2016 Chile Flashcards
A Chilean delicacy is Machas-clams found all along the Chilean coast. They are generally grilled and topped with Parmesan cheese. Recommend three Chilean white wines from three different regions and why they would compliment the dish
- Vina Leyda Sauv Blanc Garuma Vineyard from Leyda in the San Antonio Valley
- Ritual Chardonnay from Casablanca Valley
- Morande Brut KO (Champagne method based on PAIS!!! ) from the Maule Valley DO of the Valle Centrale
My wife and I have decided to order the bone-in Rib Eye steak. Could you recommend one red wine from each of the DO’s of Rapel Valley, Curico, Maipo and Maule?
Rapel: Montes Alpha Purple Angel Carmenere or Neyen Apalta cuvee
Curico: Miguel Torres Gran Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon
Maipo: Antiyal Red Blend (Cab, Syrah, Carmenere)
Maule:
In what DO would one find the Antiyal winery?
In the Buin subregion (Andes) of the Maipo DO of the Central Valley DO
Name the grape variety used to produce Vina Montes ‘Purple Angel’
Carmenere
Name the two wineries that partnered to create Vina Almaviva
a joint project between Baron Philippe de Rothschild (Mouton-Rothschild) and Concha y Toro
What was the first vintage for Clos Apalta?
x
Which Central Valley DO produces approximately 25% of all Chilean wine?
Rapel Valley
What regional DO encompasses both the Tutuven and Loncomilla sub-regions?
Tutuven, Lancomilla and the Claro valleys are sub regions of the Maule Valley DO of the Valle Centrale DO
Name the two primary grape varieties found in the Bio Bio DO
Pais and Muscat of Alexandria are the most planted however Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Sauv Blanc and the current focus
How would one describe a typical Chilean wine made from the Pais grape?
Currently, the grape name is forbidden from DO labels, and much production undoubtedly enters into inexpensive pipeño blends for local consumption. (Not to be dismissed outright, the occasionally fizzy, often very fresh pipeños are deliciously drinkable, best chilled, and sometimes made from 100-, 200-, or 300-year old País vines!)
Which of the four regional DO’s of the Central Valley has the least amount of vineyard acreage?
Maipo Valley at 12,000 hectares
Curico is 18,000
Maule is 31,000
Rapel is 41,000
Name the pre-dominant soil type found in Casablanca DO
Sand is the predominant soil
Name Chile’s oldest winery still in operation today
In 1851, after visiting France and gathering vines of his own, a wealthy Chilean industrialist named Silvestre Ochagavía founded Viña Ochagavía, Chile’s first modern winery and the oldest still in operation today.
Name three Chilean wineries established before 1900
Cousiño Macul was established in 1856, Viña San Pedro in 1865, Viña Errázuriz in 1870, Santa Carolina in 1875, Santa Rita in 1880, Concha y Toro in 1883, and Undurraga in 1885.
Merlot and Carmenere were, at one time, confused for one another. Name three differences that separate the two in the vineyard
- Carmenere ripens typically a month later then Merlot
- Carmenere’s cluster is tighter, and its leaves turn a deep red in the autumn. Carmenère is a more difficult grape to graft—this is one of the chief reasons it disappeared in native France after the arrival of phylloxera but thrives in Chile. Both grapes like humid clay soils, but Carmenère needs much warmer sites overall (and the promise of dry weather through mid-May) to ripen successfully.
