The 2021 EPU is Almaviva’s elegant second wine, crafted from younger vines in the renowned Puente Alto vineyard. A cooler vintage brings freshness and finesse to this blend of 80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Carmenère, and 5% Merlot. With silky tannins, red pepper and cassis notes, and a polished, approachable style, EPU 2021 offers a refined expression of its terroir—softer and more delicate than previous years, but still full of character.

The Wine Advocate | RP 94+
Published: Aug 31, 2023
Drink: 2023-2030

Their second wine, the 2021 Epu is from the same terroir and vineyard in Puente Alto as Almaviva but comes from the younger vines, around 12 years on average. In 2021, the blend is 80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Carmenere and 5% Merlot (no Cabernet Franc this year). It has a ripe and heady nose, with 14.68% alcohol (15% on the label), mellow acidity and intense notes of red peppers, ripe blackberries and cassis and some spiciness from the oak. It matured for one year in French barriques, only 10% new and 90% second use. It has a little less structure and softer tannins, making it more approachable than previous years, a profile that seems to be the signature of the year. It's medium to full-bodied with velvety, more polished tannins, and it is more delicate and less concentrated, with more finesse. But I find these quite homogeneous and regular, this year with no raisins or dehydrated grapes, and in this vintage, it feels open and expressive. 80,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in January 2023. 

2021 was a cooler year in Puente Alto (Maipo), with warmer temperatures during the winter, but January and February were much cooler (over one degree lower than the average), especially after a rain in late January (54 liters in one and a half days), because the whole season was warm (now averaging 150 liters of rain between May and September, mostly in June and July). It was a heterogeneous flowering, but the rain delayed the ripening; and they started the 24th of March with the first Merlots, within normal dates, and in the second week of April they had to hurry up and finished a little earlier than expected. So, it was a bumpy ride but the results are very good, and the wines are fresher and more balanced than the ones from 2020. The 2021s are more delicate wines with less concentration, more finesse, precision and elegance, with a little less body and structure than 2020, 2019 or 2017 vintage, more in line with 2018, even though 2018 had a warmer summer and more winter rain.

Jamessuckling.com | JS 94
Published: Feb 16, 2023

Fresh and subtle nose with cassis, lead pencil and some red chili peppers. A hint of lavender and cedar. This is quite supple on the palate with a medium body and silky, soft tannins. Pretty generous and flattering. 80% cabernet sauvignon, 15% carmenere and 5% merlot. Drink now. 

Almavivawinery.com

EPU, the name of Almaviva's second wine, means two in the language of the Mapuche, one of the main indigenous cultures of southern Chile. The symbol is a reference to the Tupu, an ornament which expresses fundamental aspects of the worldview of various ancient Andean civilisations. EPU comes from the same exceptional vines and terroir of Almaviva, Puento Alto, one of the coolest areas of Chile's Maipo Valley that offers the perfect conditions for growing Cabernet Sauvignon which is the heart of the blend. Modelled on the second wines of the most prestigious Bordeaux ch?teaux and produced in very limited quantities, EPU shares many characteristics of Almaviva, nonetheless, expressed through its own personality. Having forged its own personality along the years, Cabernet Sauvignon is predominant in EPU at more than 80% of the blend, while its proportion in Almaviva is closer to 70%, conferring the wine a different identity that is less creamy with more verticality than Almaviva. EPU 2019, the first international release of EPU, is the perfect introduction to the exclusive world of Almaviva.