Caliterra

Winemaker Comment

A very deep attractive ruby red colour shows a young wine at the moment of its release. On the nose the wine is intense, but elegant, with acid perfume notes probably coming from the cherry aromas that also outstand. Barrel scents emphasize more than usual, but with a couple of months of bottle ageing the wine will be completely integrated. On the palate, very tasty notes and complex aromas enhance, although in a soft and elegant way. A long after tasting with a pleasant end.

Vintage Note

After a winter of few, though concentrated rains, the Quillay sector in which the Cabernet Sauvignon is planted behaved splendidly in terms of growth, production and quality. This area is rich in variable soil conditions, sun exhibitions and slopes, for what it remains immune to seasonal oscillations. This way, every small space of the vineyard originates a special interpretation of the climate of every year, which at the end of the vintage develops into the particular character of the Tributo range for our Cabernet version. This year, the Cabernet Sauvignon was complimented with 5% of Carménère searching for round spicy notes, a 3% of sweet noted Shiraz and a 3% of Petit Verdot to deliver structure in the final blend.

Fermentation and Aging

For some time we have been working our vineyards with the Polygonal Harvest System. This process rationally separates the heterogeneous grapes among the different lots, differences generated by the diversity of soils present in the estate. With the use of state-of-the-art technology through multispectral images, we are able to know the level of maturity from each vine and group them in specific polygons for harvesting. Harvesting this way, takes to the winery standard groups of fruit from a specific polygon and not a mass of grapes with different degrees of ripeness. This implies working in much smaller lots united to the variations that occur naturally in the soil under the vines.

Fermentation started at 28º Celsius and was later decreased, with the idea to avoid over extraction of skin elements. The wine aged in oak barrels, 60% American and 40% French, for a period of fourteen months. In this phase, malolactic fermentation took place.