Matetic EQ Coastal Sauvignon Blanc 2013
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Robert
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This Sauvignon Blanc is ideally served with seafood such as salmon or bluefish, ceviche, sea urchin and oysters. It also pairs well with goat cheese and sharp, blue cheeses.
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Wine & Spirits
Smooth and fresh, this is a citrus-scented sauvignon, its herbal spice adding details that slowly fill out the wine’s complexity. A classic coastal white, this comes from a vineyard planted in 1997 about five miles from the Pacific.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2013 EQ Coastal Sauvignon Blanc has to be one of the finest Sauvignons I tasted from Chile. The 2013 was a cool vintage in Casablanca, and produced a wine that has fresh, marine and herbal aromas, all of them in a subtle, elegant way. It is both fresh and ripe, with a light to medium-bodied palate showing very good acidity, compact with clean, delineated flavors (the archetypal gooseberries) and good underlying minerality making it very supple and tasty. Somehow this wine seems more complete and nuanced than most other Sauvignons I tasted. I’d love to see how it ages, as the balance promises a bright future. Great! I could hardly believe the price – what a bargain! Julio Bastias is the winemaker of Matetic Vineyards, which is in between the Casablanca and San Antonio appellations. I met with a bunch of winemakers from the zone and asked them to bring a couple of bottles each, and he showed up with bottled samples of the soil from each of the vineyards from the wines he brought along. The property has over 20,000 hectares but only 160 hectares are planted with vineyards, which are worked by biodynamic principles and have been fully certified since 2003. With such great wines here, I should try to visit them next time. One of the names that form the new Chile.
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The story of the Matetic Winery begins in 1999 when the Matetic family decided to diversify their business ventures and enter the world of wine, confident in the virtues of the climate and soils in the Rosario Valley. With a firm conviction in the vital importance of maintaining a strong professional team to guide every step of the project, the family incorporated Alan York (Biodinamic Consultant), Ken Bernards (Consulting Winemaker), and Ann Kraemer (Viticultural Consultant) into the project in 2000 to ensure that Matetic wines achieve the highest quality. The EQ stands for Equilibrium... balance.
Capable of a vast array of styles, Sauvignon Blanc is a crisp, refreshing variety that equally reflects both terroir and varietal character. Though it can vary depending on where it is grown, a couple of commonalities always exist—namely, zesty acidity and intense aromatics. This variety is of French provenance. Somm Secret—Along with Cabernet Franc, Sauvignon Blanc is a proud parent of Cabernet Sauvignon. That green bell pepper aroma that all three varieties share is no coincidence—it comes from a high concentration of pyrazines (herbaceous aromatic compounds) inherent to each member of the family.
Dramatic geographic and climatic changes from west to east make Chile an exciting frontier for wines of all styles. Chile’s entire western border is Pacific coastline, its center is composed of warm valleys and on its eastern border, are the soaring Andes Mountains.
Chile’s central valleys, sheltered by the costal ranges, and in some parts climbing the eastern slopes of the Andes, remain relatively warm and dry. The conditions are ideal for producing concentrated, full-bodied, aromatic reds rich in black and red fruits. The eponymous Aconcagua Valley—hot and dry—is home to intense red wines made from Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah and Merlot.
The Maipo, Rapel, Curicó and Maule Valleys specialize in Cabernet and Bordeaux Blends as well as Carmenère, Chile’s unofficial signature grape.
Chilly breezes from the Antarctic Humboldt Current allow the coastal regions of Casablanca Valley and San Antonio Valley to focus on the cool climate loving varieties, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc.
Chile’s Coquimbo region in the far north, containing the Elqui and Limari Valleys, historically focused solely on Pisco production. But here the minimal rainfall, intense sunlight and chilly ocean breezes allow success with Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. The up-and-coming southern regions of Bio Bio and Itata in the south make excellent Riesling, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.
Spanish settlers, Juan Jufre and Diego Garcia de Cáceres, most likely brought Vitis vinifera (Europe’s wine producing vine species) to the Central Valley of Chile sometime in the 1550s. One fun fact about Chile is that its natural geographical borders have allowed it to avoid phylloxera and as a result, vines are often planted on their own rootstock rather than grafted.