Producer
Morandé was founded in 1996 by Pablo Morandé, and found immediate recognition both domestically and abroad. Morandé are true pioneers –they were the first family to develop the Casablanca D.O., recognising the fantastic potential of this cool-climate wine region. They also led the way in reviving old viticultural regions such as Maule and Itata, working with old dry-farmed bush vines and unconventional varieties such as Carignan, País and Cinsault. All of the wines are produced with grapes from Morandé’s own vineyards. Their winemaking philosophy is guided by seeking the right terroir for each grape variety, and with significant vineyard holdings they are well placed to achieve this.
Vineyard
The grapes come from the El Ensueño estate in Casablanca, planted in 1997 with a Davies clone which gives well-balanced plants that have small bunches and grapes that have a greater breadth of aromas and flavours. The soil is granitic clay with very low fertility. The grapes were hand-picked into ten-kilo baskets in mid-April.
Winery
The grapes were cooled to 5oC for forty-eight hours, then sorted berry by berry. They were then crushed and given 5 days’ cold maceration, then fermented using wild yeast at 23-25oC with another five days on skins before going through natural malolactic fermentation. Eighty percent of the wine was aged in 2,000-litre French oak foudres for twelve months, with the remainder in 300 and 600-litre barrels.
Awards
Silver Medal, International Wine Challenge 2019
