Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A delicious and unworldly pais with cool, minty red berries. Peppermint, wild raspberries, cloves, dried tangerine peel and white pepper funk. Medium-bodied palate, linear in style, with lots of chalky, crumbled tannins. Elegant and intriguing finish. Drink now.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2021 Vinista was produced with País grapes from four ancient vineyards, two with volcanic soils in Ñipas and two on granite from Guarilihue. The grapes fermented slowly with their natural yeasts with 100% full clusters, and the wine matured in oak and concrete vats for 11 months. There is something in common with the Hub here; it has a more evolved color and a more evolved nose, very much à la Rayas, with iron and blood, cherries in liqueur and brick dust. This comes from a warmer place but with more soil, half of it basalt, and the granite from Ñipas is very different from the one from Guarilihue; here, there is fine quartz and lots of silt, which gives more ripeness and Italian tannins. This is outstanding. It's the finest Vinista to date.
Planted as the first vitis vinifera wine grape in the U.S., País has a long significant history in the Americas. Originally from Spain, where the grape is known as Listán Prieto, it was brought by Spanish colonists to Mexico in 1540 and, later, during the late 1700s, to Mission San Diego in California where it would take on another new name, Mission. Propagated for its use as a sacramental wine, Mission remained important in California until the spread of phylloxera in the 1880s. Somm Secret—In Chile it is called Pais. In Argentina, Pais is known as Criolla Chica.
Dramatic geographic and climatic changes from west to east make Chile an exciting frontier for wines of all styles. Chile’s entire western border is Pacific coastline, its center is composed of warm valleys and on its eastern border, are the soaring Andes Mountains.
Chile’s central valleys, sheltered by the costal ranges, and in some parts climbing the eastern slopes of the Andes, remain relatively warm and dry. The conditions are ideal for producing concentrated, full-bodied, aromatic reds rich in black and red fruits. The eponymous Aconcagua Valley—hot and dry—is home to intense red wines made from Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah and Merlot.
The Maipo, Rapel, Curicó and Maule Valleys specialize in Cabernet and Bordeaux Blends as well as Carmenère, Chile’s unofficial signature grape.
Chilly breezes from the Antarctic Humboldt Current allow the coastal regions of Casablanca Valley and San Antonio Valley to focus on the cool climate loving varieties, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc.
Chile’s Coquimbo region in the far north, containing the Elqui and Limari Valleys, historically focused solely on Pisco production. But here the minimal rainfall, intense sunlight and chilly ocean breezes allow success with Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. The up-and-coming southern regions of Bio Bio and Itata in the south make excellent Riesling, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.
Spanish settlers, Juan Jufre and Diego Garcia de Cáceres, most likely brought Vitis vinifera (Europe’s wine producing vine species) to the Central Valley of Chile sometime in the 1550s. One fun fact about Chile is that its natural geographical borders have allowed it to avoid phylloxera and as a result, vines are often planted on their own rootstock rather than grafted.