Blanco Chileno 2021, Vigerons Fine Wines, Itata

Peach, blossom and almonds on the nose. Medium bodied, savoury and herbal with grapefruit and a refreshing pithiness.

De Martino is one of the most progressive names on the Chilean wine scene, with a focus on quality, sustainability and terroir. Sebastián and Marco, the 6th generation of the family, set up Vigneron Fine Wines in 2017 to give them the opportunity to work in a freer more ‘natural’ style than the family projects. All the vineyards they work with in Chile are farmed organically or traditionally, without any chemical treatments. Picking and winemaking decisions are made on taste not analysis. The wines all undergo slow, gentle fermentations, and are aged in neutral French oak, before bottling with a tiny amount of sulphur. Marco describes them as: “Natural, handmade wines that try express terroir in the most pure way I know.”

Vineyards are farmed organically but not certified.Grapes are hand harvested and destemmed. They are foot-trodden and macerated on skins for 12 hours. They are racked into a used Burgundy 228 litre barrel and fermented with natural yeasts. After fermentation the wine stays on lees for two months with weekly battonage. It is allowed to undergo malolactic fermentation. The wine isn’t racked before bottling, without fining nor filtration. There are no additions except a little sulfur prior bottling, always keeping total SO2 below 30ppm.