Louis-Antoine Luyt Pipeno Pais Carrizal

100% Pais. The fruit for Carrizal is organically grown by 43-year-old Ernesto Soto in the Maule region (at the southern end of the Central Valley of Chile, 150 miles south of Santiago). His vines are 250 years old, planted on deep, sandy, decomposed-granite soils. "Pipeno” is the term for traditional huaso, or farmer, wine: all of Luyt’s are made by the farmers on their own properties with the logistical support of Louis-Antoine and his team.

Each of the Luyt pipenos are all made similarly: the fruit is hand-harvested and de-stemmed; the wine is fermented with natural yeasts in traditional, open-top vats known as lagares with a relatively short maceration; and the wine is then aged briefly before bottling with a small amount of sulfur. In the case of the Carrìzal, there is a saignee or bleeding of juice to concentrate the wine; its aging is in stainless steel tanks for two months. Very similar to a gamay. Tasting Notes: Crisp bouquet of berries, wet dirt and a touch of apple. Bright, tart, light bodied with a very nice finish and plush tannins.