During the February harvest season in Chile’s Leyda Valley, a cool-climate winegrowing region located alongside the country’s central coastline, I visited the winery that gave its name to the region.

Viña Leyda was founded in 1998 and has since been focused on developing vineyards in key areas, covering the hillsides that dramatically slope down toward the Maipo river and the sparkling Pacific Ocean in the distance, for grape varieties like pinot noir and sauvignon blanc.

Pinot noir is a notoriously hard grape to grow, and winemaker Viviana Naverrete has not made it easier on her team, choosing this breezy, hilly location to grow and hand pick her grapes each season. But the grapes on these hills benefit from a variety of exposures, pure alluvial soil, and high density planting, all of which result in more concentrated flavors and aromas. Alongside the sharp minerality and rich, ripe fruit these growing conditions produce, her wines have a delicacy that hint at a long ripening season, each cluster hanging alone on the shoot, picked after being left to slowly ripen on the vine in the cool Pacific breeze.

Viña Leyda produces several tiers of wine, but the quality of Naverrete’s wines is apparent even in her entry-level “Classic” line; this range of wines selects grapes from individual vineyards that produce bright, fresh, fruity wines. Of the wines I tasted, the 2011 Pinot Noir was the one that stood out the most. At $14, it’s an elegant, garnet-colored wine, with dark cassis and blackberry notes, followed by a smoky note that is almost like the lingering scent of a snuffed-out candle. Full on the palate, the 2011 has a hint of spice, oak, and sour blackberry, with balanced tannins and good acidity making it a fully developed wine, even at this young age. It is quite simply one of the most exquisite yet affordable examples of the grape I’ve ever tasted.

Imported by Winebow.