2021 LAS FERMENTADAS LA SANGRADA PAIS

Producer: Las Fermentadas 

Wine: 2021 “La Sangrada”

Vineyard: 100% País, Quirihue, Itata. Chemical free no-till farming. 150 yr old, dry grown bush vines. 

 Lead winemaker: Coline Marre, a French classically trained winemaker but she’s a passionate natural winemaker at heart. 

Winemaking: We picked 3 tonnes of grapes from this very old and very beautiful site in Quirihue. The vines are at the bottom of the hill so they see more water and nutrients, it’s a naturally healthy and biodiverse organic system, the opposite soil health next to the eroded and compacted slope. We want to champion sites that are self-sustaining into the future when rainfall will become more erratic and set slopes with no top-soil harder to farm. The valley floors are teeming with life and we wanted to try a couple of different winemaking techniques to see what these vigorous vines can do. Having a high amount of foliage and bigger yield than vines on poor soils, the grapes struggle to fully ripen and this site naturally produces a low-alcohol wine.

La Sangrada means The Saignée. We destemmed and bled the juice off for four days. Just one racking before bottling, the wine sat on gross lees and under flor for 11 months. No additions at any point. The idea was a very fresh, light, crunchy, herbaceous and savoury expression of País, bottled with some fine lees this saignée is free and wild, great salty food wine and unlike any País we’ve tried before. 

 Original pencil drawing of a blood stain by Catalina Munita.