Viña Falernia was founded in 1998 by Aldo Olivier Gramola. This is an innovative venture given that Viña Falernia is Chile’s most northerly wine estate, a considerable distance from the country’s main wine-growing areas. With the majestic Andes as a backdrop, their peaks gleaming white all through the summer, the vineyards benefit from currents of cold air which descend from the high mountains at night.

After letting breath, first taste was a rush of various intensities; an initial bitterness on the tongue, a warm, rich chocolate around the mouth, a bitter-sweetness down the middle, and a smoky melting richness in the aftertaste. This is definitely a wine to savour as it delivers a very distinctive delivered range of tastes which melt pleasantly into each other.

Not too sweet, not too bitter, not too rich, not too dry. But it has all of these things, including a little smokiness which I love. It’s a great, rich taste.