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Seña 2012
RedChile2012
By Daniel Min · Tasted 2020-02-22 · Published 2026-09-23 · Updated 2026-09-23
At a glance
In one line
4.5/5 — the same as Vivino's 4.5 average · world avg price US$122 · Chile's first "icon wine," a 1995 joint venture between Eduardo Chadwick and Robert Mondavi.
One critic score is listed on Vivino: 92 (Jun 2014, publication not named). Separately, wine.com's product page for the 2012 vintage lists James Suckling 98, Wine Spectator 93 and Wine Advocate 92 (checked Sept 2026).
Market note: The 2012 vintage is largely sold out through overseas retail (out of stock on wine.com as of Sept 2026). Retail pricing could not be confirmed.
Father's note — Daniel Min
Original author of the notes“It's very elegant that feel walking red carpet. Gorgeous aroma made my day. The taste changed my Burgundy taste back to Bordeaux. 너무 매혹적인 진한 향기가 너무 좋아요. 행복합니다. 잔향이 아직도 느껴집니다.”
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“oak tobacco cassis black fruit cherry raspberry violet cigar lavender pepper It's very elegant that feel walking red carpet. Gorgeous aroma made my day. The taste changed my Burgundy taste back to Bordeaux. 너무 매혹적인 진한 향기가 너무좋아요🍷행복합니다~~^^ 잔향이 아직도 느껴집니다.”
What I learned today: a good scent stays on the table after the glasses are gone.
Today at Bar Suda I was poured Seña 2012. One swirl, and a dark garnet settled heavily in the glass. One breath, and a whole evening came back: late February when I was twenty-one, winter nearly over, the kitchen table. Oak and tobacco, cassis, cherry and raspberry, violet and lavender above them, and a single grain of pepper at the end. Every aroma is clear; what I don't know is which bottle Father poured that night with the label covered. What I remember is that he didn't finish it but pushed the cork back in, and that the scent stayed over the table long after the glasses were cleared.
Master Seo told me what the aromas say: oak, tobacco and chocolate are what people who drink this bottle name most (1,694 times), followed by the black fruit of blackberry, blackcurrant and cassis (1,531). Then the story. In 1995 Chile's Eduardo Chadwick proposed a joint venture to Napa Valley's Robert Mondavi, and this wine was the result. Seña is Spanish for 'sign' or 'signal'. In January 2004 in Berlin, at a blind tasting Chadwick organised himself, glasses went round with the labels hidden, and his family's Viñedo Chadwick 2000 took first and Seña 2001 second, ahead of Bordeaux first growths like Château Lafite Rothschild, Château Margaux and Château Latour.
Father wrote: "Gorgeous aroma made my day." I stopped for a moment over 'day'. In Korean, that's haru. Probably he smiled a little as he wrote that line.
What I learned today: a good scent stays on the table after the glasses are gone.
What this wine is
In 1995, Eduardo Chadwick of Viña Errázuriz — already one of Chile's most prestigious wineries — proposed a joint venture to Robert Mondavi of Napa Valley. The idea was to repeat in Chile what Opus One (Mondavi × Mouton Rothschild) had already proven in Napa: a co-owned "icon wine." The two chose a site in Panquehue, in the Aconcagua Valley between the Andes and the Pacific, and released the first vintage in 1995 under the name Seña — Spanish for "sign" or "mark." The Mondavi family sold its stake in 2002, and from 2005 the Chadwick family has owned Seña outright, converting the entire vineyard to biodynamic farming from that point on.
The event that fixed Seña's name in the world's memory was the Berlin Tasting of January 2004. Chadwick organized the blind tasting himself, explicitly as a rerun of the 1976 Judgment of Paris — sixteen Cabernet-based blends from France, Italy and Chile, judged by a panel including Steven Spurrier. The result stunned Europe again: Chadwick's own Viñedo Chadwick 2000 placed first, and Seña 2001 placed second, both ahead of Bordeaux first growths Château Lafite Rothschild, Château Margaux and Château Latour. Chadwick later described the tasting, in his own words, as a gamble born of "desperation" — he judged that unless the world's perception of Chilean wine as cheap could be broken, the brand itself would never survive. Interestingly, that same Seña 2001 vintage that placed second in Berlin also shows up strongly on Vivino: 266 ratings averaging 4.6 — higher than the wine's overall average of 4.5.
The 2012 vintage is Cabernet Sauvignon 52%, Carmenère 23%, Merlot 12%, Malbec 7% and Petit Verdot 6%, aged 22 months in French oak (70% new). One Vivino reviewer logged this exact blend ratio and aging regime in their own note — a sign of how closely enthusiasts track vintage-to-vintage differences in this wine.
What the world says
This 2012 vintage has 1,412 Vivino ratings averaging 4.5 — exactly matching the wine's overall average across 26,196 ratings. One listed critic score, 92 (Jun 2014, publication not named); separately, wine.com's own page for this vintage lists James Suckling 98, Wine Spectator 93 and Wine Advocate 92 (checked Sept 2026).
The flavor keywords lead decisively with the oak group — oak, tobacco, chocolate, vanilla, cedar — at 1,694 mentions, followed by black fruit: blackberry, blackcurrant, cassis (1,531). Structure: intensity 4.5/5, tannin 3.5, acidity 3.1 — full-bodied but not especially acid-driven.
"52/23/12/7/6%, Cabernet Sauvignon/Carmenère/Merlot/Malbec/Petit Verdot. 22 months in 70% new French oak. Deep ruby with purple hues, smoky blackberries, cassis, blueberry pie, sandalwood." — Vivino review, Apr 2018, 4.5 stars
"Always a top wine. Compared side by side with the 2012, 2014 and 2016 — it looks lighter at first, but holds its own once you line them up." — Vivino review, Sep 2018, 4.5 stars
Drinking window: 2017–2027. I drank mine in February 2020, roughly at the midpoint of that window.
How I drank it
22 February 2020, 4.5 stars. "Oak, tobacco, cassis, black fruit, cherry, raspberry, violet, cigar, lavender, pepper... It's very elegant, that feeling of walking a red carpet. Gorgeous aroma made my day. The taste changed my Burgundy taste back to Bordeaux. So captivating, such a deep fragrance, I'm so happy~~^^ The finish is still with me." Even among this magazine's notes, this one runs unusually sentimental — phrases like "walking a red carpet" and "made my day" go beyond a simple list of aromas.
Four days later, on 26 February, when I opened a Braida Moscato d'Asti, this same Seña shows up again in that note: "drinking the Seña I opened last time, together with my wife." So this bottle wasn't finished in one sitting — it carried over several days, shared with my wife. The line about the wine "changing my Burgundy taste back to Bordeaux" also stands out — my log around this period shows a run of Burgundy Pinot Noirs, and this one bottle of Seña was apparently enough to tip the scale back toward Bordeaux blends.
I gave it 4.5, matching the community average exactly. It's worth comparing to Almaviva 2016, another Chilean icon wine on this site that also scored 4.5 from me — Almaviva got a spare, two-word note ("Strong pepper"), while Seña earned a note that runs all the way to "I'm so happy." Same score, very different texture of experience.
Where this wine shows up
A blind tasting Eduardo Chadwick organized himself as a rerun of the 1976 Judgment of Paris. His own Viñedo Chadwick 2000 placed first and Seña 2001 placed second, ahead of Bordeaux first growths Château Lafite Rothschild, Château Margaux and Château Latour, reshaping the world's view of Chilean wine. Worth noting: the 2001 vintage was the one that made history here, not the 2012 vintage covered in this piece.
IWFS Blog — Chile beats France: The Berlin Tasting of 2004 · The Drinks Business — Chadwick: I did the Berlin tasting out of desperation
Artwork and stills are not reproduced for copyright reasons; scenes are summarised.
Vivino community data
2012 vintage rating distribution (1412 ratings, average 4.5)
| 5★ | 439 (31%) | |
| 4★ | 884 (63%) | |
| 3★ | 77 (5%) | |
| 2★ | 7 (0%) | |
| 1★ | 5 (0%) |
Most-mentioned aromas
| Family | Mentions | Top keywords |
|---|---|---|
| Oak | 1694 | oak 404 · tobacco 279 · chocolate 269 · vanilla 226 · cedar 140 |
| Black fruit | 1531 | blackberry 344 · blackcurrant 278 · cassis 193 · plum 181 · black fruit 162 |
| Earth | 674 | leather 210 · smoke 118 · earthy 91 · graphite 42 · cocoa 37 |
| Spice | 483 | pepper 138 · licorice 90 · mint 72 · cinnamon 37 · eucalyptus 36 |
| Red fruit | 392 | cherry 129 · red fruit 83 · raspberry 80 · red cherry 24 · strawberry 24 |
| Floral | 126 | violet 78 · lavender 23 · perfume 7 · rose petal 7 · dried flowers 4 |
| Vegetal | 73 | bell pepper 36 · grass 13 · green bell pepper 8 · tomato leaf 6 · tomato 4 |
Structure: Acidity 3.1/5 · Intensity 4.5/5 · Tannin 3.5/5 · Sweetness 1.9/5
Average by vintage (all vintages: 26196 ratings, average 4.5)
| Vintage | Average | Ratings |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 4.4 | 179 |
| 2022 | 4.2 | 241 |
| 2021 | 4.4 | 957 |
| 2020 | 4.3 | 1025 |
| 2019 | 4.4 | 1148 |
| 2018 | 4.5 | 1317 |
| 2017 | 4.4 | 1473 |
| 2016 | 4.4 | 1831 |
| 2015 | 4.5 | 2076 |
| 2014 | 4.4 | 1344 |
| 2013 | 4.5 | 2053 |
| 2012 | 4.5 | 1412 |
| 2011 | 4.5 | 1436 |
| 2010 | 4.5 | 1506 |
| 2009 | 4.5 | 1426 |
| 2008 | 4.5 | 627 |
| 2007 | 4.6 | 1577 |
| 2006 | 4.6 | 666 |
| 2005 | 4.6 | 477 |
| 2004 | 4.5 | 357 |
| 2003 | 4.6 | 204 |
| 2002 | 4.6 | 170 |
| 2001 | 4.6 | 266 |
| 2000 | 4.5 | 222 |
| 1999 | 4.4 | 260 |
| 1998 | 4.4 | 147 |
| 1997 | 4.5 | 257 |
| 1996 | 4.4 | 163 |
| 1995 | 4.5 | 92 |
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→Frequently asked questions
What kind of wine is Seña 2012?
A Bordeaux-style blend from Chile's Aconcagua Valley, the product of a 1995 joint venture between Eduardo Chadwick (Viña Errázuriz) and Robert Mondavi. It's Cabernet Sauvignon 52%, Carmenère 23%, Merlot 12%, Malbec 7% and Petit Verdot 6%, aged 22 months in new French oak. Vivino: 1,412 ratings averaging 4.5.
How much does it cost?
World average price: pending Wine-Searcher confirmation (US$122 per 750ml ex-tax (Wine-Searcher, Sept 2026)). The 2012 vintage is largely sold out through overseas retail (out of stock on wine.com, checked Sept 2026).
What food pairs well with it?
Vivino users suggest beef, veal, poultry and pasta. With intensity at 4.5/5, it pairs especially well with grilled red meat.
What exactly was the Berlin Tasting?
A blind tasting organized by Eduardo Chadwick himself in January 2004, deliberately echoing the 1976 Judgment of Paris. Chadwick's own Viñedo Chadwick 2000 placed first and Seña 2001 placed second, ahead of Bordeaux first growths Château Lafite Rothschild, Château Margaux and Château Latour. Worth noting: it was the 2001 and 2000 vintages that made history there, not the 2012 vintage covered in this piece.
Links & sources
View on Vivino · Prices on Wine-Searcher
- Vivino — wine page and community data
- Wikipedia — Viña Seña
- IWFS Blog — Chile beats France: The Berlin Tasting of 2004
- The Drinks Business — Chadwick: I did the Berlin tasting out of desperation
- wine.com — Seña 2012 product page (critic scores)
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