2024 Grillos Cantores - Corinto Mi Nena Blanco (750ml)

Here's your blurb:

2024 Grillos Cantores "Mi Nena" Corinto Blanco, Valle del Itata, Chile

Grillos Cantores is the small side project of Paco Leyton — one of the key figures behind Clos des Fous — born from a chance encounter in Chile's Itata Valley in 2019. The story goes that Paco met José Neira, a farmer in his seventies tending a 1.5-hectare vineyard his grandfather had planted in the late 1800s in the La Leonora subregion of Guarilihue. The vines — head-trained bush vines of Corinto, País, Cinsault, and Aramon — grow on steep slopes of white silt, sand, and granitic soil dense with mica and quartz. Non-irrigated, hand-plowed, naturally farmed. Paco fell in love with it immediately, and "Mi Nena" is the result.

Corinto is the local name for Chasselas, a grape rarely taken seriously outside of Switzerland — but in Itata's ancient soils and cool southern climate, Paco believes it is a supreme terroir translator, prized for its neutral, dry typicity that lets the land speak without interference. The wine is fermented with minimal intervention, aged ten months on its lees for texture and weight, and bottled unfined and unfiltered. The philosophy is simple: clean, pure wines without ego.

In the glass, Mi Nena delivers white pepper, green apple, ripe pear, and a whisper of citrus on the nose, leading to a light-plus-bodied, silky palate of passionfruit, fresh herbs, cream, almond, and sea salt. Bright acidity, a stony mineral spine, and a tart, refreshing finish that lingers longer than you'd expect.

Itata is Chile's most exciting wine region right now — and this is exactly the kind of bottle that explains why.

Drink: Now–2028 | Pair with: Oysters, ceviche, grilled fish, moules frites, goat cheese, sushi