Extremes of Chile: the Bío Bío
and Elqui Valleys
Presented by Wines of Chile with Cono Sur’s Adolfo
Hurtado and Viña Falernia’s Giorgio Flessati
23rd May 2007
Chile has more than 112,000 hectares of vineyards. The
traditional home of Chilean winemaking is the Central Valley, but the
search for new terroir has taken winemakers to other areas: up into the
foothills of the Andes, west towards the Pacific, north to the
semi-arid mountain regions and south to the cooler climate
regions. This seminar looked at wines from two extremes: the
Elqui Valley, Chile’s northernmost wine region at a latitude
of around 30° south; and then down to the Bío
Bío Valley at around 38° south – it is
more than 1000km from Elqui to Bío Bío.
Bío Bío has around 14,000 hectares of vineyards,
around 12% of Chile’s total. The most commonly
planted white grape is the moscato Alexandria, with over 5700 hectares,
followed by chardonnay, sauvignon blanc, riesling and
gewurztraminer. Reds are represented mainly by pais with
plantings of over 5700 ha. Bío Bío
receives around 1100 mm of rain a year and in general the vineyards are
picked around thirty days later than the Central Valley (hence the
dominance of white varieties). Adolfo Hurtado explained that
the Spanish never went south of the Bío Bío
river, and the local population are mainly native Americans.
The Elqui Valley is much smaller, accounting for only 2% of
Chile’s vineyards. It lies between the Andes, the
Atacama desert (the world’s driest desert) and the Pacific,
and receives a mere 80 mm of rainfall on average each year.
Apparently even cacti are difficult to grow without irrigation:
Viña Falernia uses drip irrigation in its vineyards, fed by
reservoirs created by damming rivers flowing down from the
Andes. It is a geologically very complex zone.
Somewhat counter-intuitively, the vineyards at higher altitudes are
warmer and are picked before those at lower altitudes, as the valley
bottoms are cooled by the Humboldt Current and sea breezes.
Apparently fruit growing is very important in Chile. The
fruit picking season, however, is earlier than the grapes for wine, so
there is no competition for a labour force. Viña
Falernia are putting a lot of emphasis on the development and training
of local people from the Elqui Valley to help retention and engagement
with the wine industry.
Bío Bío Valley
2006 Riesling Reserva, Cono Sur, 13.2%
From vineyards planted in 1986, this is fermented in stainless
steel. It has a smoky pear drops nose, though some more
concentrated spirity notes blow off. A decent palate, with a
good riesling character in the mouth and lots of acidity on the
finish. Good/Very Good. 85/100
2006 Gewürztraminer Reserva, Cono Sur, 13.6%
The vines were planted in the 1990s. It has a rich, full
lychee and tropical fruit with quite a creamy feel. Fresh and
clean on the palate, this is a very nice, clean gewurz, expressing the
grape very well. There’s nice acidity (all natural,
we were told – the vines are mainly planted on red clay soils
which apparently help maintain acidity.) Very Good
Indeed. 90/100
2006 Pinot Noir Reserva, Cono Sur,
From vines planted in 1991, this is fermented in stainless
steel, and then undergoes malolactic fermentation in medium toast
French oak barrels. It has a lovely, pure cherry-raspberry
nose: there’s no particular complexity, but it is very
attractive. A nice, attractive palate with very good
balance. Good fruit characters and a nice acidity, again all
natural. Some gently chewy tannins are evident
after. Very Good. 88/100
Elqui Valley
2006 Sauvignon Blanc, Alta Tierra, 14%
A somewhat coarse, warm climate sauvignon blanc nose, redolent of
cooked beans and peas and cat’s pee. A nice,
attractive open palate that’s quite round, rich and
opulent. Some sauvignon blanc flavours come along
later. There’s a big acidic tingle on the tip of
the tongue after. A rather unusual sauvignon. Very
Good. 87/100
2004 Syrah Reserva, Viña Falernia
There are ripe, attractive black fruit on the nose, which is
fairly simple. There’s open, fresh syrah fruit on
the palate. Good structure, with tannins from the grape,
rather than from wood. Good. 84/100
2005 Carmenère Reserva, Viña Falernia,
15%
This is 100% carmenère from high altitude
vineyards. It is made in a sort of Amarone style, though the
grapes are left on the vines to desiccate for two months beyond the
normal picking time. It has a very rich, full nose with some
very fresh red fruits, some chocolate and even a touch of honey, though
it’s not noticeably raisiny. Lovely palate: it
carries its alcohol (in excess of 15%) very well indeed. It
has a very interesting character in the mouth, with fruit, structure
and a lovely balance. An impressive wine. Very Good
Indeed. 92/100
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Last updated: 9 January 2008