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Masterclass on the old vines of South America

Sommelier Masterclass: The old vines of South America

by Amanda Barnes March 4, 2021

South America is home to some of the oldest productive vines in the wine world and has a wealth of vineyards over 100 years old. In this Sommelier Masterclass on the Old Vines of South America presented at the Somm Con Virtual Summit 2021, Amanda Barnes interviews a panel of expert winemakers and agronomists on the value of old vines in Latin America and specifically focuses on Torrontés, País, Semillon, Carignan and Malbec.

In this hour-long masterclass, the panel guide us through some of the key varieties and old vine terroirs of Chile and Argentina:

Overview of South American wine and old vines in Bolivia, Peru and beyond with Amanda Barnes
Old vines and Torrontés in Cafayate with Francisco Tellechea of El Esteco
País – the first vine of South America and its role in Maule, Itata and Bio Bio with Julio Bouchon of Bouchon Family Wines
Field blends and old vines of Semillon, Cinsault and other varieties with Emily Faulconer of Viña Carmen
Old vine Malbec and other old vine Bordeaux Varieties in Mendoza with Andrés Vignoni of Viña Cobos
Carignan and VIGNO – an appellation for old vines with President of Vigno, Julio Bouchon
Q & A and the challenges of protecting old vines in South America with the panel

Sommelier masterclass speakers

Julio Bouchon, owner at Bouchon Family Wines & President at VIGNO

Fourth-generation vigneron in Maule, Julio Bouchon, of Bouchon Family Wines, has been leading the País renaissance in Chile and is President of VIGNO, an old vine Carignan association in Chile’s Secano Interior.

With his exciting portfolio of wines at Bouchon Family Wines as well as his personal project with South African winemaker David Niewoudt, Longavi Wines, Julio has been instrumental in putting País – the first planted in the Americas in the 1500s – back on the map for quality wine, as well as championing old vine Semillon, Chenin Blanc and Cinsault. Today he is also leading Chile’s old vine Carignan association, VIGNO, which has 16 member wineries and is the closest to an Old World appellation or DOC in Chile.

Emily Faulconer, Winemaker at Viña Carmen

One of the leading and most innovative winemakers of her generation, Emily Faulconer is the Chief Winemaker of Viña Carmen.

Born in Temuco, in southern Chile, Emily studied winemaking in Santiago and has extensive experience across Chile having worked as the winemaker for Viña Arboleda in Aconcagua, Viñedos de Alcohuaz in Elqui and Maquis in Colchagua. Today she specialises in driving forward Viña Carmen’s extensive portfolio with a special emphasis on old vine field blends in southern Chile as well as premium Cabernet Sauvignon from the Maipo valley.

Andrés Vignoni, Viña Cobos

A sixth-generation wine grower in Mendoza, Andrés Vignoni is today one of the leading winemakers of the new generation and a specialist in working with old vine Malbec as winemaker of Viña Cobos.

Having grown up among the vines in Mendoza, after graduating from university as a winemaker Andrés worked vintages abroad in New Zealand and Italy before coming back to Mendoza where he has forged his way as one of the most promising winemakers of his generation. Working with Paul Hobbs, Andrés is winemaker for Hobbs’ winery in Cahors, France, and also in Galicia, Spain, as well as leading production at Viña Cobos in Mendoza where the single-vineyard portfolio focuses on old vine Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay from special plots around Luján de Cuyo and the Uco Valley.

Francisco Tellechea, El Esteco

Born in Salta, Francisco is the Vineyard Manager of El Esteco winery which has some really old vines in Cafayate in the Calchaquí Valley.

Having worked in Salta, Catamarca, Mendoza and Peru, he has a wide range of viticultural experience and is passionate about preserving the old vines of northern Argentina to make top quality wines under the El Esteco Old Vines label.

Amanda Barnes, South America Wine Guide

Amanda Barnes is one of the foremost experts on South American wine having been based in the region since 2009. An award-winning journalist and Master of Wine student, she is author of the South America Wine Guide set to be published in Spring 2021.

A key contributor for Decanter and SevenFifty, she also writes about South America for Hugh Johnson’s Pocket Guide and The World Atlas of Wine, and is Editor of the Circle of Wine Writers’ magazine, The Circular.

Main photo by Matt Wilson

Find out more about the old vines of South America:

Video interview with Andrés Vignoni on old vine Malbec
Old vines in Maule with Christian Sepulvida, Bouchon Family Wines
Old vines in Itata with Leo Erazo, A los Viñateros Bravos

View our old vine register for South America

March 4, 2021 0 comment

Chilean wine guide. South America Wine Guide. Latin American Wine Guide

What’s the future for Carignan in Chile?

by Helen J Conway August 11, 2019

written by Helen J Conway

In 2010, a group of wine producers in Chile set up an unprecedented association called Vigno dedicated to just one variety of wine from just one area of Chile. Why? Because they thought that some really special wines could be made from the old and largely unappreciated Carignan vines in a remote, dry area of Maule.

Fast forward nine years to an international Carignan seminar in the Chilean capital of Santiago. It was like the who’s who of Chilean wine: just about everybody who is anybody was there. The disinterest many of Chile’s wine producers once showed towards Carignan has long since vanished and even Chile’s largest companies, like Concha y Toro, have now jumped on the Vigno bandwagon.

Carignan exports from Chile

According to wine consultant Fernando Almeda, while volumes are still low – a total of 22,000 nine-litre cases of Carignan were exported from Chile in 2018 – it now ranks 9th among Chile’s varieties in terms of average value at US$73.50 per nine-litre case in 2018. Compare that to an average export price to the US of just US$29.20 per case for Cabernet Sauvignon and you can see why wine companies are sitting up and taking notice.

Fernando Almeda talking at Carignan seminar — Fernando Almeda

So just what is so special about this wine? Well first off, although there are 52,000 hectares of Carignan planted around the world, mostly it is used to add a bit of acidity, colour and tannin to blends. There are only a very few places where producers are taking pride in making Carignan as a single variety wine in its own right, most notably Sardinia in Italy, Priorat in Spain, Languedoc in France, California in the US and Maule in Chile. What they all have in common is that the grapes are from old, low-yielding vines planted in poor soils in places that have the warm, dry climate needed to fully ripen them.

Carignan vines in Maule — Dry-farmed Carignan vines in the arid landscape of Maule, Chile

Chile’s producers believe that old-vine Carignan from Maule is quite unique in its own right and different to the wines being made in the other regions. A tasting of Carignan wines from the different regions during the seminar certainly seemed to back their claim. Two parallel research projects by Universidad de Chile and Universidad de Talca have been looking into whether this is really the case and, if so, why.

What makes Chilean Carignan different?

Dr. Álvaro Peña explained that the Universidad de Chile research team had found that the Carignan from Maule had a greater level of monomeric and oligomeric tannins than the wines they tested from other regions, which means those wines have more colour, more bitterness and greater length. They were also found to have a lower pH and more tartaric acidity, giving the drinker a perception of greater acidity and more persistence. The aroma profile of Chilean Carignan varies according to area and ripeness level but overall their volatile components tend to lend the wines fruity aromas, like plums, cherries and green apples, as well as floral aromas like violets and roses, a profile quite different to the wines from other countries that were tested.

The researchers from Universidad de Talca have studied the different climate and soil factors at 24 different locations at Maule to try to identify what makes Maule old-vine Carignan so special. They found two particular factors that set Maule apart from other Carignan areas. The first is the significant drop in temperature at night, which, by slowing ripening, helps with acidity retention and phenolic development. Second is the poor nature of the soils, which have a very low pH and are low in potassium. The grapes therefore also have a very low pH and are so low in potassium it is difficult to vinify them.

The future of Carignan in Chile: just old vines or new plantings?

So the question has to be asked: what is the future for this variety in Chile? Will it remain a niche product made from the current very limited stock (707 hectares) of old vines in the dry inland area of Maule or will new plantings take off, perhaps even in other areas of Chile? Can Maule’s Carignan success be replicated elsewhere?

Fernando Almeda strikes a note of caution. Carignan is gaining a name for itself in a few niche markets but is largely unknown to most wine consumers around the world – it’s a much safer investment to plant a well-known variety like Cabernet Sauvignon. Also, the manual labour and low yields that are inherent to the old-vine Carignan from Maule make it expensive to produce, meaning it can’t be sold at the low price point needed to make it a success in the mass market.

Julio Bouchon speaking at the Carignan seminar — Julio Bouchon of Bouchon Family Wines

However, others are more upbeat. Vigno President Julio Bouchon says that Bouchon Family Wines recently planted a vineyard of Carignan in Maule under the same conditions as the old vineyards: dry-farmed and trained into a bush form. He says that this will enable them to compare the results of old and new vines and, of course, today’s new vines are tomorrow’s old ones.

Well-known winemaker Marcelo Retamal has planted Carignan in granitic soils at a dizzying altitude of 2,200 metres above sea level in the Elqui Valley in northern Chile. While the first vintage had ferocious acidity to start with, he says that after several years of ageing, it’s now a lovely wine. Marcelo feels that while the major international varieties like Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot may be the bread and butter of large wine companies, smaller producers may do well to differentiate themselves by planting alternative varieties like Carignan. He certainly sees a future for the variety beyond the borders of Maule.

Potential for pepping up blends

In the meantime, there are some experts in Chile who believe the future of Carignan is much bigger than the current small-scale plantings. Dr. Peña cites producers in Bordeaux who think that the warmer conditions resulting from climate change may cause the traditional Bordeaux varieties like Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot to become overripe and low in acidity, making for flabby wines with jammy flavours and reduced ageing potential. In recent years, producers have been trialling a whole range of different grape varieties that cope with warmer climatic conditions, including Carignan. These wines could be used to add much-needed acidity to the wines in future, just as they have done for many years in the Southern Rhone and Languedoc.

Climate change predictions for Chile — Courtesy of Dr. Peña, Universidad de Chile

Dr. Peña argues that producers in Chile’s Central Valley, which is extensively planted with the Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Carmenère, would do well to follow the example of Bordeaux. Climate change predictions suggest that temperatures in this area could increase by up to 1°C by 2030, while rainfall may decrease by 41% in the period 2015-2030, so it is reasonable to assume that the grapes may also have problems with acidity and jammy flavours in future. Perhaps this is a good moment for producers to consider planting Carignan or other heat- and drought-resistant varieties in the region to pep up the wine blends of the future. This idea has won support from Pablo Morandé senior, a highly-respected figure in Chile’s wine industry.

Only time will tell whether Chilean Carignan will remain a niche product or become a major blending partner but one thing is for certain: this once-maligned variety is now being appreciated like never before. And perhaps the greatest lesson of all is that when a group of producers work together collaboratively towards a common goal, as is the case with Vigno, the results can be amazing.

Check out Our guide to Chilean Carignan

Learn more about Carignan over on 80 Harvests where we interviewed and profiled several producers in Maule:

August 11, 2019 0 comment

Chile Features By Region Features Wine Maule

VIGNO & its Carignan revival

by Amanda Barnes January 4, 2016

written by Amanda Barnes

Although it might not be the best known, Maule is one of the biggest wine producing regions in Chile. Its great diversity of varieties often don’t even get a mention on the wine label as traditionally this has been the heartland of anonymous wines sold as bulk or table plonk. VIGNO (Vignadores de Carignan) is a movement that has helped change that – putting Maule on the map.

With 17 member wineries or producers, making one VIGNO wine each, enthusiasts claim that VIGNO is the first real appellation of Chile, and there may well be reason to their rhyme as the rules of VIGNO are very similar in specificity to those of a traditional European appellation:

a minimum of 65% Carignan (only to be blended with other red old-vine varieties from Maule);
using vines over 30 years old (or grafted onto old rootstock);
vineyards must be dry farmed;
vineyards must be hand harvested (the only mechanics permitted are the sturdy wheels of a horse-drawn cart;
and wines must be aged over 2 years before sale.

The characteristics of VIGNO show you exactly what is special about Maule. Maule has beautiful old vineyards of varieties such as Carignan and Pais, whose root systems are so deep that many of the vineyards (known as Secano) can be completely dry farmed (with no additional irrigation beyond the rain). This is quite unique in the viticulture world, and is a real gem in Chile where many of most famous wine regions are pioneering new regions barely in their teens.

So what does the wine taste like? Well, with 17 different wines in VIGNO there is of course some diversity within producer styles. Although there is a family line in VIGNO, and that is the old vine Carignan. The variety was originally planted in Maule in the 40s as a government initiative after a devastating earthquake in 1939 that killed 28,000 people. Agriculture needed to be boosted to overcome the local crisis, and so Carignan was planted all over Maule to compliment the Pais (Mission or Criolla) grape which was widespread, but a bit paltry in profile. Carignan to the contrary was big – with lots of colour, tannins and a powerful acidity. It was too rustic to drink on its own, but added a much needed backbone to the Pais wines.

But Maule became devalued and abandoned as an important wine region for Chile, and the focus shifted to other areas. The Carignan vines were left brooding in the lost hillsides of Maule and neglected for almost half a century. Over time the vines began to fend for themselves, reaching their own water sources deep in the ground and ageing more gracefully than anyone imagined. When winemakers started to explore once again down south, they discovered that the historically abandoned vines of Carignan had matured taming its once-challenging fruit into sophistication and balance, yet maintaining that wild streak that keeps people interested.

Almost all the wines are made from grapes purchased from very small producers around Maule, small to the extent whereby they may count their land by number of vines owned rather than hectares.

The similar providence and conditions for the grapes means that all the VIGNO wines share in the true character of Maule Carignan: a bright red fruit nose, with wild floral and herbal notes often underpinned by more rustic earthy notes, matched with a bracing acidity and tannin backbone. While originally planted as a support role for Pais wine, Maule’s Carignan now walks on its own two legs and provides one of the most interesting wine varieties to taste out of Chile.

January 4, 2016 0 comment