Apaltagua Reserva Carmenere is an intense wine, wild purple in color. From start to finish, the touches of tobacco, and red and black cherries intermingle, producing a great potency in the mouth. It possesses a generous body with smooth and friendly tannins. It is a well rounded wine with a juicy and lingering finish.

Hugo Donoso Silva is one of Chile's most famous wine families and has cultivated wine on his property of San Jose Apalta Valley for many years. It is wines of very high quality from the 60-year-old plants of Cabernet Sauvignon and Carmenère.

When the area was becoming famous in the late 1990s he gave his sons Hugo, José Manuel and Rodrigo the task of starting production of wine in their own name from the family vineyards of Apalta Valley. The new company was named Apaltagua to exploit the positive value of the valley's name and at the same time connect to the Chilean origin.

A production plant with a total capacity of 2.5 million liters was built in a short time before the first harvest in 2000. The premier vintage of wines in the three different quality levels was warmly welcomed, later vintages have also received good ratings.

In 2007 the family Donoso sold their life's work to a U.S. entrepreneur Edward Tutunjian. The current oenologist it's Cristobal Abarzúa and external consultant with responsibility the premium wine Grial is star enologist Alvaro Espinoza.