Roberto Henríquez

Patagual 1900, Coronel, Bío Bío

+56 9 87553548

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Bío Bío

Roberto Henríquez is one of the most exciting natural wine makers in South America and spent a few years doing vintages in South Africa, Canada and France before returning to his hometown of Concepción in 2015 to focus on bringing old vine País into the limelight.

Hunting down incredibly old vines (some of which are over 200 years old) in Itata and Bio Bio, his portfolio is all about lo-fi winemaking which gives a focus to the terroir and artisanal traditions of the south. He is a humble leader in Chile’s old vine renaissance.

About Roberto Henríquez winery

Focused on making natural wine of an artisanal scale, Roberto Henríquez has a small winery in the wine region of Bio Bio. He produces on average 30,000 bottles of wine each year and managed less than 10 hectares of old vine vineyards in Bio Bio and Itata.

Roberto Henríquez is part of the Chileno Sur association in southern Chile.

About the vineyards

Working with growers of old vines in Bio Bio and Itata, the vineyards are all typically small lots and dry-farmed with sustainable viticulture. The vineyards have never been treated with agrochemicals.

There is considerable soil diversity between the plots of vines that Roberto works with, and vine training is also variable. For example, the vines of Santa Cruz de Coya are head trained close to the ground whereas Riviera del Notro has vines trained at 1 metre high. The vines are all planted on hillsides and are in the coastal hills of Bio Bio and Itata, ranging up to 400 m.a.s.l..

Although uncertified, Roberto practices organic and biodynamic principals in the vineyard.

Roberto Henríquez wines

The use of Chilean pipas and zaranda are common in Roberto’s red wines, and skin contact for the whites. Juicy and wild País and Pipeño wines account for most of his production, but some other gems coming from his cellar are old-vine white wines including Semillon, Chasellas and Moscatel field blends. Here are some highlights to try:

PIPEÑO

Pipeño comes from 200 years old dry-farmed vineyards and is made from País grapes which are naturally fermented with their own wild yeast. The wine is fermented in concrete tanks and aged in old barrels.

RIVERA DEL NOTRO

Rivera del Notro is a white wine made from Muscat of Alexandria, Corinto, and Semillon from the Itata Valley. The wine is made with skin contact for 3 months.

SANTA CRUZ DE COYA

Santa Cruz de Coya is made from País grapes from 200-year-old vineyards.

About the winemaker, Roberto Henríquez

Born and raised in Concepción, Roberto is an agronomist and winemaker who trained at the Universidad de Concepción. Roberto’s journey with wine started early in his childhood, at his uncle’s vineyards in Itata Valley. Prior to starting his own project in Itata, Roberto worked as a winemaker in France (particularly with Rene Mosse in the Loire), South Africa and Canada.

In 2015 he returned to Chile and pursued his dream of becoming an independent winemaker and with a focus on the old vines in southern Chile. His wines are made from 200-year-grapes located at the southern end of the Bio Bio riverbank with some vineyards in Itata too.

His winemaking philosophy is low intervention, natural wine using manual destemming, a gentle crushing of grapes, and gentle extraction with manual punch downs. The wines are all made in native Chilean wood raulí pipas.