Chilean Wine

[sdelli]

I know it is early but I was wondering if anyone has used Chilean grapes? I purchased the juice last year and it was ok.... But this year I would like to get grapes. I was thinking from M&M ..... If you did how did they turn out? I was interested in the Merlot and was also wondering if they grow any Pinot Noir?
Thanks

 

[skipdonohue]

2010 100% Chilean Malbec from grapes was the best wine I've ever made.. highly recommend

 

[Pumpkinman]

I read that a group of winemakers purchased a large amount of Chilean grapes in 2012 and had the absolute worst experience with them. I purchased Chilean juice buckets and have been real pleased so far.

 

[ShawnDTurner]

I purchased Juice and grapes/Pinot Noir 2012 - 2013. Overall I was happy with the grapes. I am very pleased with the Pinot Noir so far, all signs point to a very nice wine indeed! I used a combination of grapes and juice. Cheers!

 

[Boatboy24]

I did Carmenere and Malbec juice buckets last year and "enhanced" each one with 18lbs of grapes. Carmenere has been in a barrel for three months, with one or two more to go. Then the Malbec will go in. So far, they are pretty good. I got a press in the fall and will do an all-grape blend this spring. Probably Cab Sauv, Cab Franc and Merlot.

Everything I've read about M&M has been positive.

 

[Pumpkinman]

Jim, that sounds like a nice Bordeaux in the making!

 

[JohnT]

I give chillean grapes a "big thumbs up". I have made several and It seems the quality is there. The thing to remember, though, is that the price of a box of chilliean grapes is based on an 18 pound box (or a 1/2 lug) and not a standard lug of 36 pounds. at approx. $25 per 1/2 lug, these grapes are VERY expensive.

 

[Lavorgna]

I bought Chilian Cab Sav grapes last May in Monroe CT. Still testing the waters so far so good but needs aging. They were expensive for half a box.
Debating if I should buy more this May or go with a juice (never tried making wine from a bucket...experiment time)

 

[Pumpkinman]

I agree with Jim about adding crushed grapes to the fermenter when making Juice buckets, the difference is like night and day!
M&M is great, the owner, Frank Musto stands behind his products 100%, they made a life long loyal customer out of me.

 

[Boatboy24]

My Carmenere came out of the barrel over the weekend. It was a 6gal bucket with 18lbs of grapes added. It has great body and killer legs and is really coming around. 9 months old now, but I think it is going to be quite good. JohnT is right, the grapes aren't cheap. But a bucket and 18lbs of grapes, plus yeast, chems, MLB, etc; and you've got 7 gallons of really nice wine for under $100. I'm rethinking going all grape due to the price and with how well mine are coming out. I may go with a bucket of Cab Sauv, and a lug of merlot and cab franc or syrah, then co-ferment.

 

[ShawnDTurner]

I 3rd it. Last year I did chilean pinot with 100 llbs of grapes, its turning out wonderful. I also did merlot from california with 100 lbs of cab. All juice buckets all wonderful

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[sdelli]

Does anyone know the difference between grapes from the Colchagua Valley and from Curico Valley? It sounds like the ones from Colchagua are better.....


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[geek]

I bought Malbec in May and put through MLF, it is now close to bottle, brief taste revealed a nice and flavorful wine, even though I didn't add crush grapes.

Next time I will add crush grape for sure.

 

[sour_grapes]

Does anyone know the difference between grapes from the Colchagua Valley and from Curico Valley? It sounds like the ones from Colchagua are better.....

Extended quote from my copy of "The World Atlas of Wine":
I may get around to proofreading at some date.

The burgeoning and varied region of Rapel to the immediate south of Maipo encompasses the valleys of Cachapoal in the north (including the Rancagual, Requioa, an Rengo areas -- all names occasionally found on labels), and fashionable Colchagua to the south, including San Fernando, Nancagual, Chimbarongo, and Marchigue, and Apalta, where Montes and Lapostolle, are based. Cachapoal and, especially, Colchagua, are names more often found on labels than Rapel, which tends to be reserved for blends from both subregions. Colchagua, where Luis Felipe Edwards has planted vines as high as 3300 ft., has earned itself a reputation for Chile's most succulent and concentrated Merlot. As throughout Chile, soils vary enormously, even with small zones such as Colchagua, but there is some of Merlot's classic partner clay here as well as the usual Chilean cocktail of silty loam and sand, and some volcanic areas. Red and white blends, such as this from Altair and Calyptra, are becoming some of Cachapoal's more respected wince.


Quite a way down the PanAmerican Highway, with its ancient trucks and unpredictable fauna, are the vineyards of Curico, including the Lontue zone, which is often specified on wine labels. Here the climate becomes slightly more temperate and irrigation is less likely to be a necessity. Average rainfall is ten times higher than in the Elqui Valley, the frost risk is very much higher, and the Coastal Rage extend far enough east to efficiently block any Pacific influence. Miguel Torres of Catalunya famously invested in a winery here in 1979, the same year that Baron Philippe de Rothschild struck another seminal transatlantic deal with Robert Mondavi of Cailifornia, and this act of faith in wine country once thought of as being impossibly far south was followed by many others. The San Pedro winery at Molinas is surrounded by South America's larger block of vines (3000 acres/1200 ha), which is run like much in the Chilean wine industry, with a technical precision far from any Latin American stereotype.

 

[sdelli]

Extended quote from my copy of "The World Atlas of Wine":
I may get around to proofreading at some date.

Thanks Paul..... M&M seems to offer the ability to get grapes from either area. I think I am going to get grapes from Colchagua Valley as long as the price is close..... Everything I read seems to state this area just a little better....

Sam

 

[sour_grapes]

You are welcome, Sam. I typed it in last night after having had a little too much fruit of the vine! I proofread it this morning, though, so it should be in better shape than last night.