Maipo Valley Wine Guide: Grapes, Appellations & Producers

Alto Maipo

Andean foothill Cabernet

Soil: Rocky, alluvial, well-drained soils at altitude against the Andes.
Style: Chile's most structured, age-worthy, minty Cabernet Sauvignon.
Top sites: High sub-areas Puente Alto & Pirque — home to Chile's icon wines.
Vintages: 2014, 2015, 2018, 2019, 2021
Producers

Tip · Cool Andean air at altitude gives Alto Maipo Cabernet its signature fresh, minty-herbal lift over ripe cassis — Chile's answer to a Médoc first growth.

Value pick

Concha y Toro 'Marques de Casa Concha' Cabernet · ~$25

A consistently brilliant Puente Alto Cabernet — icon-vineyard pedigree at a fraction of the icon price.

Collector pick

Viñedo Chadwick · ~$300 · 2014

Eduardo Chadwick's Puente Alto Cabernet that famously beat Lafite and Latour in the 2004 'Berlin Tasting' — Chile's blue-chip collectible.

Central Maipo

The warm classic heart

Soil: Warmer, deeper valley-floor soils around the Maipo river.
Style: Generous, ripe, classic Chilean Cabernet and Carménère blends.
Top sites: The historic heart of Chilean wine, around Santiago.
Vintages: 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021
Producers: Santa RitaCousiño MaculCarmen

Tip · The cradle of Chilean fine wine — many of the oldest estates ring Santiago here, making ripe, approachable, value-driven reds.

Value pick

Santa Rita 'Medalla Real' Cabernet · ~$18

A polished, cedary, reliably classy Maipo Cabernet — one of Chile's great everyday-to-cellar values.

Collector pick

Almaviva (Puente Alto) · ~$160 · 2019

The Concha y Toro–Mouton Rothschild joint venture — a benchmark Chilean first-growth-style Cabernet blend that ages for decades.