Description

ABOUT THE PRODUCER:
Viña Echeverría is a family-run estate winery, owned and managed by the Echeverría family. Established in 1930, but with an agricultural heritage going back to the 1700s, Viña Echeverría is as much today, as always, driven by a shared passion for winemaking and an uncompromising search for excellence. Viña Echeverría combines nearly a century of viticulture and winemaking experience with a modern state-of-theart 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.

THE VINTAGE:
The 2023 vintage was a complicated harvest for the development of the vines. Good soil water reserves from the winter started the vintage well, but a cool spring led to a slow start. The temperatures increased as summer arrived and into autumn, but an absence of rainfall delayed the ripening of the grapes. However, the fruit harvested was healthy and reached good concentration of flavours with slightly higher sugar and pH levels compared to the previous vintage.

ABOUT THE VINEYARD:
The vineyard is located in the Curicó Valley at an altitude of 243 metres. It is situated on the 35th parallel south, between the Andes Mountains and the Pacific Ocean. 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. The grapes are cultivated using specific pruning methods, irrigation, canopy management and harvesting, which results in fruit of optimum quality and flavour. The fertile soils are alluvial in origin, with clay loam and stone at 80cm.

THE WINEMAKING PROCESS:
The grapes were fermented to dryness in stainless steel tanks for seven to 10 days at controlled temperatures of between 25 to 28°C with selected and native yeasts. 100% underwent malolactic conversion, before being aged in 225-litre used French oak barrels for four to five months to add complexity and to achieve softer tannins.

OUR TASTING NOTES:
Vibrant fruity aromas of cherries and strawberries combine with attractive blackberry notes, black pepper and dried fruit. Soft and juicy, this charming Merlot has beautiful balancing acidity which lengthens the finish.

GRAPE VARIETY:
Merlot 100%