2019 Miguel Torres - Carignan Cordillera (750ml)

Miguel Torres Chile, part of the five generation Familia Torres group founded in 1870s Spain, arrived in Chile's Maule Valley in 1979 as the country's first foreign owned winery. Having introduced stainless steel fermentation to the region in the 1980s, the estate turned that same technology toward reviving Carignan, a grape long relegated to anonymous bulk blends, releasing its first Cordillera Carignan in 1996. That effort helped spark a broader movement, and by 2010 Miguel Torres joined a group of like minded producers to found VIGNO, Chile's first appellation built specifically around old, dry farmed Carignan vines in the Maule countryside.

This bottling draws on old vines from the Huerta de Maule and Melozal zones within that dry farmed interior, where vines survive without irrigation on granitic soils. The grapes macerate for about two weeks before a portion ferments in stainless steel, with malolactic fermentation completed entirely in French oak. The wine then ages for fourteen months in French barrels, a mix of new and previously used wood, before bottling.

Deep ruby in the glass, this Carignan offers a floral, fruity nose of sweet and sour cherry, plum, and blackberry, layered with baking spice, bay leaf, and a whisper of gunpowder from the barrel. The palate is dry and juicy, with fine, taut tannins giving it a nimble, energetic character. It pairs well with grilled quail, charcuterie, or aged pecorino.