4.11.08 En route to Chile for the harvest at Viu Manent in the Colchagua Valley, I have stopped in Mendoza, Argentina to taste some beautiful Malbecs and get my fill of Argentinian meat before heading to Chile for ceviche and the harvest of Carmenere. The trees are turning yellow and the harvest of Cabernet Sauvignon is underway at Terrazas de los Andes winery, home of the revered Cheval des Andes. The cabernet grapes are plump, thick-skinned, sweet and juicy to the taste, clinging in bunches to the vines and there is a fury of workers pulling in serious hours to begin production of another solid vintage.
I had the chance to taste through five of the new releases from Terrazas: Chardonnay, ‘07, Torrontes, ‘07 (the first vintage of this wine) which was showing beautifully with notes of honeysuckle, lychee and roasted pineapple, Malbec, Afincado ‘05 with a black violet hue, expressive dried chili pepper and tomato on the nose and an explosion of spice on the palate, Cabernet Sauvignon, Afincado ‘05 with supple frutti di bosco aromas carrying through to the palate and a long, complex finish, and lastly the Cheval des Andes ‘05, made Bordeaux in style with a deep garnet hue, lingering scents of tobacco, red pepper and smoke, finishing with smooth and seductive tannins and blackberry and plum on the palate. The reds will only get better with a few more years of age and a recent tasting of the ‘04 Cheval proved that to be true.
4.12.08 It is a cloudy day in Mendoza with blue sky just squeezing through the clouds and a clean Autumn chill in the air. Described to me as similar to Nevada in terms of climate, there is a dry vastness to the expanse of vineyards in Mendoza but it is a consistent climate and thus subsequent vintages are successful year after year. I gear up for lunch at Ruca Malen, a boutique winery at the foot of the Andes, and a tour by car of some nearby vineyards. I taste through five wines beginning with a very pleasant Chardonnay ‘06, 20% fermented in French oak barrels, with white peach and green apple aromas, bright acidity on the palate with hints of lemon curd, moving on to a nice Merlot/Tempranillo blend with a deep red cherry color, evident cherry and plum aromas and a soft finish and ending with the top wine, Kinien Malbec ‘04 after tasting thru the Ruca Malen Malbec ‘04 and Cab Sauvignon ‘05. A big, plush wine, the Kinien has a touch of Cab Sauv and Merlot in the blend and is aged 14 mos in new oak (90% French, 10% American) with another 15 mos bottle age prior to release. Subtle dark mocha and cinnamon notes on the nose with lush purple fruit and sweet tannins on the finish.
4.15.08 I was fortunate to have the opportunity on my first day in Colchagua to visit a few vineyards of different growers that supply Viu with grapes with the winemaker, Grant, to determine ripeness levels of the grapes. Below is some Viognier that although is showing some raisining, was not yet juicy and ripe enough for picking but to the taste it was delicious and sweet. On a neighboring plot below the harvest of Syrah was underway under the warm Autumn sun. The climate and conditions for growing in Chile are really quite ideal, as the sun is strong during the day, and at night temperatures drop quite significantly. Its like this all year round which allows the grapes to ripen beautifully in the sun during the day and retain their acidity in the cool evenings, two very important aspects of winemaking: the balance of acid and sugar.
4.16.08 My first day in the winery proved fruitful and busy as I tapped into several different tasks to get my feet wet, literally, with grape juice and yeast. Along with another cellar-hand, I worked on a first fermentation, “inocula,” of Malbec in stainless steel tank followed by twenty minutes of “pump-over” to aerate the juice and activate further the reaction between the sugar in the grapes and the yeast. Below is a photo of yeast after grape juice is added and it reacts with the sugar…pretty lively.
4.18.08 Today was about the barrels…taking samples of the aging wine from ‘07 vintage and filling barrels with new wine from this vintage with the addition of CO2 or “nieve” to prevent oxidation as well as sulfur to protect against micro-organisms. We took several samples from barrel of some of the older vintages to measure the brix (measure of sugar content) as well as the density and PH (measurement of intensity of the acidity) in order for the lab to determine the potential alcohol volume. For the winemaker, there is a good amount of chemistry involved in the process as well as feel or intuition about the ideal maturation of the wine based on these measurements and the taste.
Hard-hatted, filling used barrels via hose with Cabernet Sauvignon. The notion that the cellar is not glamorous is indeed true as its laborious, repetitive, and detailed, and the 12 hr shifts (7:30am-7:30pm round the clock) make for a pretty long day. Though, I reckon it’s quite crucial to understanding the depth and process of winemaking and truly appreciating it for the art that it is. And often the vineyards, as is the case with the one I am at, are in a very special part of the world as demonstrated by the sunset over the vineyards below after a day at the winery.
4.21.08 I had the chance to ride on the massive machine harvester this morning in the harvesting of Malbec. Can’t say that I’d ever seen one up close and personal and they are pretty wild. The machine is carved out in the middle so it sits just above the vine line and gives the vines a rigorous shake back and forth to force the berries off the vine. The higher quality grapes are hand-harvested which is more labor-intensive but essentially more delicate and better for the vines, though the machine harvester can be a good tool especially when there is a great deal of wine to be made. The fact that there are horses running through the vineyards excited by the noise and action as well is just a special addition!
4.29.08 Since the first night I arrived, I had wanted to work “la mesa de seleccion” or the sorting table when I saw the other girls on the night shift working on it. I had the opportunity today and thought afterwards that one day would suffice! After the grapes come in from the vineyards, bin by bin, they are placed on a conveyor belt in clusters before going into the destemmer. The grapes shoot out of the destemmer and fall onto another vibrating conveyor belt where 4 or 5 people stand removing the undesirable components: raisinated grapes, parts of the stems, leaves, a spider or two, so that the best of the grapes and as few of the stems as possible don’t make it into the press before tank fermentation. An important step of the process indeed but nearly dizzying as I madly rushed to sort the berries well…not to mention taxing on the back and neck. But, a smile through it all of course!
5.1.08 So what’s next? I think I will grab a book on oeonolgy – the science and study of all aspects of wine-making. The work in la bodega was invaluable to my understanding of viticulture and the process of winemaking from harvesting, sorting, pressing, fermenting, fining, filtration, barrel samples…but what goes on in the lab at each winery to determine what the final product will be, the chemistry involved in all of it, I’d like a crash course in that!
