one of the best releases yet, earning 95pts from the Wine Advocate, who agree this is “going to develop magnificently in bottle.” Typically when we see an under $20 bottle of South American white wine, we think it’s probably just an everyday value to stock the fridge, but don’t let the price fool you; the 2020 Laberinto is a world-class, age-worthy Sauvignon Blanc that is positively brimming with energy and mouthwatering minerality!

The little village of Colbun doesn't get a lot of attention (yet), and Rafael Tirado is the only producer in the appellation. The cool climate, and dark ashy soils from an extinct volcano in the foothills of the Andes make for a perfect Sauvignon Blanc however, which is hand harvested and sees no oak. Tirado planted the vineyard in the form of a Labyrinth, and the winery is both gravity fed and powered by geothermal energy. While all that might sound more like the lair of a Bond villain than a winery, these are serious wines, very much built to compete with the best of Sancerre. At only $18.94, fans of minerally, old-world style Sauvignon Blanc should not pass this by.

95 points, Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate: "2020 was a cool vintage in Colbun, and the 2020 Cenizas de Laberinto Sauvignon Blanc shows it with vibrant acidity and flavors, a very young white with electric minerality and a dry finish. This is still extremely young, and my experience with older vintage tells me the wine is going to develop magnificently in bottle. This fermented at low temperature in stainless steel, where the wine was kept with the lees for eight months. Right now it's sharp and pungent and should get more polished with time in bottle. 15,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in March 2021. Drink 2021-2030" - Luis Gutierrez

95 points, Tim Atkin MW: "The low-yielding 2020 vintage has produced a particularly intense edition of this celebrated Sauvignon Blanc from one of Chile's most beautiful vineyards. Stony, intense and bone dry, with some grip from volcanic soils, it is wonderfully pithy and focused with notes of lime and lemon juice and a saline finish. Drink 2021-2029."

*Offer publication date November 30, 2021. Pricing and availability subject to change.