The Arrival of Pacifiterranean Blends
They came in rather late, but they are here to stay. Mediterranean varieties like Mourvèdre and Grenache have adapted with remarkable ease to the conditions of Chilean valleys, creating, especially in Colchagua, a new and promising generation of juicy wines that exude bold style.
Fashions are inherent to the wine world. sometimes Chile has caught the wave early on but other times it has just got in too late to be a protagonist and has had to content with following them from afar. the reinvention of Carmenère, the Sauvignon blanc fever, the emergence of cool-climate reds, the revival of Carignan and dry-farming viticulture are all viral events that have changed the map of the Chilean wine industry forever.
One might agree that fads are short-lived, but when trendy wines are backed by technical facts or they have an interesting potential still waiting to be developed or discovered, a fashion can signify the commencement of something wonderful and unsuspected.
In recent years, a new yet still shy category has begun to rise: Mediterranean blends made mostly from Grenache, Mourvèdre, Carignan and Syrah. Although these editions are limited or still in an experimental phase, the wines stand out for their personality, power and ease to express Chilean soil and mesoclimates.
These varieties so typical of Spain and the south of France have adapted extraordinarily well to the conditions of Chilean valleys, from Elqui in the north down to the remote corners of Maule in the south.
One handsome example is Errázuriz the blend 2011 from Aconcagua, a powerful yet fresh combination of Grenache, Mourvèdre, Syrah, Carignan and Marsanne. the backbone of this wine is sourced from a plantation of Grenache that started as a winemaker’s whim back in 2000 in Ocoa, a location half way between the warmer Panquehue area and Manzanar and Chilhué, both located towards the coast.
Another highlight is Santa Carolina specialties Mourvèdre 2011 from Cachapoal, a wine that reflects the typicity of its red and extroverted fruit, delivering enticing and friendly notes without over ripeness or over-extraction.
A young Tempranillo is also beginning to make noise in Botalcura, Maule Valley. Without the pretension of a wine designed for aging, Botalcura Tempranillo 2013 boasts the seducing youth and straightforwardness of its black fruit. A juicy wine that expresses its wild surroundings in a perfect combination of simplicity and beauty.
And last but not least, at the heart of the Maule dryfarmed lands we find an electrifying mixture from Reserva de Caliboro: Erasmo Barbera Garnacha 2013, a juicy wine of firm, unpretentious and interesting personality that brings together Barbera from Cauquenes, Garnacha from Empedrado and Carignan from Melozal. A true feast for lovers of light, easy-to-drink wines that nonetheless have a lot to offer.
COLCHAGUA LOOSENS UP
In a valley like Colchagua, where the line between tradition and conservatism is often blurry, changes are gradual. for decades, the valley lived almost exclusively on Cabernet sauvignon, but Carmenère has increasingly gained in prominence since the early 1990s. This daughter of luck ended up becoming the emblem of the valley, growing healthy in its deep soil and temperate weather that harnesses the spicy tones of its wines.
However, in recent years it is the entire Colchagua Valley that has shaken off monotony. Not only has it grown in size, spanning foothills and coastlines alike and producing great reds near the andes and beautiful whites in the coast of Paredones and Bucalemu; it is now open to experimentation. Its new Mediterranean blends, just like Carmenère, are the product of sheer luck. Winemakers began to vinify them without great expectations, and maybe that is exactly why today these wines appear so self-reliant.
Unlike many of the so-called post-modern wines, they were not born in a marketing studies department. instead, they are backed by a wealth of technical evidence. First they had to convince the winemaker, and then, once the results of the tests were in, commercial departments were left with no other option but to include them in their portfolios. these wines have certainly earned their stripes and the opportunity to shine and cater to the growing demand for fresher, lighter and more fun wines.
Emiliana was the first winery that dared to test a blend –with outstanding results– in its Los Robles Estate. Montes, Lapostolle, Caliterra, Bisquertt, Luis Felipe Edwards, Polkura, Ventisquero and Viu Manent soon followed suit. All these wines are pointing to a new, fresh and distinctive road with a very promising future.
UP THE HILL
A hillside of the El Olivar vineyard in Peralillo was the place chosen by Viu Manent to plant some Mourvèdre and Grenache back in 2005. Both varieties were combined with some Syrah to create ViBo Punta del Viento 2011, one of the most exciting and well-achieved wines of the last vintage.
“When i first landed in the winery I did not think much of these varieties. add that the area had been recently struck by the big earthquake of 2010. But we went ahead and vinified those lots and left them to age in some old barrels. then I traveled to the south of France in 2012, where I ended up convincing myself of their great potential. so we took the matter more seriously and began working on it. We decreased irrigation and yields to obtain greater structure. and today these wines are nothing short of delicious. they may be described as French in style but with a personality of their own,” explains Viu Manent winemaker Patricio Celedón.
The vines are planted on granite soil near the top of a hill. Mourvèdre and Syrah grow on a bedrock that underlies the vineyard between 50 cm and 1 meter
deep. But the rock is highly fragmented, so plants take advantage of the many cracks to set their roots deeper into the soil. for its part, Grenache grows further downhill on soil that is poor enough to keep its usual vigor under control.
The result is a juicy wine with a very strong palate. Grenache contributes its fresh and intense fruit; Mourvèdre adds structure and minerality; and Syrah consolidates the body and delivers its distinct meaty touch. The grapes are harvested separately, but Celedón mixes the blend before putting it in barrels of two or more uses. Grenache is very oxidizing in nature, so it must be added at the beginning to help it retain its fruit.
“i don’t know if these varieties will ever become the valley’s stars, but I know this is a wine that satisfies consumer taste. It is a technical wine but at the same time it is very easy to drink. today we see these Mediterranean wines as a niche product, but their growth is just a matter of time. to what point? that is the big question,” he adds.
THE VENTISQUERO BET
Ventisquero Grey GCM 2013, a delicious blend of Garnacha, Carignan and Mataro (Mourvèdre), is born on the chain of hills adjacent to the Neyén de Apalta vineyards. The area is a high terrace where Garnacha grows on Cabernet sauvignon rootstock. Even though their own roots had dug the soil as deep as 2 meters, Garnacha vines were very weak. But this decomposing granite soil with low clay content was just perfect to plant Garnacha.
Grapes are harvested separately and fermented in 500 and 1,000-liter bins. Garnacha delivers its sweet red fruit that reminisces of raspberries and sour cherries; Carignan contributes structure, heaps of acidity and some earthy notes that make the blend more complex and interesting; and Mataro, as the winemaker Felipe Tosso likes to call the variety, adds even more structure than Carignan, some color and a certain meaty touch, like charcuterie.
Even though his wine advisor John Duval, ex winemaker of Penfolds Grange, usually crafts potent and elegant wines, Grey GCM is a light-bodied, lively wine. Since the very early vintages it came out like that and the winemakers decided to maintain the style: a wine that spends six months in the cellar and that’s it, ready for release. Even in cooler vintages like 2013, Mr. Tosso has chosen the gentler lots of Carignan to maintain the delicate tannin component of this wine. “We are going to plant more and chances are that in the future we will make a wine for extended aging by adding Syrah to the blend,” he announces.
For Mr. Tosso, these Mediterranean wines are perhaps more difficult to sell than Cabernet Sauvignon, but it only seems to be a question of time. “The wines are simply delicious and in Colchagua they do remarkably well. We have the soil, the climate, we have everything, actually. Let us be honest, Cabernet sauvignon is not the variety of Colchagua. Not in vain does the valley produce the best Carmenères that, in my opinion, slant more towards a Mediterranean than Bordeaux style because the variety needs the heat of Colchagua to ripen at its best,” he concludes.
ANTU REMASTERIZED
Santiago Margozzini, winemaker of MontGras, was looking for Syrah. He found a very good producer in Maipo, but the package came with a surprise: a small
lot of Carignan trained in Gobelet style. In order to close the deal, Margozzini bought all the fruit, thus giving birth to a nice blend of Syrah and Carignan in the new Antu range of wines, a line that explores more distant terroirs and more daring varieties to expand the winery’s portfolio.
He actually liked the Mediterranean personality of this blend, so he began playing with other lots of Grenache, Carignan and Tempranillo that were almost forgotten in his property in Pumanque. “Initially I thought the results were not good, I had mixed feelings about them, so I kept those lots reluctantly. We harvested the grapes and left the blend to age in some old barrels. As time passed, the fruit began to explode and inspired us to create this new wine concept with more appealing blends and without spending a dime on new barrels,” he explains.
At MontGras, the idea is to increase the portfolio with something new that goes beyond what consumers have been used to, something that tickles the press interest and justifies calls like the one I made. “We are a bit conservative and kind of dislike going too far, but if we have to go to Antofagasta or even Antarctica, we certainly will go. We had no particular interest in following a trend. In fact, we had serious doubts about its sales potential. But we tried it and were simply blown away. Now we are very enthusiastic about it and feel it fits perfectly well with the style of the winery. And the best part is that it was sheer coincidence,” he admits.
NEW AIRS AT LAPOSTOLLE
At Lapostolle, there simply is no room for style faux pas. Since the beginning, this Chilean château that has consolidated the prestige of the Apalta appellation around the world has stood out for its voluptuous, gentle and round wines where a good barrel plays an important role in shrouding the sweetness of its fruit. However, the winemaker Andrea León is leading a slightly revolutionary yet thrilling project, vinifying small lots of Syrah (from the north down to the deep south); Carmenère (from the Andes to the Colchaguan coast); Carignan (from Cauquenes and Empedrado); Mourvèdre (from Apalta) and Grenache (from Elqui and Maule).
“This is Lapostolle’s B side, a kind of garage wine inside Lapostolle. I started the project in an effort to educate consumers, for they are skeptical to the notion of terroir… because in Chile we only speak of varieties. to speak about appellations was almost impossible,” she explains.
But the results have been so encouraging that these wines have been included in a new line called Collection: a new generation of wines crafted the old-fashioned way, without technological gimmicks, with little extraction and no wood to reveal a new facet of the winery and taking classic Lapostolle fans by surprise.
“The good thing about Mediterranean varieties is that they retain their high acidity in warmer places. Vintages 2011 and 2013 were cooler than average in the valley and can be compared to Bordeaux varieties. But in warmer vintages they develop a fuller personality and maintain their freshness more easily. Yes, older grapevines deliver more structure and depth. So we need more time to understand them. But despite the youth of our vineyards, the balance achieved on Colchagua hillsides is indeed interesting. Too bad they did not arrive any earlier!” she laments.
True, it is a fact that they came in rather late, but the good news is that they are here to stay.
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