{"id":3089,"date":"2019-02-07T21:19:51","date_gmt":"2019-02-07T21:19:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.winex.com\/stockreport\/?p=3089"},"modified":"2019-02-07T21:19:51","modified_gmt":"2019-02-07T21:19:51","slug":"an-exciting-refuge-from-high-pinot-noir-prices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.winex.com\/stockreport\/2019\/02\/07\/an-exciting-refuge-from-high-pinot-noir-prices\/","title":{"rendered":"AN EXCITING ‘REFUGE’ FROM HIGH PINOT NOIR PRICES"},"content":{"rendered":"

We said back in January, 2016, \u201cWe expect Chile to continue its breakout ways and surprise us with more \u2018wait, that\u2019s from Chile?\u2019 type stuff…\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0The progress has been coming slowly, progressively, and unimpeded for a few years now.\u00a0 But it seemed like we started seeing some really<\/em> ambitious new things coming along through the latter part of 2015.\u00a0 It was clear then that the Chileans are going through an \u2018awakening\u2019 of historic proportion. They are finding new terroirs and creating new projects, as well as rediscovering and reenergizing some of their longtime producing areas.<\/p>\n

Definitely the biggest surprise in Chile has been Pinot Noir.\u00a0 Who knew? With over 2600 miles of coastline, it makes perfect sense that there would exist some unique spots in coastal valleys with mediating ocean influence in which Pinot would thrive.\u00a0 Folks think of Chile as Cabernet country, but the real excitement has been producers figuring out what to do with other varietals.\u00a0 Some of these breakout Chilean Pinot Noirs have been very compelling stories, though we still haven\u2019t run across a more interesting tale than Montsecano.<\/p>\n

The cast of characters is small, but interesting.\u00a0 Julio Donoso, who founded this estate, is a world famous photographer who had a passion to create a wine project from scratch.\u00a0 This he did by researching a number of different terroirs not far inland from the Chilean coast.\u00a0 He settled on a rather wild, unspoiled spot located near the town of Las These, in the commune of Casablanca. The narrow, winding road leading to the cellar speaks volumes about his Cordillera de la Costa.\u00a0 Here, 10 kilometers from the sea, there\u2019s no power, steep slopes and poor granitic soils, an unattractive place to establish \u2018conventional\u2019 viticulture, but Montsecano is anything but.<\/p>\n

Of course, by nature, photographers see things a little differently.\u00a0 Hence, against the advice of the locals, the not-particularly-conventional Donoso planted six hectares (about 15 acres) of Pinot Noir on steep, rocky hillsides in the Chilean version of \u2018the middle-of-nowhere\u2019.\u00a0 Who was going to make <\/em>this Pinot?\u00a0 Well, Julio took the next \u2018logical\u2019 step by enlisting the services of one of Alsace\u2019s greatest talents, Andre Ostertag, who is typically not as busy in France during Chile\u2019s (opposite) growing season.\u00a0 The idea of working with reds intrigued Ostertag.\u00a0 Thus, a label was born.<\/p>\n

Andre also directs the farming, which is done biodynamically, with plowing by horses.\u00a0 The cellar, which is unobtrusively wedged into a hillside, has no corners (it\u2019s oval).\u00a0 The wines are made as naturally as possible in a facility that depends on natural power, and there is no oak involved as everything is done in stainless steel and concrete eggs. \u00a0We featured this walk-on-the-wild-side project a couple of years ago and they have only improved in that time<\/p>\n

These clearly delineated, expressive Pinot Noirs are considered by some among the best wines in South America.\u00a0\u00a0 They are still not a household word around these parts because they don\u2019t make a lot of wine and are brought in by a small, extremely passionate and knowledgeable importer who hasn\u2019t had much time to \u2018network\u2019 yet.\u00a0 But here they are making news again with their Montsecano Pinot Noir Refugio Casablanca Valley 2017<\/strong><\/span><\/a>.\u00a0 This is a dark, powerful Pinot that, quite honest, takes a little while to open up, but has a remarkable density and purity of fruit to reward a little patience.\u00a0 \u00a0Full bodied, plush, superbly balanced, this has a seamless, sweet core of mulberry are dark cherry fruit with subtle streaks of minerality.\u00a0\u00a0 The original bottling we reviewed (2015) was a James Suckling 93, and so is this one.<\/p>\n

But the energetic review by wine Advocate\u2019s Luis Gutierrez kicks it up a notch, \u201cThe 2017 Refugio Pinot Noir shows a reductive personality that I love as well as some flinty notes, so decanting in advance could be a good idea… Ostertag’s son, Arthur, is now involved in the winemaking, and as a result, they made a lot of changes in 2017, such as including about 25% full clusters in the fermentation. They use no sulfur <\/strong>and no oak<\/strong> in the production of this wine, and it has some of the character from the full clusters. However, the palate is very relaxed and harmonious and also mineral, with plenty of finesse and perfectly ripe fruit without excess. This is subtle, elegant and simply amazing;<\/strong> it has depth yet is approachable and very drinkable. I love the style of this wine. I believe this is the best vintage they have ever produced. A real bargain. I’d buy this by the case.<\/strong>..94 points<\/em><\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n

All of that and under $20? Couldn\u2019t have said it better ourselves.<\/p>\n

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We said back in January, 2016, \u201cWe expect Chile to continue its breakout ways and surprise us with more \u2018wait, that\u2019s from Chile?\u2019 type stuff…\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0The progress has been coming slowly, progressively, and unimpeded for a few years now.\u00a0 But it seemed like we started seeing some really ambitious new things coming along through the … Continue reading “AN EXCITING ‘REFUGE’ FROM HIGH PINOT NOIR PRICES”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[20],"tags":[9,292,476,477,96,475],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winex.com\/stockreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3089"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winex.com\/stockreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winex.com\/stockreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winex.com\/stockreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winex.com\/stockreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3089"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.winex.com\/stockreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3089\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3090,"href":"https:\/\/www.winex.com\/stockreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3089\/revisions\/3090"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winex.com\/stockreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winex.com\/stockreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winex.com\/stockreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}