Concha sets Don Melchor apart with new winery

Chilean wine label Don Melchor is finally being given its own standalone winery Concha y Toro has announced, as the company seeks to reposition its original ‘icon’ as a fine wine in its own right.

The brand will still be owned by Concha y Toro but now exists as its own complete entity for the first time.

Created in 1987 by the Guilisasti family of Concha y Toro, Don Melchor was one of Chile’s first ‘icon’ wines, a near 100% Cabernet Sauvignon blend (there is often a small amount of Cabernet Franc) from Puente Alto in the upper Maipo Valley.

Although Don Melchor has its own vineyards and viticultural team behind it, the wine has, until now, been produced at a Concha y Toro winery.

By giving the label its own winery however Concha y Toro is clearly moving to set Don Melchor apart from the rest of its range and presenting it as a fine wine to rank alongside other Chilean labels such as Seña and Alamviva – which Concha y Toro is also a part owner of.

Enrique Tirado (pictured), Don Melchor’s winemaker for the last 20 years and now general manager of Viña Don Melchor, said: “Our decision to launch as an independent winery was the logical next step in the growth of Don Melchor, which has operated autonomously from Concha y Toro in terms of vinicultural and winery management for the last 10 years.

“We want to refine the way that Don Melchor is distributed with a more independent focus on the markets with the greatest growth potential.”

It would be no surprise if, before too long, it were announced Don Melchor is joining La Place de Bordeaux; through which other South American fine wines such as Seña, Almaviva, Catena Zapata and Cheval des Andes are now distributed.

Don Melchor has also been given a refreshed label for its newly released 30^th vintage (the 2017), featuring the Don Melchor Casona manor house.