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- Chris Boiling
- 2023-10-03
I’m just getting my head round the idea of white wines from a desert when I’m poured wines from the same grape varieties – Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc – from the world’s most southerly vineyard, at the other end of Chile. At a latitude of 46.3° south, it’s beyond the vineyards in Argentine Patagonia and New Zealand’s Central Otago.
But what’s more interesting for me is that these wines are from the same producer, Ventisquero Wine Estates, and same winemaker, Alejandro Galaz.
In 2007, when he was driving into the sun-baked plains of the Atacama Desert, the world’s driest desert, he had Mediterranean varieties such as Grenache, Syrah, Carignan, and Mataro on his mind. But when he arrived at 10am, he was enveloped in a thick fog known as the camanchaca, which drifts in twice a day (like clockwork at 10am and 6pm).
“It comes from the Pacific Ocean, passes through the vineyards for about 45 minutes and gives to this very dry environment a little bit of humidity… It’s a kind of a miracle for the life of the vineyard,” he says.
It was also 13°C in temperature and “definitely not the place for Mediterranean varieties”.
The second important discovery came after getting permission to dig a 3m-deep soil pit – they found lumps of limestone. “We were very happy, like jumping inside the pit,” Alejandro recalls, as this type of soil is rare in Chile.
But the joy was short-lived. Most of the plants died in their second year because of the huge amount of salt in the soil. They left the surviving 2% of vines and waited to see what kind of quality they produced.
“They were fantastic... Really a fantastic flavour. So that pushed us to go further with this project,” Alejandro (below) continues.
They replanted in 2012 with seven or eight different rootstocks and came up with a strategy for dealing with the water stress: long irrigations of 18-20 hours, which they had to repeat every nine or ten days to push the salt to a less problematic position in between the rows of vines.
A few years ago, they upgraded to small sprinklers, which use a third less water from the Huasco River and increase the yield by 20% while retaining the salty character of the wines.
“We didn't want to lose that because it's part of this terroir expression,” Alejandro points out.
In Patagonia’s Chile Chico vineyard, 180km further south than its nearest neighbour, the main problems are the fierce winds that batter the plants, the rugged terrain, and the dry tundra climate with low temperatures and low rainfall (280mm per year on average; 250mm last year).
I got to taste the preview wines from the first vintage – wines so new they don’t have a name yet!
Vineyard size: 2.5ha
Location: 3.8km from General Carrera Lake at 46.3° south latitude
Elevation: 263m above sea level
Planting density: 5,700 plants per hectare – 3,000 Sauvignon Blanc, 3,000 Chardonnay and 3,000 Pinot Noir
Soil: Sandy loam with high-quality stones
Weather: Dry summers, cold winters. Windy (exceeding 31mph) and partially cloudy throughout the year
Winemaking: the 2022 Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay were made in similar ways. Due to the small volume of grapes available, it was a very manual process. Once the bunches were destemmed, pressing was performed using feet. Clarification occurred naturally by gravity over a period of nearly 48 hours for the Sauvignon and 24 hours for the Chardonnay. Fermentation was carried out at a controlled temperature of 12-15°C for 20 days for the Sauvignon and 14-16°C for 15 days for the Chardonnay. After the alcoholic fermentation was complete, the wine was transferred, along with its fine lees, to large glass demijohns of 25 and 50L for 1.5 years.
Alcohol: Sauvignon Blanc 12%; Chardonnay 12.5%
Vineyard size: 9.82ha (planted in 2012)
Location: the Longomilla and Nicolasa vineyards are on the first, second and third terraces of the River Huasco, 675km from Santiago and 15-20km from the Pacific Ocean
Altitude: 284m above sea level
Planting density: 2,778 plants per hectare
Yield: 5-6 ton/ha
Soil: Sandy loam, stony at the surface. Alluvial in origin. 70% sand in the first 70cm of soil. Slightly alkaline and with a calcareous matrix at a depth of 90cm. The profile is very porous because of the stones and sand in the soil. pH 7.5-8.0 with very little organic matter
Weather: Year-round desert climate with little or no rainfall in winter. The average temperature is 17°-19°C. There are strong winds that are channelled along the River Huasco. The average minimum temperatures in winter do not drop below 7°C and the maximum temperatures in summer between December and February are 26-27°C
Rainfall: 45mm per year (mostly between May and August)
Winemaking: Due to the cool-climate site, the Tara wines enjoy long cellar maturation prior to bottling. For Tara White Wine 1 (the Chardonnay), the foot-stomped must and 50% whole clusters were fermented with native yeasts in stainless-steel tanks without any additions. After the fermentation, a small, one-off addition of sulphur dioxide was made. The wine was aged for 20 months; 50% in 1,000L concrete eggs and 50% in French oak untoasted foudres (2,500L). As the objective is to produce a wine as close as possible in identity and character to the Atacama Desert, the wine is neither clarified nor filtered, so it looks a little cloudy with all the fine lees in suspension.
Grapes for the Tara White Wine 3 (the Sauvignon Blanc) were kept in a cold store at 5°C for 12 hours and then destemmed and cold macerated for 4-5 hours. The must was fermented with native yeasts in stainless-steel tanks. There was no additional treatment nor were any products added to the grapes. After the fermentation, a small, one-off addition of sulphur dioxide was made. To keep the maximum expression of the Atacama Desert, the wine was aged for 15 months in a concrete egg. It was neither clarified nor filtered and was, therefore, bottled with a fine sediment.
Ventisquero’s vineyards in the Atacama Desert, with the salt clearly visible.
Tasting the wines attests to their extreme birthplace in the middle of a desert, where life is a miracle. They are tighter, more linear, more austere, with more structure and greater persistence. They have more personality and character, too.
One interesting aspect of making wine in the Atacama Desert is that there is no vintage variation, so harvesting happens on almost the same dates in early March every year.
But what’s more interesting for me is that these wines are from the same producer, Ventisquero Wine Estates, and same winemaker, Alejandro Galaz.
In 2007, when he was driving into the sun-baked plains of the Atacama Desert, the world’s driest desert, he had Mediterranean varieties such as Grenache, Syrah, Carignan, and Mataro on his mind. But when he arrived at 10am, he was enveloped in a thick fog known as the camanchaca, which drifts in twice a day (like clockwork at 10am and 6pm).
“It comes from the Pacific Ocean, passes through the vineyards for about 45 minutes and gives to this very dry environment a little bit of humidity… It’s a kind of a miracle for the life of the vineyard,” he says.
It was also 13°C in temperature and “definitely not the place for Mediterranean varieties”.
The second important discovery came after getting permission to dig a 3m-deep soil pit – they found lumps of limestone. “We were very happy, like jumping inside the pit,” Alejandro recalls, as this type of soil is rare in Chile.
But the joy was short-lived. Most of the plants died in their second year because of the huge amount of salt in the soil. They left the surviving 2% of vines and waited to see what kind of quality they produced.
“They were fantastic... Really a fantastic flavour. So that pushed us to go further with this project,” Alejandro (below) continues.
They replanted in 2012 with seven or eight different rootstocks and came up with a strategy for dealing with the water stress: long irrigations of 18-20 hours, which they had to repeat every nine or ten days to push the salt to a less problematic position in between the rows of vines.
A few years ago, they upgraded to small sprinklers, which use a third less water from the Huasco River and increase the yield by 20% while retaining the salty character of the wines.
“We didn't want to lose that because it's part of this terroir expression,” Alejandro points out.
In Patagonia’s Chile Chico vineyard, 180km further south than its nearest neighbour, the main problems are the fierce winds that batter the plants, the rugged terrain, and the dry tundra climate with low temperatures and low rainfall (280mm per year on average; 250mm last year).
I got to taste the preview wines from the first vintage – wines so new they don’t have a name yet!
Chile Chico, Patagonia
Vineyard size: 2.5ha
Location: 3.8km from General Carrera Lake at 46.3° south latitude
Elevation: 263m above sea level
Planting density: 5,700 plants per hectare – 3,000 Sauvignon Blanc, 3,000 Chardonnay and 3,000 Pinot Noir
Soil: Sandy loam with high-quality stones
Weather: Dry summers, cold winters. Windy (exceeding 31mph) and partially cloudy throughout the year
Winemaking: the 2022 Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay were made in similar ways. Due to the small volume of grapes available, it was a very manual process. Once the bunches were destemmed, pressing was performed using feet. Clarification occurred naturally by gravity over a period of nearly 48 hours for the Sauvignon and 24 hours for the Chardonnay. Fermentation was carried out at a controlled temperature of 12-15°C for 20 days for the Sauvignon and 14-16°C for 15 days for the Chardonnay. After the alcoholic fermentation was complete, the wine was transferred, along with its fine lees, to large glass demijohns of 25 and 50L for 1.5 years.
Alcohol: Sauvignon Blanc 12%; Chardonnay 12.5%
Longomilla Vineyard, Atacama
Vineyard size: 9.82ha (planted in 2012)
Location: the Longomilla and Nicolasa vineyards are on the first, second and third terraces of the River Huasco, 675km from Santiago and 15-20km from the Pacific Ocean
Altitude: 284m above sea level
Planting density: 2,778 plants per hectare
Yield: 5-6 ton/ha
Soil: Sandy loam, stony at the surface. Alluvial in origin. 70% sand in the first 70cm of soil. Slightly alkaline and with a calcareous matrix at a depth of 90cm. The profile is very porous because of the stones and sand in the soil. pH 7.5-8.0 with very little organic matter
Weather: Year-round desert climate with little or no rainfall in winter. The average temperature is 17°-19°C. There are strong winds that are channelled along the River Huasco. The average minimum temperatures in winter do not drop below 7°C and the maximum temperatures in summer between December and February are 26-27°C
Rainfall: 45mm per year (mostly between May and August)
Winemaking: Due to the cool-climate site, the Tara wines enjoy long cellar maturation prior to bottling. For Tara White Wine 1 (the Chardonnay), the foot-stomped must and 50% whole clusters were fermented with native yeasts in stainless-steel tanks without any additions. After the fermentation, a small, one-off addition of sulphur dioxide was made. The wine was aged for 20 months; 50% in 1,000L concrete eggs and 50% in French oak untoasted foudres (2,500L). As the objective is to produce a wine as close as possible in identity and character to the Atacama Desert, the wine is neither clarified nor filtered, so it looks a little cloudy with all the fine lees in suspension.
Grapes for the Tara White Wine 3 (the Sauvignon Blanc) were kept in a cold store at 5°C for 12 hours and then destemmed and cold macerated for 4-5 hours. The must was fermented with native yeasts in stainless-steel tanks. There was no additional treatment nor were any products added to the grapes. After the fermentation, a small, one-off addition of sulphur dioxide was made. To keep the maximum expression of the Atacama Desert, the wine was aged for 15 months in a concrete egg. It was neither clarified nor filtered and was, therefore, bottled with a fine sediment.
Ventisquero’s vineyards in the Atacama Desert, with the salt clearly visible.
Tasting the wines attests to their extreme birthplace in the middle of a desert, where life is a miracle. They are tighter, more linear, more austere, with more structure and greater persistence. They have more personality and character, too.
One interesting aspect of making wine in the Atacama Desert is that there is no vintage variation, so harvesting happens on almost the same dates in early March every year.
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