Winemaker Notes
This wine will likely surprise you as it did Garage Wine Co. when they first made it. It's surprisingly floral and aromatic, fresh and clean, with a vibrant palate, focused and delicious.
Blend: 86% Pais, 14% Cariñena
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Fresh and nicely neutral nose with fleshy peaches, sake and crushed stone. Bone dry and juicy on the palate, with a creamy medium body and a pithy finish. Subtle phenolics.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2023 País-Cariñena Phoenix Ferment is a beautiful and unique expression of blanc de noirs, derived from bush-trained vines that range in age from 35 to 150 years, fermented and aged entirely in stainless steel. It opens with a pure, soft and floral bouquet, presenting a gently creamy, clean and pure palate, which transitions to a delicate, transparent finish.
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Vinous
The 2023 País - Cariñena Blanco Phoenix Ferment from Maule offers aromas of apples, wild herbs and green olives with an herbal undertone. This is creamy and fresh, with moderate tension and mid-palate weight. Lees aging added a creamy texture to this distinctive white.
With hundreds of white grape varieties to choose from, winemakers have the freedom to create a virtually endless assortment of blended white wines. In many European regions, strict laws are in place determining the set of varieties that may be used in white wine blends, but in the New World, experimentation is permitted and encouraged. Blending can be utilized to enhance balance or create complexity, lending different layers of flavors and aromas. For example, a variety that creates a soft and full-bodied white wine blend, like Chardonnay, would do well combined with one that is more fragrant and naturally high in acidity. Sometimes small amounts of a particular variety are added to boost color or aromatics. Blending can take place before or after fermentation, with the latter, more popular option giving more control to the winemaker over the final qualities of the wine.
Maule is the Central Valley’s most southern and coolest zone, reaching a southern latitude of 35°S, yet it is still warmer and drier than Bío-Bío to its south. The Maule Valley enjoys success with a unique set of grapes.
It lays claim to the local variety, Pais (synonymous with Tinta Pais, which is actually Tempranillo), which has dominated much of the region’s area under vine until the recent past. Now many growers, not confined by the tradition and regulations of the Old World, also successfully grow Cabernet Sauvignon.
While Maule’s total area under vine remains relatively static, its old Carignan vineyards are undergoing a great revival. The VIGNO (Vignadores del Carignan Vintners) group, an association in charge of promoting this long-forgotten variety, is getting fantastic results from the old vines in its dry-farmed coastal zones.
The Maule includes the subregions of Talca, San Clemente, San Javier, Parral, Linares and Cauquenes.