Juicy & fresh - a really easy drinking Merlot

Tasting Notes

Nose

Aromas of plums and cherries mixed with peppery spice and a touch of tabacco leaf.

Palate

The palate is juicy and fresh with soft red fruits and a hint of green pepper.

Producer

Our long-standing working relationships with growers enable us to source premium fruit, with the ultimate aim of making excellent quality Chilean entry level wines with true style and character. For Merlot, we work with two families in two different locations for a blend with huge appeal. The first is the Martin Family who are nestled into the Andes Mountains in a western corner of Curico. Their vineyards sit around 500 metres above sea level (masl), a far higher altitude than the majority of Curico’s main valley which lies around 250masl. Vines are between 40 and 60 years old and part of a 45ha estate where peaches and apples are also grown. The vines are unirrigated and the vineyard is cool with a unique rocky mountain soil and glacial streams.

At this elevated height and proximity to the mountains, Merlot enjoys a long growing season with cool evening temperatures. We love the crunchy plummy fruit character which gives us the backbone to this wine. We blend this with grapes from the El Milagro Estate in the centre of the Curico Valley. The warm temperature and fertile soils allows Merlot to flourish here. Grapes are harvested during the coolest part of the day to ensure they reach the winery in prime condition. Temperatures are kept fairly low throughout the winemaking process, to allow the grapes to express their natural fruit characters. No oak is used. The resulting wine is fuller with more body and softer tannins and works really well with the higher altitude component. The biggest strength of this blend is our ability to balance out warmer and cooler vintages with these two different profiles.

Awards

V17 - Silver at the Catavinum 2018

Specifications

"Ventisquero Explorador - the adventure begins- pays homage to the Exploradores 
glacier (or "Ventisquero" in spanish) in Southern Chile and all the adventurers who begin 
the tour of our wines."

Tasting Notes

It offers a vibrant, youthful aroma of plum, cherry, and cassis with a touch of spice. The palate is smooth and well-balanced, with silky tannins that beautifully blend the fruit and oak.

Vinification

The selected clusters were transported to the winery, where they underwent a 
low-temperature pre-fermentative maceration o bring out the maximum colour and 
aromas. Then the must was fermented in stainless steel tanks at a controlled 
temperature of between 24°C and 26°C.

Producer

Ventisquero has the only wines in the world from the Atacama desert, making wines 
further north than any other winery in Chile. Ventisquero makes wines in all other 
cardinal points, the west, east and south making them a winery of diversity and 
distinction. They are family owned, with 100% estate vineyards and one of the founding 
wineries to push the sustainability movement in Chile. With award winning Chief 
winemaker Felipe Tosso at the helm and world recognised winemaker John Duval, they 
continue to take Ventisquero ‘a step beyond’.

Alan's Personal Tasting Note

Specifications