Old Vine Pale
Carignan-Mataró
2o17 – Lot 73

“The 2017 is a bit of a geeky rosé/chilled red, perhaps a little more austere than in the previous year, from the same origin. It has a very tasty palate that literally makes you hungry for food. This has to be the best version of this unusual wine to date, which is especially remarkable given the conditions of the 2017 vintage. It has moderate alcohol and high acidity, which got me salivating…” – LG

Alcohol: 12.6
pH  3,05
Acidez:  6,23
Azúcar residual: 1,7

11 barrels Carignan & 1 barrel Mataró
3518 bottles filled

 

In a nutshell : 

  • Is it a rosé or a chilled red? Answer: “It’s the first glass of a long Chilean lunch”
  • Grower / partner Orellana family
  • Ancestral farming cultivating vineyard by hand and horse
  • Truquilemu is perhaps the freshest corner of The Maule secano where reds just manage to ripen. This light red is cut earlier than the regular Truquilemu Vineyard.
  • Truquilemu Vineyard is found on the Coastal Range of mountains (much older and slower to cool than the Andes) Soils are granitic and sub-soils have cracked granite that allow roots to get deep into cracks.

 

the Vintage:

With such short skin contact this was one of the least complicated wines to make in 2017. It is somewhat austere in the spirit of the original 2012 and e like this very much.

Denominación de Origen: Truquilemu / Empedrado / Maule Valley    (Secano Interior)

Tipo:  First glass of a long Chilean lunch.

Tipo de uva: Carignan with a smidgen of Mataró.

the Vineyard:

It is hard to imagine someone having the patience and deep pockets to plant a red vineyard in this part of Empedrado. (It is simply so cool many years) It must have taken forever for these vineyards to have come into their own. Thank god someone had the foresight to be patient all those years ago whilst the vineyard could grow old.

the Making:

  • Ancestral farming by hand and horse
  • Naturally fermented with native yeasts
  • Fermented without skins in two parts: part of the blend pressed out like a white and part made as a red without skins.
  • Aged in barrels over ONE winter— barrels third use or more.
  • Yeasts native (we add Truquilemu wine from previous vintage to a pie de cuba)
  • No temp control (besides opening closing windows) open tank, no nada

Elevage:

  • Aged in barrels over one winter— barrels third use or more.

¿How many lots of this wine are there?
Just the one. The 73rd wine we have bottled produced since 2001 it is marked Lot # 73

 

 

T a s t i n g   N o t e s

Descorchados 2019 Patricio Tapia
Old Vine Pale Rosé 2017 Best Rosé from Chile (2nd yr running)
 – 93 pts Patricio Tapia

 

Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate # 239
Old Vine Pale, Truquilemu Vineyard Empedrado, Carignan & Mataró  2017  – Lot # 73 – 91 Pts
The 2017 Old Vine Pale is a bit of a geeky rosé/chilled red, perhaps a little more austere than in the previous year, from the same origin. It has a very tasty palate that literally makes you hungry for food. This has to be the best version of this unusual wine to date, which is especially remarkable given the conditions of the 2017 vintage. It has moderate alcohol and high acidity, which got me salivating… This was produced from 11 barrels of Carignan and one of Mataró. 3,518 bottles were filled in October 2017. Drink 2018 – 2023 Luis Gutierrez

 

Notes on Previous Vintages from this parcel

 

Descorchados 2018 Patricio Tapia
Old Vine Pale Rosé 2016 Best Rosé from Chile 
- 93 pts
Dominado por una acidez deliciosa, este tinto se mueve con nervio por la boca, como su tuviera su propia luz. Delicioso.

 

Vinous – Antonio Galloni, Feb 2017
Old Vine Pale Truquilemu Vineyard Carignan & Mataró Field-blend 2016  – Lot # 63 – 91 Pts
(aged in neutral French oak barrels for three months; pH 3.2) Deep lurid pink. Fresh raspberry, blood orange and candied rose on the expressive nose. Pliant and seamless in texture, offering intense red fruit and floral pastille flavors that are lifted and braced by a spine of juicy acidity. Puts on weight with air while maintaining urgency, and finishes sappy and very long, showing excellent focus and lingering raspberry character. I’d consider this suave, insanely easy-to-drink wine as more “light red” than “rosé.”  Drink 2018 – 2023 Josh Raynolds

 

Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate # 23o
Old Vine Pale Truquilemu Vineyard Carignan & Mataró  2016  – Lot # 63 – 90 Pts
One of eleven single vineyard bottlings from Garage Wine Co, the 2016 Old Vine Pale is a rosé sourced from Triquilemu, Empedrado in the Maule Valley. It is a blend of mostly Carignan and a little Mataró (Monastrell or Mourvedre) from the vines of the Orellana family who follow ancestral farming traditions, cultivating everything by hand and horse. Derek Mossman considers Triquilemu the freshest corner of dry-farmed Maule where reds just manage to ripen. It’s not clear if this is a rosé or a pale red, he now tells me this is a pale red intended to be chilled. 2016 is an austere year, and the wine is 13.1% alcohol with a low pH (3.1) and remarkable acidity. It aged in barrel for one winter. Light, spicy and musky. They have changed the style by taking Garnacha out and making it more austere, removing the sensation of sweetness. This is marked Lot #63. There were seven barrels of Carignan and one of Mataró, so some 2,200 bottles in total. It was bottled in November 2016. I also tasted the first version of this wine, from 2012, and it was still very much alive.

 

James Suckling . com
Old Vine Pale Truquilemu Vineyard Empedrado Carignan & Mataró  2015  – Lot # 53 – 91 Pts
This is the best rosé in Chile? Full body, with lots of cherry, watermelon and lemon character. Bright acidity. Some phenolics. So delicious – and serious. A blend of carignan, garnacha and monastrell.

 

Pictures of this vineyard taken over the past few years:

https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/gwcotruquilemuvineyard/