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TASTING ROUND OF CHILE IN 6 RED WINES (3)
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FROM MAULE WITH LOVE…
The whole Maule Valley is a Walhalla for wine lovers going much further than what you can find in wine books. You have to go there, to see, to smell, to taste, to talk to people to really understand what is going there. Around historical wine centers like Talca and Cauquenes, you will find many incredible and quite unknown ‘new’ sub-regions like Botalcura, the Loncomilla Valley (San Javier, Villa Alegre), the Ribera Del Lago above Colbún, the Retiro / Perquilaquén Valley, the Tutuvén Valley and many more. A lot has changed there since 2006 and will continue to change in a very good way in the next decades!
La Higuera vineyards (O.Fournier) on the banks the Loncomilla river
Old stories of ‘lesser’ grape varieties are mostly referring to the fact that some grape varieties were not producing the gigantic high yields that the big companies wanted to see. But saying that the ‘país’ grape is a lesser, uninteresting variety is not fully right. Who doesn’t believe that the ‘país’ grape can produce great wines (90+ p.p.) should go and visit the boutique winery of Louis-Antoine Luyt, CLOS OUVERT, and even more important, taste the wines from 180-300 years old ‘país’ vines from ‘secano’ (dry farming land)… ‘EL PAÍS DE QUENEHUAO’, near Cauquenes. Highly recommended.
Another ‘forgotten grape’ (because of the low yields, not because of the quality) was the carignan from dry farming (no irrigation). After an earlier earthquake in 1939, local winegrowers planted some carignan vine stocks, a well-known Spanish variety (cariñena) also used in France (carignan) and Italy (carignano). Like in France, carignan was planted because it could bring very high yields, even in hot and dry regions like in the Maule Valley ‘secano’. The yields could reach easily 125 to even 200 hl/ha like in the Languedoc Valley in the 50-70’s… When reaching such yields, the wine made of it is not really pleasant, harsh, acidic and very rustic. It was mostly used in blends for more color and backbone. However, carignan can produce great wines as well, provided that the vines are old enough (>40-60 y.o.), well-drained, well-managed and the yields kept low. A typical example of a great carignan in France: John Bojanowski’s CLOS DU GRAVILLAS : powerful but elegant, juicy and tasty carignan from old, forgotten vineyards.
From the Maule Valley, carignan from ‘secano’ (dry farming) became a ‘hot item’, thanks to some crazy wine lovers like my colleague Eduardo Brethauer and two ‘viñateros independientes’ from the MOVI group: Andrés Sánchez (Gillmore) and Derek Mossman (Garage Wine). A group of independent Chilean winemakers are now promoting their ‘secano’ (dry farming) carignan wine from Maule under one trademark, VIGNO© (see an earlier publication on my blog).
The next wine is not produced by a company belonging to the VIGNO© group, but is also a very nice wine from Maule’s secano carignan… Last year I tasted the 2008 and wanted to confirm my positive impressions with this 2009.
VIÑA SANTA CAROLINA ‘SPECIALTIES’ DRY FARMING CARIGNAN 2009, VALLE DE CAUQUENES: Intense and deep colour, very enticing nose with loads of ripe fruit, a hint of liquorice and chocolate, aromatic herbs, smoky tones and well integrated oak. On the palate, nice concentration, powerful but lovely fresh, juicy and fruity, with soft and round tannins and a long, slightly mineral finish… This wine needs to be served cooler to preserve the natural freshness and reduce the feeling alcohol (14.5% by vol.). If you serve it too warm (>16°C), the nice ‘toque’ (touch) of chocolate might get too dominant and transform the wine in a choco-berry winey soup… Don’t! Matching: grilled or barbecued South-American red meat, tasty beef stew or casseroles with rosemary, thyme and fresh garlic, braised or roasted tasty white meat with herbs and garlic… *** Good wine with character and complexity, good value for money (€ 15 Retail NL)
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