| Producer | Viñedos de Alcohuaz |
| Country | Chile |
| Region | Valle Central |
| Subregion | Elqui Valley |
| Varietal | Cariñena (Carignan) |
| Vintage | 2016 |
| Sku | 210000016508 |
| Size | 750ml |
Marcelo, or Reta as he prefers to be called, is one of Chile’s most esteemed
winemakers and a leader in a burgeoning back-to-the-soil movement sweeping
through the country. When he joined Viñedos de Alchohuaz, he was the iconic
winemaker of DeMartino where he was already a proponent of site expression,
heritage vines, non-interventionist winemaking, and a champion for wines made
outside of Chile’s Central Valley. Given the opportunity to not only work with
vineyards organically farmed from the start, he could also implement a series
of practices (or, more precisely, non-practices) to ensure that the uniqueness of
Alto Elqui isn’t lost in the cellar. Each variety is picked by hand and crushed by
foot in stone lagars. Fermentations are spontaneous. After pressing, the wine
is gravity-fed into concrete eggs, Stockinger foudres, or French oak vats for
undisturbed aging. Some wines are made from single varieties and parcels, while
others are blends where each variety supports the others. After fifteen years of
tasting and blending, each cuvée has suggested itself rather than being imposed
by some formula or plan.
All these steps reveal and preserve the natural acidity and freshness innate to
this mountain fruit. They combine the radiant abundance of warm sunny days,
a backbone of minerality from the granite, and the liveliness of cold summer
nights in the mountains. These lo-fi wines are pure, vibrant, thrilling, and vital.
Perhaps it has something to do with all those the ley lines that draw the new-
agers to the area. We’re more inclined to believe Alvaro’s vision and Reta’s
confidently minimalist instincts.
Pingo Pingo
This is the first harvest of the Cariñena de Alcohuaz, whose vineyard is planted
at an altitude of 2,188 meters, and is probably the highest Cariñena in the world.
The wine was kept for three years in a concrete egg and later for another 4 years
in the bottle. Its radical acidity has managed to balance itself during this time,
becoming one of the main characteristics of this PINGO PINGO. There are
notes of granite dust, stones and graphite. Its structure is vertical and a good
evolution can be seen.
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