The Chilean fine wine ‘Seña’ has released a second label called ‘Rocas de Seña’. This new 2020 vintage was sold via La Place de Bordeaux along with its older sibling. Both labels sold out within hours of their release on the market on the 1st of September.
Both wines hail from the same area, a remote and biodynamically-farmed estate in the Aconcagua Valley. However, the grapes that go into the blend differ in both expressions.
Over half of Seña is made with Cabernet Sauvignon (53%), with Malbec (25%) and Carmenère (15%) in support. Petit Verdot completes the blend, adding the final 7%. However, the main grape variety in Rocas de Seña is Malbec (38%) and has no Carmenère. Syrah (25%), Cabernet Sauvignon (15%) and Grenache (14%) also feature, with Petit Verdot adding a final flourish of 8%.
Just under 3,000 cases were made of the first vintage of Rocas de Seña, that’s around half the annual production of the Grand Vin.
Seña’s 2020 vintage was released up 6.2% on 2019’s opening price and is offered at £1,029 per 12x75cl case. Rocas de Seña 2020 is being offered under half the price of the Grand Vin at £426 per 12x75cl case.
Winemaker Francisco Baettig said at a tasting in London that he wanted Rocas de Seña to have its own character which is why he selected different grape varieties.
‘I did not want to make a copy of Seña just with younger parcels (of vines), I wanted to give a personality to Rocas, which is why I used Malbec as a base instead of Cabernet and some Mediterranean varieties, with Syrah and Grenache,’ he commented.
He added that Petit Verdot’s inclusion in the blend was important in order to create ‘tension’ in the wine, which is needed in this part of Chile, as well as in the moderately hot, dry 2020 vintage.
His aim is for ‘Rocas… not to be a Cabernet-based wine – we have that with Seña, as well as Chadwick and Don Max.’
