Vintage Report

APPELATION

Apalta Valley, Colchagua, Chile.

BLEND

71% Carmenère, 18% Cabernet Sauvignon and 11% Merlot.

HARVEST

Organic and Biodynamic vines management under process of certification by Ceres (Germany). Carmenère and Cabernet Sauvignon Pre-filoxera old vines planted in 1920 not grafted. Morning sun leaf removal and green harvest to fine tune yields. Hand harvested from the 17th of March until the 14th of May 2010.

GROWING CONDITIONS

The fall to winter 2009 was much drier and cooler than usual, with about 30% less rainfall. September was also cold, so bud break happened a bit later than normal. The spring showed normal amounts of rainfall but with very low temperatures. These cold conditions disturbed the pollination and naturally lowered the yields. Fortunately, during second half of December the normal sunny conditions returned. At that point the plants had from 8 to 10 days of delay in their development. Summer brought us cool nights preserving grapes freshness and inducing the concentration of aroma. Summer also brought the world’s fifth largest earthquake ever recorded, so the few days delay of the crop were a blessing in order to organize the winery and get ready to crush the grapes.

VINIFICATION

100% hand de-stemmed in our Clos Apalta Winery. Fermentation: 100% Wild yeast in small French oak vats. Skin contact up to 5 weeks. 100% of the blend in 225 lts new French oak barrels for 24 months. Not fined, cold stabilized or filtered. Bottled in September 2012, 5,381 cases of 12 bottles.