Description

PRODUCER:
Viña Echeverría is a family-run estate winery, owned and managed by the Echeverría family. Established in 1930, but with an agricultural heritage dating back to the 1700s, Viña Echeverría remains, as it always has, driven by a shared passion for winemaking and an uncompromising pursuit of excellence. Viña Echeverría combines nearly a century of viticulture and winemaking experience with a modern state-of-the art winery to produce an extensive collection of quality wines. The ‘No es Pituko’ range represents a radical departure from the rest of the more traditional Echeverría wines, both in look and make-up, being vinified naturally, without any additions at any stage. Viña Echeverría has recently been awarded its Sustainable Winery status by Wines of Chile, as well as its ISO9000 certification.

VINEYARD:
The grapes come from a single vineyard located in Entre Cordilleras in the Curicó Valley, from ungrafted selected clones of pre-phylloxera French rootstock. Situated on the 35th parallel south, between the Andes Mountains and the Pacific Ocean, the intense sunshine is tempered by cooling sea breezes, allowing the grapes to achieve outstanding fruit aromas and exceptional colour concentration. The warm, dry days and cold nights encourage a long growing season, which is ideally suited to produce healthy vines and grapes. Working with a model of micro viticulture, each plot, of no more than half a hectare, is identified according to its terroir and microclimate and planted accordingly. Grapes are cultivated using specific pruning methods, irrigation, canopy management and harvesting, which results in grapes of optimum quality and flavour. The fertile soils are alluvial in origin, with clay loam and stone at 80cm.

WINEMAKING:
Whole clusters were pressed in a pneumatic press, followed by static sedimentation for 24 to 36 hours at 8 to 10°C. Half the must was fermented in 225-litre French oak barrels for 15 days at temperatures of 18 to 20°C; while the remaining half was fermented in stainless steel tanks at 14-17°C for 25 days, with natural and selected yeasts. Partial malolactic conversion took place. The wine was aged on its fine lees in 225-litre French oak barrels for six months.

TASTING NOTE:
This charming and elegant Chardonnay shows intense aromas of apricots and peaches, complemented by hints of vanilla and toffee. The rich palate is beautifully balanced by a fresh acidity underpinning notes of dried fruit and pineapple, which carry through on the long finish.

GRAPES:
Chardonnay 100%.