Apr 07 2009
Going far South as possible (or almost) in the wine region Chile
Technically the most southern wine region in Chile is the Malleco Valley, however there is very little wine to be find in this area.
According to the official ORIGO map there is a vineyard called Sol de Sol and I have yet to see bottled wine from the area. Crossing over from the La Araucania Region to the Bio Bio Valley and further to the North the Itata Valley (be named after the two rivers) around the 37º-38° latitude south more and more wine is made (and bottled too). The annual rainfall is around 700-1000mm, rain is here more frequent then in other region and might cause some headache for the producers and not only this but also the frost threat is the highest in all Chile. As some one put it its a “daredevil wine growing”.
The Bio Bio valley can be divided into the areas of Yumbel and Mulchen. They’re quite a few wineries who source their fruit from the Bio-Bio yet only a handful make wine within the region. Los Angeles is the major city within the region.
Seems so that white varieties do better (Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay but also Riesling and Gewurztraminer) Cono Sur has a nice Riesling, said that Pinot Noir also appreciates the area of Bio Bio as well. It is certainly an exciting area having it so far south, receiving cooler temperatures unique wines can be made in the region yet the harvest date has to be carefully chosen the ripening phase of the grapes tends to be slow due to the lower temperatures available here. The threat of fungal disease however is lower mainly due to the humidity and cooling air which provides good ventilation.
Turning my attention back to the Itata Valley which I actually visited, the capital Chillan can be reached by train from Santiago.
Riding a train is getting more and more difficult in Chile (but also in the rest of South America). There use to be a train all the way down to Puerto Montt but, not anymore, despite that the track exists, trains terminate at Chillan.
The area under vine is around 10.000 ha and the major varieties are Muscat of Alexandria and Pais, followed by distance third Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Cinsault, Carignan, Semillion, Sauvignon Blanc. The whites outweighs the reds by not much, however. I had a hard time to find bottled “vino” from Itata, it seemed so that it does not even exists. Looking back to the varietal selection its almost understandable, that there is a lot of wine around which fells under the category of “not pleasant” or as the locals call it, pipeño.
I had some luck I would say as I stayed in the Manutara Guest House which is run by Samuel and his family, a more then friendly and helpful person, who appreciates good wine as well, and he would love to own some day a little vineyard and make his own wine. Noble, noble and the best thing is he knows a few people who make good wine in the area already, so he introduced me to the Vina Chillan (Viña Chillán) -formerly Tierra y Fuego- winery just off the town Bulnes. I headed down with the bus from the local bus station to Bulnes and just when you enter the down you could already get off the bus and either take a cab or walk under the highway bridge to the east and after 7km (or more) you reach the winery. I would recommend the taxi over the walking, as I did both.
Its a Swiss runed business and Rudolf Ruesch one of the owners was my host for the afternoon. The winery used to be called Tierra Y Fuego but because there is another winery in Chile which has a similar name they had to think of a new one. Somehow weird as it describes two elements and not a location. Lets hope the Chilean authorities don’t change their minds and reject the Vina Chillan name, as Chillan is actually a name of a town. The new name exits since 1st September 2007 and the place was bought in 1998. Seven hectares were planted back then with Carmenera, Shiraz, Merlot, Cabenet Sauvignon and Pinot Noir. Further 8,5ha came to it in 2001 varieties like Malbec, Zinfandel and two years later 1 ha of Sauvignon Blanc. They also have one of the oldest varieties in the zone, brought in by the Spaniard, Pais.
The winery has a restaurant and a few meters from the winery a guest house, small hotel with swimming pool and a very warm atmosphere. We continued our walk with Rudolf in the vineyard by having a look how is Chile´s flagship grapes, the Carmenera. It was not so long ago when they thought its all Merlot and after deeper analysis they found out it´s a long forgotten grape variety, Carmenera which does bear similarities with Merlot but the ripening period is for instance different. Rudolf was explaining to me how important actually the pips are, by looking at and their colour you can determine berry ripeness. Green is no good, what we´re looking for is something more brown. Ripeness is the most (late ripening variety – later then Merlot) important factor as Carmenere can be all nasty and green when unripe.
The winery removes a huge number of leafs specially around the clusters, to speed the ripening process up and after the rain the sun dries the bunches quicker as Rudolf was explaining this to me. Then since January 2008 they do organic viticulture. Cooper is not used since 5 years just sulphur against powdery mildew, irrigation is practiced. Wind is sometimes quite strong and I asked him weather this causes any problems. Not really, just with the spraying you might share a bit of sulphur with the grapes said Rudolf with a smile.
The soil is a heavy clay, loam base, irrigation happens mainly with drip irrigation where 2-3 l/ minute can be given to the vines. Interesting and new story was for me how to decided whether irrigation is necessary or not. Good water stress is important but we don’t want to over stress the plant. So what Rufold was telling me they were putting a leaf into a plastic bag on the vine for 30 minutes so we leave the climate factor to zero, the leaf is cut down then and put into a special machine which presses the leaf until liquid is coming out. The question here is how much pressure (in bar/manometer) did we have to apply before sap comes out. For instance 10-12 bar we could start irrigation, years of practice is needed to determine how to irrigate. Also depending on the soil weather is heavy or light. As the light soil might need every day a bit of water for a short period of time while on the other side the heavy soil maybe every 14 days but for a longer time frame.
Despite that there is no phyloxera in Chile and border control is very careful on checking your bag, to prevent disease to be brought into the country, Rudolf was telling me this in German (I have to look up the English word for it) they have some problems with some sort of butterfly which puts its eggs on the leafs, he called it Traubenwinkler in German.
On average 5-6000 kg/ha makes around 40 hl/ha, which is a low yield and can be done only done by applying green harvest. The most rain falls in the winter period.
The harvest takes place in the morning hours and finishes before noon, cool temperatures are needed as despite being in the south it´s still quite warm even in autumn. Oechsle level for white (Sauvignon Blanc) is around 93-94º while for the red varieties is around 101-110º Oe. The difference between the day and night temperature which determines a lot when it comes to quality is very important in all parts in Chile but specially in the South. Warm days vs. cool nights.
All varieties get destalked the pressing in the pneumatic press is around 1,8 bar. Cold maceration happens for 12-14 days at 12-14 ºC after this fermentation starts with injected yeast culture, it´s safer as Rudolf put it. Stainless steel is used later some wines receive a longer or shorter time (6-12 months in general) in oak. Carmenere for examples goes into American wood as it softens the tannins better. Barrels are not more then medium toasted.
We just started to taste some wines (tasting notes follow later) when a friend from a fellow winery walked in, Ariel Muñoz sommelier of Casa Nueva. He told me how important actually Itata Valley is in the history of whole Chile when it comes to wine culture. Then it was here at the port of Concepcion where the first vines arrived by the Spaniards. Sure Pais but also later Shiraz for instance, lots of old plantings can be found in the area. It was the mess wine and later wine was send from here to the North, the first and most historic wine region of Chile-Itata Valley.
Vina Chillan or formerly Tierra y Fuego located just outside of Bulnes (towards Tres Esquinas) with its guest house and restaurant offers a great place for people who seeking tranquility good food and unique wines.
Viña Chillán
formely Tierra y Fuego
Yungay 7km
I got interested in what Ariel said so I decided to pay him and the winery a visit the next day. Again off to Bulnes, this time I took straight away a cab to the west as 10 km walk or even more would had been no fun this time. Casa Nueva Viña is towards Quillón on a dusty road with a lot of loose stones.
Andres was my host for the day and showed me around the winery as they just finished harvesting at 2pm, the Chardonnay and the harvesters took off in a truck. The winery was established in 1998, grape varities like Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Carmenere, Pinot Noir, Malbec, Petit Verdot, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc.
For some reason I tend to think that white grapes do better in this region, but here and also at Vina Chillan the focus is on red wine. Andres told me that the main reason might lay in the consumption pattern as demand for white wine is lower in Chile.
The winery does also pergola training but this is rather for table grape quality as the yields are far too high and the clusters are huge.
Picking usually takes place for white grapes when brix is around 23º while for the reds should be slightly above. Phenolic ripeness is very important and while the all the grape varieties are mostly planted in one big plot yet the factor whether they facing south or east is important as it determines humidity, sun exposition, additional slight elevation 5-10 m also play a role. No irrigation is needed which sounds almost unbelievable. The soil has some volcanic sediments but is here also mainly loam and clay. The difference between day and night temperature is one of the most important quality factors here as well. During the day 25-30 ºC while the night cools down to 5-10 ºC.
Cool temperatures are also needed during premaceration which takes place from 8º C to 12 ºC. Majority of the oak is French (70%) the rest American, usually medium toasted and from a few months up to 2-3 years can the wine spend in wood, usually a mixture between old and new barrels. Cooperage is in Santiago and as barrels are not cheap in Chile either -America oak around 500,000 CLP (Chilean pesos) French oak even more 700,000 CLP- winery also uses occasionally chips.
Very friendly atmosphere in and around the winery which welcomes visitors, a small art gallery inside the main building adds even more to the spirit of the winery. And as the founder of the winery was an artist this explains the fine tuning.
We tasted a few barrel samples which were due to be bottled in a few weeks time and I had my treat of a white wine (tasting notes follow later)
Viña Casa Nueva
Fundo Larqui Poniente s/n
Bulnes, Chile
Overall very promising two wineries with different style but aim to make quality and show what is possible in the far south, in the Itata Valley. I was more then happy that I made it to here and tasted some unique wines, truly unique wines.