Viña Errazuriz Aconcagua Costa Chardonnay

There is merit in the middle ground; but it is not always easy to find it. This is the experience of Chilean winegrowers, who have to do a lot of hard work to understand the great diversity of soils and terroirs that make up this country that stretches along the western edge of South America. This is what they do at the Errazuriz winery, one of the oldest in the country, where the result of their research is Viña Errazuriz Aconcagua Costa Chardonnay.

Viña Errazuriz Aconcagua Costa Chardonnay is a single-variety Chardonnay grown in the Aconcagua Valley (the northernmost valley north of the central zone), right on the coastal strip, about 12 kilometres from the Pacific Ocean. This last detail is tremendously important because of the maritime influence and cold currents. It is important to spell out that Chile, which lies vertically on the map and is a long land mass, is not only organised into valleys and zones, but is also divided horizontally into three zones: the coast (between the Pacific Ocean and the Cordillera Litoral), Entre Cordilleras (from the Cordillera Litoral to the Andes) and finally Los Andes. When it comes to the Aconcagua Valley, lying at the mouth of the river, the vineyards are cooled in the dry seasons by the masses of cold air blowing in from the sea and descending from the mountain ranges and higher points.

Viña Errazuriz Aconcagua Costa Chardonnay is the result of many years of research that culminated in 2005 and 2009 with the planting of this silt-textured vineyard, with a clay and rocky base (where slate stands out). With a temperate Mediterranean climate, winter rains and dry summers, the grapes finish ripening around February, when they are harvested by hand early in the morning. The main objective is to ensure that the grapes reach the winery in perfect condition, so the bunches are carefully transported to the presses, where they are crushed whole and without destemming. After this, the must passes directly to stainless steel tanks, where it remains cold for some time until all the suspended particles are decanted and cleaned.

Gradually, once clean, Viña Errazuriz Aconcagua Costa Chardonnay is racked into used French oak barrels and prepared to begin fermenting with native yeasts. This process, which takes place entirely in wood, gives the wine great complexity, and is enhanced by the malolactic fermentation (which only 45% of the wine goes through). Finally, Viña Errazuriz Aconcagua Costa Chardonnay is blended and returned to used French oak barrels where it spends almost a year finishing the rounding off process.