This New World red blend shows bright red berries, light Christmas spices and new barrel aromas on the nose. The palate is medium to medium plus with great, appealing red cherry ripeness, red currants, plum, cedar, fresh oak and herbal notes. The tannins are medium to fine due to its age and there is balaced acidity. This is very nicely done--ripe and tasty, but not in the least bit heavy.

This wine is made by Steffan Jorgensen (originally from Denmark) and his wife Pamela Nunez. He was previously the winemaker at Bergevin Lane in Washington and she is a trained enologist from University of Santiago. They make small lot wines from 20 acres of estate fruit from their partner’s property in 2 distinct locations in Elqui Valley, Chile. 

The Elqui is a transversal valley which borders the Pacific Ocean on the west, the Atacama Desert on the north, and the Andes Mountains to the east. Here, a cool breeze blows eastward across the Humboldt current, which flows from Antarctica north past Chile and Peru. These evening breezes cool the vineyards and lower nighttime temperatures almost 40 degrees, creating wonderful natural acidity in the grapes. The proximity to the Atacama, makes rain in this region extremely rare, extending the grape growing season by 6 weeks more than other regions of South America.

In fact, most of the Carmenere in this wine comes from the nearly impossible to farm El Tambo Vineyard which is one of the more intense vineyard sites you’ll find in Chile. Carmenere grapes in El Tambo are harvested in mid-June and are literally the last wine grapes harvested in all of Chile, picked after all of the leaves have fallen to the ground. Most of the Malbec in the blend comes from the stunningly beautiful Peralillo Vineyard which sits on a moderate slope just below the tallest mountain in the region. These own rooted vines were massal selections from a now retired farmer Steffan met in Maipo some years back. Syrah fruit from the cool climate Maiten Vineyard keeps things elegant – It is a rocky, sandy, ancient riverbed sitting 25 miles inland from the Pacific Ocean.

Grapes are hand harvested, fermented in stainless steel and then the wine is transferred to a mix of old and new barrels (French, American, and Hungarian) where it ages for 24 months.

Duck, Grilled preparations, Lamb, Mexican, Pizza, Red Meat, Roasted Root Vegetables, Slow-smoked Barbeque/BBQ Sauce