Barbera e Garnacha Erasmo 2019

“Barbera Garnacha” from the Chilean winery Erasmo is an original and unique blend, capable of uniting even three different worlds, both geographically and in terms of winemaking tradition: the flagship grape of the hills of Piemonte, Barbera, is linked to the navigator of the Mediterranean, Grenache, in a vinification conceived from the other side of the Atlantic. A red of great pleasure, which tells something more about the wine surprises that a country like Chile still has in store.

The Erasmo winery produces its “Barbera Garnacha” from the homonymous varieties typical of very distant latitudes, but which have found a decidedly suitable habitat in Chile, of which the Valle de Maule represents the oldest and most extensive wine region. The plots from which the grapes come are located in the Reserva de Caliboro, on the gentle slopes of the central valley of the Maule region: they are alluvial soils, formed by the debris deposited by the flow of the Perquilauquen river. Surprisingly, this region receives no oceanic influence, because the opening towards the coast is blocked by significantly higher elevations: the climate here is typically Mediterranean, with advantageous temperature excursions due to the strong sunlight and the currents that sweep across the plain coming from the Andes. The harvest is carried out by hand at the beginning of April and in the winery, the division into two distinct masses takes place: the first part consists of grapes for blending, while the second half is represented by grapes vinified separately. All fermentations are spontaneous, carried out by indigenous yeasts and take place in stainless steel tanks, with brief macerations on the skins. At the end of the autumn season, the final blending is carried out, which will see Barbera present for 66% and Garnacha for 34%, inside new stainless steel containers that will subsequently be placed at low temperatures for about 45 days, in order to naturally stabilize the wine.