Vina Sena Dinner

1 Mar 2012: I really enjoyed organising the Viña Seña dinner in Hong Kong.  Diego Garay, the Commercial Director of the winery, responded with a lot of enthusiasm when I proposed hosting it at the Island Tang restaurant, pairing the Bordeaux-style wines from Chile with Chinese dishes, an idea that would suggest the collaboration of (almost) 3 diverse cultures and styles.  The result was rather encouraging: the dishes paired astonishingly well with the wines, which were all expressive of all the grape varieties, vintages and the region. The wines that were shown came from the vintages of 1999, 2000, 2004, 2007 and 2008.  The 2007 and 2008 were both opened 3 hours before serving.   The other vintages were opened an hour before serving.

Viña Seña was originally a joint venture between the Mondavi and the Chadwick families.  After Robert Mondavi died in 2008, it reverted to full ownership by Eduardo Chadwick.  Biodynamic practices were adopted in the vineyards starting in 2004.  The first vines were actually planted in 1997, which means that the earlier vintages were made by grapes sourced from different growers.  Cabernet Franc was planted in 1998 and Petit Verdot much later.  Therefore, the more recent vintages would typically be a blend of 5 different grape varieties: Cabernet Sauvignon (majority), Carmenère, Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Petit Verdot, each playing a vital role.  The vines are planted in hillside vineyards 41 km from the Pacific Ocean on the western side of the Aconcagua Valley, with moderating maritime influence. 

The menu read like this:

Island Tang Appetiser Delights (barbecued pork, pork belly with crispy skin, deep-fried tofu and roast pigeon leg stuffed with liver sausage) - 2008 Viña Seña

Deep-fried prawns with sweet and sour sauce - 2007 Viña Seña   

Crispy rice paper roll with pork belly and preserved vegetables - 2004 Viña Seña

Signature roasted crispy chicken - 2000 Viña Seña

Wok-fried diced Wagyu beef with sliced garlic - 1999 Viña Seña   

Braised rice with black truffle and roasted duck

Walnut cream with aloe vera

Chinese Petits Fours

The wines:

2008 Viña Seña: 57% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Merlot, 20% Carmenère, 5% Cabernet Franc and 8% Petit Verdot. 14.5% alcohol.  100% new French oak.  22 months ageing in oak.  Cassis, black cherry, blueberry, liquorice, eucalyptus, menthol, cedar, spices (nutmeg) and herbal.  A wine marked by elegance, with intense concentration and powerful complexity.  Very ripe but firm tannin, with a velvety and plush texture, with well-integrated firm acidity.   Made in a more opulent but approachable style than 2007.   A very long life ahead.  Drink from 2015 to 2030+.  This wine went very well with the pigeon leg stuffed with liver sausage!

2007 Viña Seña: 57% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Merlot, 20% Carmenère, 6% Cabernet Franc and 5% Petit Verdot. 14.5% alcohol.  100% new French oak.  22 months ageing in oak.  My favourite of the evening.  Beautiful spicy nose, with violet and blueberry notes and nuances of tobacco and minerality adding to complexity.  Showing lovely purity of fruit and a harmonious balance, with an elegant poise.  Drink from 2015 to 2030+.  Beautifully paired with the crispy paper roll with pork belly and preserved vegetables - a highly recommended dish, a real standout of the evening!

2004 Viña Seña: 51% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Merlot, 6% Carmenère, 5% Cabernet Franc and 3% Petit Verdot. 14.5% alcohol.  100% new French oak.  Spicy and toasted oak, black fruit, earthy and mocha.  Soft and rounded on the palate.  Drink now and for next 8 - 10 years. 

2000 Viña Seña: 77% Cabernet Sauvignon, 17.4% Merlot, 5.6% Carmenère.  14% alcohol. Maturation in French oak (92% new).  Total ageing in oak 18 months.  A much cooler growing season, with more rain than in 1999 vintage.   A much more savoury, blackcurrnat leaf, fig, herbal and cigar box character on the nose and palate.  Soft rounded tannin structure, with lower acidity.  Didn't have the same concentration and intensity as 1999.  Drinking at peak and for another 3 - 4 years.

1999 Viña Seña: 75% Cabernet Sauvignon, 16% Merlot, 9% Carmenère.  14.2% alcohol.  A low yield and high quality year, with beautiful fruit.  Individually vinified.  Maturation in French oak (56% new).  15 months ageing after blending.   Blueberry, blackberry, cassis, with violet, tobacco, earthy, savoury and leather notes. Still showing a robust structure of velvety but still chewy tannin and vibrant acidity.  Plenty of energy still.  Drinking very well now, and for another 6 - 8+ years, with further development of tertiary character.   (This wine went so beautifully with the beef and black truffle rice dish!)

It was really interesting to taste these wines together, which almost tasted like they came from 5 different wineries.  I guess the winery is still relatively new and is still seeking a style it's comfortable with.  With the plantings coming of age and with the benefits from biodynamic viticulture settling in, the wine will be expected to become more complex and elegant with each vintage.  It will be very interesting to keep a stock of these wines to see how they will show in 5, 10, 15 and 20 years to come.  Diego said that the winery was less diligent about keeping a library of wine stock at the beginning, something that they have now remedied and hopefully this will mean that they will be able to learn more from the evolution of the wines.......



Crispy paper roll with pork belly and preserved vegetables

 The restaurant really did a great job with the food and service for the entire evening.  I highly recommend the crispy paper roll with pork belly and preserved vegetables, an innovative creation of a traditional dish, and the braised rice with black truffle and roasted duck, really delicious and great for pairing with wine.

Vertical Tasting of Sena vs Bordeaux First Growths

Eduardo Chadwick presenting Seña

28 Oct 2011: I was one of the 50 or so fortunate few who were invited to this vertical tasting of Seña wines in HK.  This extremely well-marketed event also served to achieve a second purpose of comparing Seña wines with the same vintages of Bordeaux first growths.  The tasting took place at the Peninsula Hotel and everything worked like clockwork as timekeeping of this tasting was perfectly executed, bravo to the staff at Asian Palate and the Peninsula Hotel. 



A room full of anxious tasters

 We started with a presentation of Seña by Eduardo Chadwick and Jeannie Cho Lee MW.  Eduardo talked passionately and eloquently about how the joint venture with Bob Mondavi started, how both families followed the vision with fervour and conviction to create the first iconic wine for Chile, and how he remembered his late mentor and JV partner with much fondness.  The vineyards of Viña Seña are planted along the contours of a rain-sheltered hillside slope in the Aconcagua Valley. Much research worked into landscaping and ecology.  Soil is a mix of gravel and loam.  The blend is dominated by Cabernet Sauvignon, and supported by Carmenère (for its savoury and spicy complexity when full ripeness is achieved), Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot (the latter for floral and spicy nuances).  Since 2005, the vineyards has been farmed 100% biodynamically.  Eduardo believes this is the only way they could produce a great wine true to its terroir.
  All the bottles were opened at the same time, poured at the same time, ie all treated equally.  All the wines were tasted blind. So it was with much anticipation, that all of us eagerly waited for the verdict to be declared by Jeannie!  The top 5 places went to: 2008 Seña, 2001 Seña, 1995 Seña, 2007 Seña and 1997 Seña.  The laggers were all Bordeaux first growths.

The overall high ratings (a number of scores above 95) given by the HK group from this vertical tasting of Seña across the vintages of 1995, 1997, 2001, 2005, 2007 and 2008 were testament to the fruit of the years of hardwork, driven by passion and conviction, and enhanced by deep knowledge of the terroir and skilful winemaking of two families (now only one).  

To prove that Seña wines were not only impressive on their own, they could even stand shoulder to shoulder (or tower over, in some of these cases) the best of Bordeaux, the 1995 vintage was compared with the 1995 Mouton Rothschild (RP 95), the 2001 vintage with 2001 Margaux (RP 93), 2005 with 2005 Latour (RP 96) and 2007 with 2007 Lafite (RP 94).  While 2007 might not have been one of the best vintages for Bordeaux, the other vintages, especially 2005, have all been labelled with descriptors such as power, concentration, intensity, seductive, charming, elegant, etc.  The 2005 Latour should be a worthy match, with its high Parker rating of 96, but the wine had clearly gone ino its shell....aromatics still prominent, but the palate was a little disappointing.  The signs of power, intensity and concentration were absent.  Aromatically, the 2001 Margaux and the 2007 Lafite were very attractive, very Bordeaux, but on the palate, both did not quite measure up to the intensity, concentration and length of the Seña wines.  Experience would say that these wines, though currently in their subdued state, all probably would need another 10 - 15 years, or longer, to realise the best part of their potential (or to live up to their ratings).

Seña 2008

My top 2 scores went to the 1995 and 1997 vintages of Seña (and my third went to the 2008 vintage).  While the Chilean wines demonstrated a lot of power, concentration and intensity in youth,  all the time underlined with elegance, I was much more impressed by the complexity of cedar, savoury, tobacco and sweet mocha notes, for the two older vintages with around 15 years of bottle age.  I felt that they were drinking near peak, but nowhere near the end of their drinking window, with at least another 6 - 8+ years to go!  If there were one thing I took home with me, it was the knowledge that the best Chilean wines were capable of ageing (perhaps not quite like the best of Bordeaux, but a horizon of 20+ years would not be unreasonable).  Another thought might be that top Chilean wines would make very worthy components of a wine collection, as they can fill the drinking gaps, while waiting for the Bordeaux wines to emerge from the typical difficult and reticent stage.



Jeannie Cho Lee MW announcig the tasting results

 No question a very powerful marketing ploy to compare the wines with the best of Bordeaux!  The impact of the results was immediate!  We were all surprised by our ratings!  I can't help thinking that it might be more fair and interesting to compare the Seña wines with the best of Bordeaux-blends outside of the Bordeaux region (such as Argentina, Chile, California, Tuscan Bordeaux-Blend, etc), that would have similar development/ageing profiles......  

Definitely, a very educational experience and I am really glad that I had the opportunity to be a part of this!