Caliterra

Winemaker Comment

At the beginning our Tributo Carménère 2008 has an intense colour, almost black, combined with a perfect presentation. On the nose, the wine is a witness of ripe vines delivering years of consistency. Preserved aromas, toffee and fruits, such as blueberries, mix with cream notes and almonds. Other aromatic layers show the classical tobacco and smoke notes at the end of the tasting. Once on the palate, outstanding, soft and filling silky notes, with slight nerves makes a very tasty wine. Long and very nice finish that can last over 100 seconds.

Vintage Note

This viticultural season was marked by the inauguration of our new barrel cellar, built during the year 2007 for the aging of red and white wines. This is a very special moment for Caliterra due to the technical connection between the wine and the oenological team.
While we looked around the vines we could enjoy how well taken care they were by the great viticultural management, as well as the response of the plants towards this performance. From the very first day, in specific selected areas, the must was seen with an outstanding potential. The wines will have good volume, outstanding tannins and a long life.

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. This year 2008 is considered one of the warmest years in the last decades; perfect for a variety as Carménère.
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, 70% American and 30% French, for a period of fourteen months. In this phase, malolactic fermentation took place.