Don Max
A copper valley looks for gold
Last Updated: 12:01am BST 22/08/2008
An iconic wine would put Limarí in Chile on the map, but which grape will do the job, asks Jonathan Ray
Wine has been made in Chile since the 1540s when Spanish missionaries planted the red país grape to make sacramental wine. Three hundred years later, the naturalist Claudio Gay brought cuttings of the classic grape varieties from France and Chile's wine industry proper was born.
Bright spark: Chilean winemaker Marcelo Papa, who has won plaudits and prizes for his Maycas del Limarí wines
Commercial production started in the Maipo Valley near Santiago and has become firmly established in regions such as the Aconcagua, Casablanca, Colchagua, Curicó and Maule valleys. Of the valleys which have followed, one recent newcomer stands out: the Limarí in Chile's far north, whose wines are wowing the critics.
This is pisco country, where for decades grapes such as moscatel and Pedro Ximénez have been grown for distilling into Chile's famous brandy.
"We have constant clear blue skies and just 80-100mm of rain a year," explains Felipe Müller East, winemaker at Viña Tabalí, a spanking new, state-of-the-art winery. "This means we can leave the fruit on the vine until the last possible moment. This is why I came; to get my hands on the best possible grapes in the best possible health.
To work with fruit of this quality is a winemaker's dream." Limarí is protected from the extremes of the Pacific Ocean by the low-lying Altos de Talinay mountains; its climate neatly balanced between coastal breezes and the dry heat of the interior.
The valley was known for its copper (the Incas mined here long before the Spanish arrived) until the industry collapsed in the 1930s.
Agriculture was developed instead and a dam was built with a system of reservoirs to bring water to this parched, cactus-strewn region. As a result, avocados, almonds, olives, citrus fruits, alfalfa, palms and table grapes were planted, followed by grapes for distillation. But it wasn't until 1993 that serious winemaking started.
"It was inevitable that cabernet sauvignon and merlot would be planted first, because this is Chile and this is what everyone thought the market demanded," says Müller East. "But despite being semi-arid this is a cool valley, dry but cool, and other varieties work better. We had huge success with our first vintage in 1999 of chardonnay and syrah, and I believe we are on the verge of something special." Down the road at Viña Casa Tamaya, where planting started in 1997, winemaker José Pablo Martin admits that the winery's owners fret about not having a cabernet sauvignon in their portfolio.
"I tell them to accept that not all Chile is great for growing cabernet," he says. "And why should we grow it, given the stunning results we're getting with other varieties? I believe that carmenère will prove to be the jewel in Limarí's crown, although I realise that others here don't. But that might be because we were the first to plant it and bagged the best sites." It is early days in Limarí with just three major wineries in the region. Maycas del Limarí, part of the mighty Concha y Toro stable, makes up the triumvirate.
For many years, the company bought grapes here for use in its best-selling Casillero del Diablo range. But thanks to rain-free summers and frost-free springs, the quality of the fruit was so fine that it was deemed to be wasted in such blends. Concha y Toro decided to plant its own vineyards while also buying those of Viña Francisco de Aguirre, the pioneering winery named after the Spanish conquistador who planted grapes in the nearby city of La Serena in 1550. Maycas del Limarí won plaudits and prizes with its very first vintage, that of 2005.
"There's just something about the soil, the light and the climate," says winemaker Marcelo Papa. "They give us exceptional fruit and I feel like a kid in a sweet shop not knowing which way to turn. For me though, it's chardonnay which shines. The grape has a superb silky ripeness coupled with an inimitable minerality.
To put Limarí on the map, the valley needs an iconic wine and that wine needs to be chardonnay." I spent two days in the valley sampling some fantastic wines: single-varietal carmenères and syrahs of depth, richness and concentration, and sauvignon blancs, viogniers and chardonnays of elegance, style and aromatic intensity. I enjoyed one or two fascinating blends too.
There might only be three major players in operation at the moment, but other big names are queuing up to invest and to plant. Just so long as they keep making pisco.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/wine/main.jh ... ine123.xml
