It’s called Pisco or as they pronounced piko or something like that. Well there is a kind of unsettled dispute between Peru and Chile regarding this drink, who did it first and who’s ones is better and so on and so on…

There are differences between Pisco Peru-Pisco Chile, so in my point of view it’s more a wine brandy (as it’s aged in some kind of oak barrel any ways) which can be called Pisco as well, Pisco Chile.

The main centre for Chilean Pisco production is in the northern part, the so called Elqui Valley and parts of the Limari & Choapa Valley. The Elqui Valley is in the Coquimbo region (capital La Serena on the coast) between the Andes Mountains and the Pacific Ocean just south of the Atacama dessert. It’s a good 15-17 hours by bus from the North.

The region is famous for observatories and for watching the sky you need everything but clouds, hence rainfall is very – very low. Some sources quote 100mm, some 70mm but some even less annual rainfall. And in addition to it it’s hot, kind of dessert like condition with some air moving but no threat of frost or anything. The days are sunny and hot as mentioned, but the nights can become a bit cold, nevertheless. The cool air also comes from the “Camancha fog” which occasionally pops
up. If I just mention wine making for a moment in the valley then I should point out the Falerina Winery which does Syrah, Carmenere, Sauvignon Blanc amongst others, but I heard also Pedro Ximenez too. I was close to try some of their wines but in the wine shop of La Serena I decided to go
with Austrian Moscatel from Ovalle and the Farr Family as I never heard before of this grape variety. Vinified (2004) sweet with nice tropical and dried fruit base, some notes of caramel and oxidation yet with low acidity but correct length. From La Serena over Vicuna to Pisco Elqui on the road I seen a lot of vineyards but just one patch (and it was a small section only) had a Guyot training system, the others were all pergola. And lets face the music this system is not meant to be for quality grape production specially when you get berry sizes huge as my fist and then you try to make wine. Certainly there are places around the world which has this system occasionally in use but most agree it’s born out of a need rather then of a use.
Back to Pisco production where pergola is very common and looking at the grape varieties the most common in Chile are the Moscatel varieties, like Austria, Rosado, Alexandria and some PX as well. The Elqui Valley starts just off La Serena at 30º latitude along the Elqui river and goes east along towns like Gualliguaica (Bodega Falerina) Vicuna as a certain capital towards the south passing Pisco Elqui.

The region of Limari more renowned for wine production has its centre in the town of Ovalle. Its said that the soil is rich in Calcium and produces wines with high acidity and low pH yet red grapes still dominating in the region. Cabernet Sauvignon is by far the leading variety.

After the short detour back to our main issue, Pisco in Chile. By visiting two Pisco producers I got a clearer picture on Chilean Pisco. In Pisco Elqui, Pisco Mistral is a major player. They suppose to have a brand called Tres Estralles (three stars) but Mistral is the higher category.

The major grape varieties are Moscatel Alexandria (some others as well) and Pedro Jimenez (PX). When I asked whether they know the Quebranta grapes, the guide says, she doesn´t know it. Obviously they don’t have it. The harvest is from February to May all the grapes get destalked and after crushing the juice is macerated usually in cement vats with the skin for up to 6 hours. The fermentation takes in average 12 days on 18ºC in stainless steel tanks, yeast is added to it. Having the wine ready distillation happens in a batch process.
Pisco most have been a product out of need as transporting wine during the Spanish time was probably hard and the distilled version just seemed much better suited (conserving) over the time being.

Mistral prefers very much American oak to finish off Pisco in American wood, hence all Pisco Mistral will spend a certain amount of time in American oak barrels. While the basic brand just a few months the premium version at least one year. The 220l barrels (most of them MT+ toasted) are used for up to 5 times and the finishing Pisco will a blend between these. An other interesting story is that the harvested grapes also dried in the sun. In the past they hung those up in clusters in a room but because of space and because of the much more industrialized way they´re dried on mats in the sun. Did´t quite get the reason (sure concentration but they get already so much sun), but I seen this in practice. Mistral has a museum as well where you see the older equipment lined up and some old Pisco berried into the wall, to prevent them to be stolen (in the past), so they had to release the

Pisco with a pipe as the bottle was sealed in the wall. Don’t quite get this idea either as Pisco won’t age (as all spirits after bottling) you should just drink it sooner or later but rather sooner.

We tasted 2 Piscos (and later a Pisco sour in the garden without the foam) the basic Tres Estrellas 40% abv. version which got a touch of wood, 2 months only and remained grapy juicy with a soft bite on the finish. And the Mistral Noble 1 year in wood 47% abv. with an amber colour plenty of oak notes, cinnamon and candid sugar, toffee. Some caramel and raisin yet fresh and good finish. The Pisco sour with lemon juice and the kick of alcohol was refreshing indeed.

Just slightly outside of Vicuna there is a huge Pisco company which has adds all over the place (Chile Puro), that’s Capel. The name comes from an abbreviation and stands something for an cooperative in the Elqui Valley (it was too fast in Spanish to catch this fully). It seemed to me they make a good money out of the visitors as well, so if the Pisco production doesn’t work out in the future they can almost rely on visitors.
The harvest takes places from February to May and here as well destalking happens before fermentation. Mainly Moscatel varieties are in use. Seen a lot of cement tanks where most of the fermentation completes and beside the American oak (220 l) they have the so called ¨Chilenos¨ big barrel as well 42000 l. The finishing wine brandy can spend anything between few months to 2 years in American wood (medium toast) while in the big barrels this time can be between 2 months to 14 months. The interesting thing was that some Piscos actually receive a double distillation all the bottling happens at Capel. It’s a big complex no wonder that they do a lot beside regular Pisco (kind of cocktails). They let me taste an oxidized sweet moscatel wine, or something like that didn’t know where to put it, but I got myself a proper Pisco Capel which has yet to be tasted (notes follow later).

Overall the Elqui Valley is worth to visit, most of the vines are pergola trained and it´s yet an amazing picture while the vineyards along the river do get steep. Irrigation is all important in this dry, hot place and what better could you have then Pisco to watch the stars at night. Oh yes, probably a good bottle of wine would do even better to discover the universe…

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