T.H. Syrah (Leyda)

James Suckling, Mar/2024

2022 -

"Raspberries, cherries, pink peppercorns and oranges on the nose. It’s supple, medium-bodied and mellow with tasty berry fruit mingling with savory spice. Sleek tannins. Pure and delicious syrah. Drink now or hold."

James Suckling, Feb/2023

2021 -

"Lots of incense, black pepper and lavender to the sour black cherries. Juicy and ample on the center palate with fleshy ripe cherry fruit and plenty of silky, smooth tannins. Long, fresh and tangy. An outstanding, characterful syrah. Drink or hold."

Antonio Galloni's Vinous, Jun/2023

2021 -

"The 2021 Syrah T.H. from Leyda, San Antonio, was 30% fermented in whole bunches and spent 12 months in foudres. Dark purple in hue. The nose presents raspberry and blackberry notes with hints of sweetbriar, flesh and pepper. Faintly grippy tannins channel the easygoing flow delivering a fruity expression at the back of the mouth. A shapely red with a vibrant palate."

Decanter World Wine Awards 2023

2021 -

"Black pepper and roasted mint aromas, fresh and floral, with cedar and rose petal nuances. Showing tension and grip."

Tim Atkin MW, Chile Special Report 2022

2020 -

James Suckling, Jun/2022

2020 -

#27 of Top 100 Wines of Chile 2022. "A perfumed nose of dark cherries, blackcurrants, blueberries, dried thyme, roasted meat, black pepper and smoke. It’s medium-to full-bodied, yet so intense in flavors, with fine-grained tannins and fresh acidity. Dark and layered with a long, developing finish. Some saline character at the end. Drink or hold."

International Wine Challenge 2022

2020 -

Silver Medal

"Green edged with peppercorns, tobacco, lifted acidity, fine grippy tannins. Impressive concentration and cassis/ blackberry on the finish."

Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, Apr/2023

2020 -

"The 2020 T.H. Syrah Leyda has an intense Rhône-ish nose of black olives, bacon fat, smoke and tar, reflecting a warm and dry year even in the cooler Leyda Valley. It has 14% alcohol and very good freshness and acidity. It was interesting to compare this with the one from Maule, a warmer place in a cooler year (2021), and the wines showed their origin and vintage quite clearly. I love the pungency here, the velvety palate and the ripe and round tannins. It's a powerful Syrah for powerful food. 16,000 bottles were filled in September 2021."

Antonio Galloni's Vinous, Jun/2022

2020 -

"The 2020 Syrah T.H. Terroir Hunter from Leyda, San Antonio, spent 14 months in 500-liter foudres, 10% with stalks. Dark, dense purple in the glass. The nose presents notes of bay leaf, balsam, tar and hints of flesh, pepper and blackberry. In the mouth, it’s compact with a flow channeled by the grippy tannins and a fruity expression at the back of the mouth. A mixture of generosity and restraint."

Tim Atkin MW, Chile Special Report 2021

2019 -

"Incredible value for money from Rafa Urrejola, this comes frmo a very densely planted vineyard close to the Pacific Ocean, which moderated the heat of the vintage in 2019. Fermented with some whole bunches, before ageing in large foudres, this is floral, spicy and layered, with notes of bay leaf, thyme and black olive and meaty, savoury intensity."

James Suckling, June/2021

2019 -

#24 on Top 100 Wines of Chile 2021. "A full-bodied red with aromas of blackcurrants, violets, green peppercorns, chili, stones and chocolate orange. Firm, chewy tannins frame concentrated layers of dark fruit and herbs. Rich, yet balanced, with a fresh finish. Extremely well done. Reminds me of a top Cote Rotie. Try from 2022."

The Drinks Business, Oct/2021

2019 -

"Today, some of Chile’s top reds are made with Syrah. And this sample from Undurraga under its reliably good and distinctive Terroir Hunter (TH) label is one such example. Intense and perfumed, it’s packed with blackcurrant and cherry fruit, a touch of cranberry, rose petals, black olive, cracked pepper and vanilla. Its texture is highly appealing too, with fresh acidity and dry tannin, but just enough to balance the dense, ripe fruit. This is a fine wine in a delicious youthful state, but it has more to give – so try cellaring some for five years. An exciting sign of Chile’s potential with Syrah."

Vinous, May/2021

2019 -

"The 2019 Syrah T.H Leyda from Leyda spent 14 months in French barrels. As oenologist Rael Urrejola said, “there aren’t many places in the world where you can ripen grapes on a low heat,” but the coast is one of them. Violet in the glass. The nose offers raspberry, blackberry, blood and bay leaf over a layer of asphalt, bacon and black pepper. Truly expressive and full of detail, this has a lovely freshness that tamps down the relaxed palate and polished tannins. Concentrated enough to really fill the mouth, it leaves juice and chalk in its wake."

Descorchados 2022

2019 -

"In cool climates such as Leyda, about 10 kilometers from the sea in the San Antonio Valley, syrah tends to have some strange aromas, including charcuterie, meaty aromas and flavors that are evident here and that go together with herbal notes and black fruits. This is a generous wine with intense flavors, a creamy texture, and those meaty notes that lend it a lot of character. Fermentation included 15% whole clusters, which has also given it enough grip for sausages."

Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, Aug/2021

2019 -

"The intensely varietal 2019 T.H. Syrah Leyda has abundant notes of black olives, smoked meat and tar, and it's nicely textured with a medium to full body and grainy tannins. It's powerful and harmonious, combining concentration and balance. Great Syrah. 16,000 bottles produced. It matured in third and fourth use oak foudres for 14 months. It was bottled in October 2020."

International Wine Challenge 2021

2019 -

"Aromatic, raspberry, cinnamon and bacon fat, densely ripe, fleshy and vibrant with subtle oak, firm tannins and a hint of reduction."

Decanter World Wine Awards 2022

2019 -

"Leafy, rich dark fruit & bacon on the nose. A meaty, full-bodied Syrah with drying tannins balanced with fresh acidity."

James Suckling, Jan/2021

2017 -

"The roses and violets to the black fruit are so exciting. Full body and very silky tannins. It's so long and intense. Laser-guided tannins and flavors. Goes on for minutes. Drink or hold."

Robert Parker's The Wine Advocate, Feb/2020

2017 -

"The 2017 T.H. Syrah Leyda comes from a warmer, dry and earlier harvest that delivered a smaller crop. The vines were planted at high density (10,000 plants per hectare) in 2006 in the south of San Antonio Valley some 14 kilometers away from the sea, and the particularity is that the vines are not irrigated. They fermemted with 10% full clusters and indigenous yeasts and the wine matured mostly in used French oak foudres, with 25% in second use 400- and 500-liter barrels, for 14 months. It has a pungent nose with strong aromas of black olives and smoky bacon and a balsamic personality, keeping its poise through an early harvest to keep the freshness. It has a Northern Rhone-ish style and a medium-bodied palate with some grainy tannins (perhaps the 10% portion of full clusters in the fermentation?), keeping the tension and freshness, and a dry, serious finish. 12,500 bottles produced. It was bottled March 2019." 

Tim Atkin MW, Chile Special Report 2019

2015 -

"Dry farmed and densely planted, this amazing granite-based vineyard produces one of the New World's best Syrahs. Meaty, spicy and concentrated with layers of blueberry, black olive, incense and grilled meat, the resulting red displays incredible concentration and palate length." 

Robert Parker's The Wine Advocate, Oct/2018

2015 -

"The 2015 T.H. Syrah Leyda was produced with grapes from a more or less normal vintage for the zone, with a cool winter and an average summer and harvest, with absence of rain. It comes from 3.11 hectares of vines on granite soils in the San Antonio Valley, 14 kilometers away from the Pacific Ocean, which provides a sea breeze that translates into a slow ripening of the grapes and moderate alcohol in the wines. The unique feature of this plot is that it's dry-farmed and planted with 10,000 vines per hectare. This fermented with some 8% full clusters and matured in 400- and 500-liter French oak barrels (10% new) for 14 months. This is the coolest of the three Syrahs, from a vineyard that is very exposed to the effect of the sea; the result is a pungent nose of a varietal wine that comes from low-yielding vines planted at high density and never irrigated after the second year after planting it. This has tons of tapenade and decayed violets notes, a touch of tar, good structure on the palate and a vertical sensation-a fresh and quite characteristic wine from Leyda. This is a phenomenal cool-climate Syrah. 8,800 bottles were filled in November 2016."

Wine & Spirits Magazine, June/2014

2011 -

"A delicious cool-climate syrah, this is soft and tender, detailed with scents of spice and meat while its generously ripe red fruit flavors cascade over the palate. It's easy to drink as a young wine, but it has the potential complexity of flavors to improve with five years in the bottle. T.H. is Rafael Urrejola's project, searching out vineyards with distinct terroir expressions througout Chile."