Sierra Grande Merlot, 2019

Our long standing relationships with growers enable us to source premium fruit, with the ultimate aim of making excellent quality Chilean entry level wines with true style and character. For the Merlot, we work with two families in two different locations for a blend with huge appeal. The first is the Martin family, who are nestled in the Andes Mountains in a western corner of Curico. Their vineyards sit at around 500m above sea level, a far higher altitude than the majority of Curico's main valley, which lies at around 250m above sea level. Their vines are between 40 and 60 years old and apart of a nearly 110 acre estate, where peaches and apples are also grown on. The vines are unirrigated and the vineyard is cool with a unique rocky mountain soil and glacial streams. At this elevation and proximity to the mountains, Merlot grapes enjoy a long growing season with cool evening temperatures. We love the crunchy, plummy fruit character which gives us the backbone to this wine. We blend this with grapes from the El Milagro Estate in the center of the Curico Valley. The warm temperature and fertile soils allow the Merlot grapes to flourish here. Grapes are harvested during the coolest parts of the day to ensure they reach the winery in prime condition. Temperatures are kept fairly low throughout the winemaking process to allow the grapes to express their natural fruit characters. No oak is used. The resulting wine is fuller with more body, softer tannins and works really well with the higher altitude component. The biggest strength of this blend is our ability to balance out warmer and cooler vintages with these two different profiles.