Echeverria No Es Pituko Natural Wine Chardonnay 2022
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Active in Chilean agriculture, grape growing and winemaking since 1740, the Echeverria family established their current vineyards and winery in 1923 in the outskirts of Molina, a town in the Curicó Valley. Here, they grow grapes from French pre-philloxera rootstocks, on their 80 ha of vineyards.
Originally established to produce bulk wines, in 1990, the winery was converted to produce quality wines for export. In the following years, Echeverria was one of the few boutique wineries to emerge from Chile, and the first family winery from Chile to sell wine to Harrods in London.
Eventually, the family started purchasing grapes, to compliment and build complexity to their wines. "We realized that to succeed and be different, we needed to be open," says Roberto Echeverria, the Technical Director Chief Winemaker, whose first solo vintage appeared on the market in 2001. With sustainable practices in the vineyard, Echevarria produces a wine for most every palate, while embracing a philosophy that's based on consistency.
Wines under the Echeverria label are vinified conventionally while the ‘No es Pituko’ range is vinified naturally.
'No es Pituko'; is Chilean slang for 'it ain't fancy'; reflecting the fact that this wine was vinified naturally, without any additions at any stage. The Chardonnay grapes for this wine come from a single vineyard in the Entre Cordilleras area of the Curicó Valley, situated at 243 metres above sea-level. These are ungrafted 37 year old vines that are cultivated according to sustainable agricultural methods in order to respect the land and its environment.
One of the most popular and versatile white wine grapes, Chardonnay offers a wide range of flavors and styles depending on where it is grown and how it is made. While it tends to flourish in most environments, Chardonnay from its Burgundian homeland produces some of the most remarkable and longest lived examples. California produces both oaky, buttery styles and leaner, European-inspired wines. Somm Secret—The Burgundian subregion of Chablis, while typically using older oak barrels, produces a bright style similar to the unoaked style. Anyone who doesn't like oaky Chardonnay would likely enjoy Chablis.
Bordering the Coastal Range in the west, and stretching as far east as the foothills of the Andes, the Curicó Valley has two major mesoclimates that allow it the potential to offer a great diversity of high quality wines. In the east around Molina and north of the Claro River, the chilling winds coming off of the Andes make this part of the valley cooler. In the west, the Coastal Range protects inland wine growing areas from the Pacific Ocean, making it hotter and drier. The valley can support a large range of grape varieties within these climatic variations.
In 1979 Miguel Torres, Spain’s largest family-owned producer of premium wine based in Penedès in northeastern Spain, invested heavily in the area. By introducing many modern technologies, Torres put the Curicó Valley on the international wine map and strengthened Chile's presence in the global wine market.
Curicó is one of the southern appellations of the greater Central Valley wine growing region, which includes from north to south: Maipo, Rapel, Curicó and Maule.