The press publishing things on the wines / the business of Garage. Third party expert opinions.
The buyer article: How reviving Chile’s old vines has been a force for good
The world over winemakers are increasingly turning to the benefits of working with old vines helped enormously by the research, insights and leadership of initiatives like the Old Vine Project in South Africa and the Old Vine Conference. One of these winemaking pioneers is Derek Mossman Knapp and his Garage Wine Co in Maule in Southern Chile who is taking the old vine movement one step further by not just reviving old vineyards, but doing so in a way that ensures the local rural community also has a long term source of sustainable income. He explains to Richard Siddle why working hand-in-hand with old vines and local communities are ineluctably entwined.

“Old vines are not delicate museum pieces, they are living breathing patrimony. They have ongoing needs. While it is a good first step to revive them, it is also necessary to reconnect them with the local economy. Only can we then hope to sustain them.” The Garage Wine Company’s Derek Mossman Knapp explains his winemaking philosophy.
The wine industry is no different to any other sector that produces and supplies goods and products to retailers and third parties to sell. Every wine business in that industry is responsible for employing and looking after people either directly, or indirectly down the supply chain it helps to create. How well it does that is down to the individuals that run it.
It also has one other big responsibility and that is looking after the raw materials, the vines, grapes and vineyards that allow them to make wine to sell in the first place.
They are responsibilities that Derek Mossman Knapp and his wife, Pilar Miranda, and the Garage Wine Company have taken very seriously ever since they first started making wine in Chile back in 2001. A business very much rooted not just in making good quality, premium Chilean wine, but in how it can “be a force for good” for the communities they work in and with, says Mossman Knapp.

Its Old Vine Revival is one example of what it has been doing for more than two decades. “The project not only regenerates life in the soil of the vineyards and with it the vines themselves, but also the community,” he says.
“Most old vines, wherever they are, fall into decline for similar reasons: they are too far from centralised modern wineries (not to mention paved roads), their rows are too narrow to mechanise (they were planted before such machines existed), they are often too small to yield enough fruit to fill a truck, and they have no water source for drip irrigation.”
He adds: “Mainstream winery labels are not apt for such challenges. The margins may be better, but there is no potential to scale if the label becomes a hit. There are principles that should apply to any business that depends upon raw materials—in this case: grapes. A business produces and supplies goods to importers and distributors for retailers and hospitality. A business makes it, or not, by creating a viable supply chain. How well they do this depends upon the individuals that run it, but that is not the whole picture. Business has one other crucial responsibility, and that is looking after the source of raw materials, the vines and vineyards that allow them the fruit to ferment into wine in the first place.”
Elbow to elbow
These are responsibilities that Mossman Knapp and his wife, Pilar Miranda, and the Garage Wine Company have taken very seriously ever since they first went to Maule back in the early 2000s. Theirs is a business rooted not just in making fine wine from old vines, but also: how a business there can be “a force for good”. A force to insure the vines are in better condition due to the work it does.

“Do things better, and work harder, and eventually the hardest working farmers who are doing things better will want to do business with you. This is what has allowed us to gain momentum harvest after harvest,” he stresses.
“There was an established and more direct route to grow a winery business—we didn’t take it. I remember concerned colleagues insisting we contract out and keep our labour costs low, but in short order we realised that making proper wine depended upon growing quality fruit and that depended upon the people working the vines and our direct involvement with them ‘codo a codo’ – elbow to elbow.”
It’s also not the easiest option to take. “Old Vines are hard work. It is not a sunny day, good times kind of business. It´s long term, incremental work, going against the grain, and the odds, with continued duress. To make progress you must conjure up new ways to keep going forward.”
Which brings us to the “Old-vine Revival” label which was was created to keep people safe during the pandemic.
Mossman Knapp explains how it came about: “Fate conspired against us, when Covid began spreading just before harvest began. We doubled down. There was a case that came too close to home when a worker with Covid shared a van shared with other workers from other towns to travel to prune on a farm farther south. We thought about what could happen if the pandemic took hold in the community and looked at how we could create a safe work environment using controlled family bubbles. That’s when we thought about reviving old Pais vines in their own neighbourhoods that were being neglected. All we had to do was to find a buyer(s) for an en primeur unnamed wine made from the all but unknown variety.
Trade support En Primeur
He is quick to praise Garage’s UK distributors, Freixenet Copestick, for getting behind the project from the start calling managing director, Robin Copestick, his “co-conspirateur” who had been equally inspired about what they could do to help local workers and their communities through such a difficult and anxious time.
For Copestick it was about making a commitment to “help finance a wine” that could make a genuine difference “that we could believe in”. It was about helping a community to be able to maintain its independence by “reconnecting it to the wine trade” to keep family farms and skills going.
Copestick explains: “When I visited the vineyards for the 2022 harvest, I was struck by the quality of the grapes that were being picked as well as the passion and teamwork amongst the vignerons who were at once workers and vineyard owners. It makes for a delicious, but also unique wine. We are delighted to be associated with such a project and hope there is a better chance more of the younger members of the community will see opportunities to stay on the farm.”

Mossmann Knapp says he is particularly pleased to have the chance to work with País: “It’s such a wonderful grape variety and has such an amazing story to tell.”
Its history in Chile is documented as far back as 1548, shortly after it arrived from the Canary Islands and soon became the wine served for Catholic Mass.
The fact 20 plus generations of winemakers have gone before him making País makes it even more special, he adds. And the fact it is now the hipster grape variety that all the cool wine bars want to have in Brooklyn.
“It goes back to before when Michelangelo was painting the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican. It’s an honour to play what is a short cameo role in the stewardship of these vines.”
Farming across the centuries
The soils and land where the old Pais vines are planted have been so neglected that it is particularly hard work to break it up and allow the vines to shine again, he adds. It’s why they use traditional farming methods with a horse and plough.
“You are really having to toil the land here. The traditional way of farming is very much in keeping with how the local community lives. They are in tune with the land, the seasons and what they are growing and eating through the seasons of the year. They live on the land, by the land and for the land.”

“The farmers are, in many ways closer to the traditions and way of life from all those years ago than today. As well as working with grapes, they grow a wide range of vegetables ripe at different times of the year and they keep their own animals. That way they are pretty much self sufficient and don’t rely entirely on their grapes.
“It is a kind of 360 degree farming – or what the gurus would say: holistic. They can teach us a lot more than just how to grow grapes that are balanced and flavourful. I didn’t study viticulture in a classroom and lab, I learned with boots on and sleeves rolled up. I think it fascinating the farmers wait for the luna menguante, or waning moon before pruning, having no inkling what bio-dynamics is or who Steiner was. When coming to visit, it is important to show up in work clothes and dig in.
“We are working with people who are citizens of the earth. They can teach us so much. It has been fascinating to better understand their approach to agriculture. They eat better than we do.”
He adds: “You have to show them we are in as deep as they are and want to do business with them for the next 50 years. That’s how they respect you.”

Old-vine Revival is one of a franchise of initiatives that Garage has taken on over the years. Following the 2010 earthquake in Chile, Garage worked with local growers in Maule to make wines made from neglected vines of Cariñena. They grafted field blends on small farms extending existing old-vine Cariñena with Garnacha and Monastrell and called the wine The Ploughmen.
When the wild fires hit Chile in 2017, and the region of Maule in particular, Garage introduced its Phoenix label: a País-Cariñena made white, “born of the ashes” that meant grapes were being paid for when far too many wineries stepped back leaving the farmers in the lurch.
“There have been many challenges, but what hasn’t killed us has made us stronger and gotten us working harder.”
He adds: “My wife Pilar says we are being tested by the elements: first earth, then fire and then air. We doubt the deluge is coming any time soon. Each provided an opportunity to get more of the families and their vineyards included in the works, building strong links with the small farmers through better understanding of where the pressure points are.
“Today we buy from almost everyone on our harvest–pruning–earthworks team. When incorporating sites, we show them how we want to work, what we are doing on other sites and bring them into our shared journey. When our importers visit, we all share lunch and stories about the wines on tables around the world. Together, we learn to look at our soils differently. We adopt skills and knowledge from all sides.
Working in partnership
“Our model is to: One – own in part; Two – rent in part; and three – purchase fruit in part. In this way we can: One – show by example; Two – support farms where elders are slowing down and unable to do all the physical work; and three – always be trying new things and supporting new vignerons who share our vision as we grow.”

He adds: “Working in this way, it is natural to adopt longer-term ideas for doing business. Business as a means for doing good is just another way of saying long-term business. If hundreds of years ago settlers planted vineyards to last hundreds of years, is it so difficult to stretch the measuring stick to measure a little further ahead?”
Farming, he argues, is not as sexy as geology in today’s wine trade, but it is critically important.
“If the farming has stripped the soil, between the rocks and the vines, of organic matter so that funghi and bacteria can no longer do their work, then what will transform a site’s geology into something a vine’s roots can absorb? You can analyse all the subsoils you want, but living soils are crucial to their expression in the glass,” he says.
Bringing Maule to the trade
Mossman Knapp says he is particularly enjoying taking these ideas and sharing them with the on-trade and business development team at Jascots, the on-trade arm of Freixenet Copestick, where, he says, there is a real focus on introducing the wines to the right customers.
He says: “London has a tremendous sommelier community. I am humbled by the time and attention they afford us, and intrigued by the dialogue. Some days I am more than a little bit intimidated. We began in the Garage, and for a dozen years no one knew us or imagined our precarious beginnings. Today there is a bar to maintain and we do not take it lightly. Buyers no longer consider us quirky, they know the wines and want to know more about their making. We are in a half a dozen countries, including Poland, Denmark, Romania, all because a sommelier working in London went home and insisted Garage should be on the list there.”

It can, he says, seem a long way from Maule in Chile when he is out introducing his wines to sommeliers in fine dining restaurants in central London, and other major cities around the world. But he is also mighty proud to have the chance to tell the story about how those wines were made and the fact that running a wine business can genuinely be a force for good.
They are also making very good quality wines. It is, for example, tied for the highest rated Chilean wine ever in Jancis Robinson MW’s Purple pages and Cru Truquilemu and Vigno by Garage are the highest rated wines from Chile by Luis Gutierrez on Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate.
Mossman Knapp admits getting critical success for the wines has meant they have been much wider tasted when Cariñena, and or Chile, would not otherwise have been considered for the list.
“For the last 10 – 15 years we have worked hard to tell the story of old-vine Maule. I had to jam my foot in many a door of those who were not interested in New World all-to-well-associated-with-supermarket wines. That has changed. No one buys on ratings, but their curiosity gets them tasting and the wines do the rest.”
Old vines specialist
“We are an Old-vines specialist. Slowly, but surely, we have changed the conversation to this. And old vines has opened up lists and opportunities for many beyond just our humble Garage Wine Co. The very idea that a Cariñenas from the coastal range would rock the foundations of blue-chip Cabernet from Maipo was crazy – but when the wines were recommended as being more cellarable, that, yes, made us happy. But, beyond the joy and contentment for Pilar, Alvaro, Ernesto and I, without doubt this is a broader recognition for the old vines of the Maule and Itata and for the farmers who have been the stewards of these vineyards and this viticulture for generations, and for wine made small on purpose— more hand and land, less brand.¨
Which takes him back 10 years and when he and Pilar were wondering what difference Garage Wine Co could make and what gave them the confidence to follow the path they have.
Mossman Knapp answers quickly: “Put that way, it is the easiest question today: Working with the small farmers in Maule, we were standing on the shoulders of giants”
- The Garage Wine Co wines are distributed in the UK by Freixenet Copestick, including the new 2021 País Old Vine Revival wine and are available to the on-trade through Jascots and direct to consumers at www.slurp.co.uk.
The buyer article: Cómo el revivir de los viñedos viejos ha sido una fuerza para el bien
Los viticultores de todo el mundo se interesan cada vez más por las ventajas de trabajar con viñas viejas, ayudados en gran medida por la investigación, los conocimientos y el liderazgo de iniciativas como el Old Vine Project de Sudáfrica y la Old Vine Conference. Uno de estos pioneros de la viticultura es Derek Mossman Knapp y su Garage Wine Co, en Maule, al sur de Chile, que está llevando el movimiento de las viñas viejas un paso más allá, no sólo recuperando antiguos viñedos, sino haciéndolo de forma que la comunidad rural local disponga también de una fuente de ingresos sostenible a largo plazo. Explica a Richard Siddle por qué trabajar codo con codo con las viñas viejas y las comunidades locales es ineludible.

“Las viñas viejas no son delicadas piezas de museo, son patrimonio vivo que respira. Tienen necesidades permanentes. Aunque es un buen primer paso revivirlas, también es necesario
reconectarlas con la economía local. Sólo así podremos aspirar a mantenerlas”. Derek Mossman
Knapp, de The Garage Wine Company, explica su filosofía vinícola.
La industria vitivinícola no es diferente de cualquier otro sector que produzca y suministre bienes y productos a minoristas y terceros para su venta. Todas las empresas vitivinícolas del sector son responsables de emplear y cuidar a las personas, ya sea directamente o indirectamente a lo largo de la cadena de suministro que contribuyen a crear. Su eficacia depende de las personas que la
dirigen.
También tiene otra gran responsabilidad: cuidar de las materias primas, las vides, las uvas y los viñedos que les permiten producir el vino que venden. Son responsabilidades que Derek Mossman Knapp y su mujer, Pilar Miranda, y la Garage Wine Company se han tomado muy en serio desde que empezaron a elaborar vino en Chile allá por 2001. Un negocio muy arraigado no sólo en la elaboración de vino chileno de primera calidad, sino en cómo puede “ser una fuerza positiva” para las comunidades en las que trabajan y con las que colaboran, afirma Mossman Knapp.

Su proyecto Old Vine Revival es un ejemplo de lo que llevan haciendo más de dos décadas. “El proyecto no sólo regenera la vida en el suelo de los viñedos y con ella las propias vides, sino también la comunidad”, afirma.
“La mayoría de las viñas viejas, estén donde estén, entran en declive por razones similares: están demasiado lejos de las bodegas modernas centralizadas (por no hablar de las carreteras asfaltadas), sus hileras son demasiado estrechas para mecanizarlas (se plantaron antes de que existieran esas máquinas), a menudo son demasiado pequeñas para dar suficiente fruta para llenar un camión y no tienen fuente de agua para el riego por goteo.”
Y añade: “Las etiquetas convencionales de las bodegas no son aptas para este tipo de retos. Puede que los márgenes sean mejores, pero no hay potencial para escalar si la etiqueta se convierte en un éxito. Hay principios que deberían aplicarse a cualquier negocio que dependa de materias primas, en este caso: la uva. Una empresa produce y suministra productos a importadores y distribuidores para minoristas y hostelería. Una empresa triunfa, o no, creando una cadena de suministro viable. Lo bien que lo hagan depende de las personas que la dirigen, pero eso no es todo. Las empresas tienen otra responsabilidad crucial, y es cuidar la fuente de materias primas, las vides y los viñedos que les
permiten que el fruto fermente en vino en primer lugar”.
Codo a codo
Son responsabilidades que Mossman Knapp y su mujer, Pilar Miranda, y la Garage Wine Company se han tomado muy en serio desde que llegaron al Maule a principios de la década de 2000. El suyo es un negocio basado no sólo en la elaboración de buen vino a partir de viñas viejas, sino también en cómo una empresa puede ser “una fuerza para el bien”. Una fuerza para asegurar que las viñas estén en mejores condiciones gracias al trabajo que realiza.

“Haz las cosas mejor y trabaja más duro, y al final los agricultores más trabajadores que hacen las cosas mejor querrán hacer negocios contigo. Esto es lo que nos ha permitido ganar impulso cosecha tras cosecha”, subraya.
“Había una ruta establecida y más directa para hacer crecer un negocio de bodega: no la tomamos. Recuerdo a colegas preocupados que insistían en que contratáramos fuera y mantuviéramos bajos nuestros costes laborales, pero en poco tiempo nos dimos cuenta de que hacer vino de verdad dependía de cultivar fruta de calidad y eso dependía de la gente que trabajaba las viñas y de nuestra
implicación directa con ellos ‘codo a codo'”.
Tampoco es la opción más fácil de tomar. “Old Vines” es un trabajo duro. No es un negocio de días soleados y buenos tiempos. Es un trabajo gradual a largo plazo, a contracorriente y contra viento y marea. Para progresar hay que inventar nuevas formas de seguir adelante”.
Lo que nos lleva a la etiqueta “Old-vine Revival”, que se creó para mantener a la gente a salvo durante la pandemia.
Mossman Knapp explica cómo surgió: “El destino conspiró contra nosotros, cuando Covid empezó a extenderse justo antes de que empezara la cosecha. Nos pusimos manos a la obra. Hubo un caso que nos pilló demasiado cerca, cuando un trabajador con Covid compartió furgoneta con otros trabajadores de otros pueblos para ir a podar a una granja más al sur. Pensamos en lo que podría ocurrir si la pandemia se instalaba en la comunidad y estudiamos cómo podíamos crear un entorno de trabajo seguro utilizando burbujas familiares controladas. Fue entonces cuando pensamos en revivir viejas viñas de Pais en sus propios barrios que estaban siendo descuidadas. Todo lo que teníamos que hacer era encontrar un comprador o compradores para un vino en primeur sin nombre elaborado con la variedad casi desconocida.
Apoyo comercial a En Primeur
Se apresura a elogiar a los distribuidores británicos de Garage, Freixenet Copestick, por apoyar el proyecto desde el principio, llamando a su director gerente, Robin Copestick, su “co-conspirador”, que se había sentido igualmente inspirado sobre lo que podían hacer para ayudar a los trabajadores locales y a sus comunidades en un momento tan difícil y angustioso.
Para Copestick, se trataba de comprometerse a “ayudar a financiar un vino” que pudiera marcar una verdadera diferencia “en la que pudiéramos creer”. Se trataba de ayudar a una comunidad a mantener su independencia “reconectándola con el comercio del vino” para que las explotaciones familiares y sus conocimientos siguieran funcionando.
Copestick explica: “Cuando visité los viñedos en la vendimia de 2022, me impresionó la calidad de las uvas que se recogían, así como la pasión y el trabajo en equipo de los viticultores, que eran a la vez trabajadores y propietarios de viñedos. Es un vino delicioso, pero también único. Estamos encantados de asociarnos a un proyecto así y esperamos que haya más posibilidades de que los miembros más jóvenes de la comunidad vean oportunidades de quedarse en la granja”.

Garage Wine Company y la comunidad local.
Mossmann Knapp dice estar especialmente contento de tener la oportunidad de trabajar con País: “Es una variedad de uva tan maravillosa y tiene una historia tan asombrosa que contar”.
Su historia en Chile se remonta a 1548, poco después de llegar de las Islas Canarias, y pronto se convirtió en el vino que se servía en la misa católica.
El hecho de que más de 20 generaciones de viticultores le hayan precedido en la elaboración de País lo hace aún más especial, añade. Y el hecho de que ahora sea la variedad de uva hipster que todos los bares de vinos cool quieren tener en Brooklyn.
“Se remonta a antes de que Miguel Ángel pintara la Capilla Sixtina en el Vaticano. Es un honor desempeñar lo que es un breve papel de cameo en la custodia de estas vides”.
La agricultura a través de los siglos
Los suelos y las tierras donde están plantadas las viñas viejas de Pais han estado tan descuidados que resulta especialmente duro romperlos y permitir que las vides vuelvan a brillar, añade. Por eso utilizan métodos de cultivo tradicionales con caballo y arado.
“Aquí hay que trabajar mucho la tierra. La agricultura tradicional está muy en consonancia con el modo de vida de la comunidad local. Están en sintonía con la tierra, las estaciones y lo que cultivan y comen en cada estación del año. Viven de la tierra, por la tierra y para la tierra”.

prácticamente autosuficientes, afirma Derek Mossman Knapp.
“Los agricultores están, en muchos sentidos, más cerca de las tradiciones y el modo de vida de hace tantos años que de la actualidad. Además de trabajar la uva, cultivan una amplia gama de hortalizas maduras en distintas épocas del año y crían sus propios animales. De este modo, son autosuficientes y no dependen exclusivamente de la uva.
“Es una especie de agricultura de 360 grados, o lo que dirían los gurús: holística. Pueden enseñarnos mucho más que a cultivar uvas equilibradas y sabrosas. Yo no estudié viticultura en un aula y un laboratorio, aprendí con las botas puestas y las mangas arremangadas. Me parece fascinante que los agricultores esperen a la luna menguante para podar, sin saber qué es la biodinámica ni quién era Steiner.
Cuando se viene de visita, es importante presentarse con ropa de trabajo y ponerse manos a la obra.
“Trabajamos con personas que son ciudadanos de la tierra. Pueden enseñarnos mucho. Ha sido fascinante comprender mejor su enfoque de la agricultura. Comen mejor que nosotros”.
Y añade: “Hay que demostrarles que estamos tan metidos como ellos y que queremos hacer negocios con ellos durante los próximos 50 años. Así es como te respetan”.

compañeros y socios locales de Garage Wine Company.
Old-vine Revival es una de las numerosas iniciativas que Garage ha emprendido a lo largo de los años. Tras el terremoto de 2010 en Chile, Garage trabajó con viticultores locales de Maule para elaborar vinos a partir de cepas abandonadas de Cariñena. Injertaron mezclas de campo en pequeñas granjas extendiendo Cariñena de viñas viejas existentes con Garnacha y Monastrell y llamaron al vino The Ploughmen.
Cuando los incendios forestales azotaron Chile en 2017, y la región de Maule en particular, Garage presentó su etiqueta Phoenix: un blanco elaborado con País-Cariñena, “nacido de las cenizas” que significaba que las uvas se estaban pagando cuando demasiadas bodegas dieron un paso atrás dejando a los agricultores en la estacada.
“Ha habido muchos retos, pero lo que no nos ha matado nos ha hecho más fuertes y nos ha puesto a trabajar más duro”.
Y añade: “Mi mujer Pilar dice que nos están poniendo a prueba los elementos: primero la tierra, luego el fuego y después el aire. Dudamos que el diluvio llegue pronto. Cada uno de ellos brindó la oportunidad de incluir a más familias y sus viñedos en los trabajos, estableciendo fuertes vínculos con los pequeños agricultores gracias a una mejor comprensión de dónde se encuentran los puntos
de presión.
“Hoy compramos a casi todos los miembros de nuestro equipo de cosecha-poda- tierra. Cuando incorporamos sitios, les mostramos cómo queremos trabajar, lo que estamos haciendo en otros sitios y les hacemos partícipes de nuestro viaje compartido. Cuando nos visitan nuestros importadores, todos compartimos el almuerzo e historias sobre los vinos que hay en las mesas de todo el mundo.
Juntos aprendemos a ver nuestros suelos de forma diferente. Adoptamos habilidades y conocimientos de todas partes.
Trabajar en colaboración
“Nuestro modelo es: Uno – poseer en parte; Dos – alquilar en parte; y tres – comprar fruta en parte. De esta forma podemos: Uno – mostrar con el ejemplo; Dos – apoyar a las explotaciones en las que los mayores se están ralentizando y no pueden hacer todo el trabajo físico; y tres – estar siempre probando cosas nuevas y apoyando a nuevos vignerons que compartan nuestra visión a medida que
crecemos.”

Y añade: “Trabajando de esta manera, es natural adoptar ideas a más largo plazo para hacer negocios. El negocio como medio para hacer el bien es sólo otra forma de decir negocio a largo plazo. Si hace cientos de años los colonos plantaron viñedos para que duraran cientos de años, ¿es tan difícil estirar la vara de medir para medir un poco más allá?”.
La agricultura, argumenta, no es tan sexy como la geología en el comercio del vino actual, pero es de vital importancia.
“Si la agricultura ha despojado al suelo, entre las rocas y las vides, de materia orgánica, de modo que los hongos y las bacterias ya no pueden hacer su trabajo, entonces ¿qué transformará la geología de un lugar en algo que las raíces de la vid puedan absorber? Se pueden analizar todos los subsuelos que se quiera, pero los suelos vivos son cruciales para su expresión en la copa”, afirma.
Acercar Maule al comercio
Mossman Knapp afirma que le gusta especialmente compartir estas ideas con el equipo de hostelería y desarrollo comercial de Jascots, la división de hostelería de Freixenet Copestick, donde, según él, se hace especial hincapié en presentar los vinos a los clientes adecuados.
Londres cuenta con una gran comunidad de somelieres. Me siento honrado por el tiempo y la atención que nos dedican, y me intriga el diálogo. Algunos días me siento más que intimidado”. Empezamos en el Garage, y durante una docena de años nadie nos conocía ni imaginaba nuestros precarios comienzos. Hoy hay un listón que mantener y no nos lo tomamos a la ligera. Los compradores ya no nos consideran estrafalarios, conocen los vinos y quieren saber más sobre su
elaboración. Estamos en media docena de países, entre ellos Polonia, Dinamarca y Rumanía, y todo porque un sumiller que trabajaba en Londres volvió a casa e insistió en que Garage debía estar en la lista de allí”.

una parte clave del enfoque de la viticultura regenerativa de Garage Wine Company.
Cuando presenta sus vinos a sumilleres de restaurantes de alta cocina del centro de Londres y de otras grandes ciudades del mundo, puede parecer que está muy lejos de Maule, en Chile. Pero también está muy orgulloso de tener la oportunidad de contar la historia de cómo se hicieron esos vinos y el hecho de que dirigir una empresa vinícola puede ser realmente una fuerza para el bien.
También elaboran vinos de muy buena calidad. Por ejemplo, está empatado con el vino chileno mejor valorado de la historia en las Purple Pages de Jancis Robinson MW y Cru Truquilemu y Vigno de Garage son los vinos chilenos mejor valorados por Luis Gutiérrez en Wine Advocate de Robert Parker.
Mossman Knapp admite que el éxito de crítica de los vinos ha hecho que se hayan degustado mucho más cuando, de otro modo, Cariñena o Chile no se habrían tenido en cuenta para la lista.
“Durante los últimos 10 ó 15 años hemos trabajado duro para contar la historia del Maule de cepas viejas. He tenido que abrir muchas puertas a quienes no se interesaban por los vinos del Nuevo Mundo, muy asociados a los supermercados. Eso ha cambiado. Nadie compra por las puntuaciones, sino que su curiosidad les lleva a catar y los vinos hacen el resto”.
Especialistas en viñas viejas
“Somos especialistas en vinos viejos. Poco a poco, hemos cambiado la conversación. Y las viñas viejas han abierto listas y oportunidades para muchos más allá de nuestra humilde Garage Wine Co. La sola idea de que un Cariñenas de la cordillera de la costa sacudiera los cimientos de un Cabernet de primera categoría del Maipo era una locura, pero cuando los vinos fueron recomendados como más fáciles de guardar, eso, sí, nos hizo felices. Pero, más allá de la alegría y la satisfacción de Pilar, Álvaro, Ernesto y yo, sin duda este es un reconocimiento más amplio para las viñas viejas del Maule y el Itata y para los agricultores que han sido los guardianes de estos viñedos y esta viticultura durante generaciones, y para el vino hecho pequeño a propósito – más mano y tierra, menos marca”.
Lo que le lleva 10 años atrás, cuando él y Pilar se preguntaban qué diferencia podía marcar Garage Wine Co y qué les dio la confianza para seguir el camino que han tomado.
Mossman Knapp responde rápidamente: “Dicho así, hoy es la pregunta más fácil: Trabajando con los pequeños agricultores del Maule, estábamos subidos a hombros de gigantes”.
- Los vinos de The Garage Wine Co son distribuidos en el Reino Unido por Freixenet Copestick, incluido el nuevo vino 2021 País Old Vine Revival, y están disponibles para el sector hostelero a través de Jascots y directamente a los consumidores en www.slurp.co.uk.
- Published in Press / Prensa
Garage scores from Luis Gutiérrez
We are indeed content in the Garage with the results of the latest Chile Report from Luis Gutiérrez and Robert Parker´s Wine Advocate. Beyond scores perhaps the consistency of the parcels vintage 2016 thru 2020 and their recommended cellaring makes us all the more jubilant.
En el Garaje estamos realmente contentos con los resultados del último informe sobre Chile de Luis Gutiérrez y Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate. Más allá de las puntuaciones, quizás la consistencia de las parcelas cosecha 2016 a 2020 y su guarda recomendada nos hace aún más felices.
2020 Garage Wine Co. • Cru Truquilemu


Rating: 97+ Prices: View here Drink date: 2023 – 2030 Reviewed by: Luis Gutiérrez Issue Date: 6th April 2023 Source: April 2023 Week 1, The Wine Advocate Producer: Garage Wine Co. From: Chile, Central Valley, Maule Valley, Empedrado Color: Red Type Table Sweetness: Dry Variety: Carignan |
The 2020 Cru Truquilemu is a Cariñena field blend with Syrah that comes from a low-yielding section of the old Truquilemu Vineyard that they have been vinifying for years and cultivated with a combination of original methods for cultivating the old vines—i.e., farmed by hand and horse, accompanied by the analysis and scientific ideas of Professor Alvaro Peña, who is a Garage partner and their in-house PhD in viticulture. It fermented in open-top 1,500- and 2,500-kilo lagar fermenters, using punch-downs and more stems than in the regular Truquilemu. They use first-class barrels that are third-use or older and age the wines slowly over two winters. It has 12.8% alcohol and very good freshness and acidity. This is always one of the highlights of the portfolio, and in 2020, it’s no exception; it’s elegant, clean and floral and with no traces of excess, subtle, more closed than other 2020s, serious and simply terrific, transcending the vintage. 5,233 bottles produced. It was bottled in February 2022.
2020 Garage Wine Co. • Vigno


Rating: 97+ Prices: View here Drink date: 2023 – 2030 Reviewed by: Luis Gutiérrez Issue Date: 6th April 2023 Source: April 2023 Week 1, The Wine Advocate Producer: Garage Wine Co. From: Chile, Central Valley, Maule Valley, Empedrado Color: Red Type Table Sweetness: Dry Variety: Carignan |
The 2020 Vigno is selected from specific plots of their vineyard in Truquilemu that are traditionally farmed; everything is done by hand and with animals. It is spectacular and transcends the nature of the vintage, coming through as fresh, aromatic and floral. It fermented with some 20% stems and indigenous yeasts and matured in well-seasoned, neutral barrels for two winters. It has 13.1% alcohol and a pH of 3.25, ethereal, with lots of inner energy, medium-bodied and with very fine tannins and terrific balance. 3,366 bottles produced.
2020 Garage Wine Co. • Truquilemu Vineyard


Rating: 96+ Prices: View here Drink date: 2023 – 2030 Reviewed by: Luis Gutiérrez Issue Date: 6th April 2023 Source: April 2023 Week 1, The Wine Advocate Producer: Garage Wine Co. From: Chile, Central Valley, Maule Valley, Empedrado Color: Red Type Table Sweetness: Dry Variety: Carignan |
The 2020 Truquilemu Vineyard follows the path of the 2018 and 2019 with even lower alcohol (12.9%) and great freshness and acidity, a pH of 3.36 and 6.4 grams of acidity. The modus operandi was the usual: fermented in open-top vats with indigenous yeasts and manual punch-down with a slow malolactic, which took 10 months to finish, and matured in used barrels over two winters. It contains some 4% Syrah. This has the ethereal quality of this vineyard, powerful but weightless. This place makes fresh wines even in warm vintages like 2020, and you feel that especially in the palate where the wine is vibrant and lively. 5,882 bottles were filled in February 2022.
2020 Garage Wine Co. • Renacido Vineyard


Rating: 95 Prices: View here Drink date: 2023 – 2035 Reviewed by: Luis Gutiérrez Issue Date: 6th April 2023 Source: April 2023 Week 1, The Wine Advocate Producer: Garage Wine Co. From: Chile, Central Valley, Maule Valley, Empedrado Color: Red Type Table Sweetness: Dry Variety: Cabernet Sauvignon |
The 2020 Renacido Vineyard, marked with Lt #114, was produced with Cabernet Sauvignon from Cauquenes (Maule), searching for finesse, tension and fine tannins. It was produced with grapes from ancient País vines regrafted to Cabernet Sauvignon 10 years ago with some 12% Malbec in the field blend that has been, in the words of Derek Mossman, “uncertified organic for 75+ years.” It fermented in open lagars with indigenous yeasts and a small portion of whole clusters that were foot-trodden, then it matured in neutral barrels over two winters. It has 13.4% alcohol and an incredible pH of 3.3 with 6.23 grams of acidity. There’s finesse and perfume here, with the core of 2020 ripeness, but all very subtle. 6,940 bottles produced. It was bottled in February 2022.
2020 Garage Wine Co. • Sauzal Vineyard


Rating: 95 Prices: View here Drink date: 2023 – 2029 Reviewed by: Luis Gutiérrez Issue Date: 6th April 2023 Source: April 2023 Week 1, The Wine Advocate Producer: Garage Wine Co. From: Chile, Central Valley, Maule Valley, Empedrado Color: Red Type Table Sweetness: Dry Variety: Proprietary Blend |
The 2020 Sauzal Vineyard marked as Lot #115 from Empedrado in Maule, is a blend of 55% Garnacha, 39% Cariñena and 6% Monastrell from a vineyard originally 100% Cariñena that they regrafted with the other varieties and that they work together with grower Don Nivaldo Morales. They added around 20% of the stems in the fermentation vessel. It has moderate alcohol, 13.6%, and more freshness and acidity, which they think is because there’s more Garnacha in the blend. This is one of the 2020s that seems to have escaped the vintage signature and comes through as very fresh, clean, aromatic, floral and less rustic than the majority of the other 2020s. 3,985 bottles produced. It was bottled in February 2022.
2020 Garage Wine Co. • The Ploughmen Carignan Field Blend


Rating: 95 Prices: View here Drink date: 2023 – 2029 Reviewed by: Luis Gutiérrez Issue Date: 6th April 2023 Source: April 2023 Week 1, The Wine Advocate Producer: Garage Wine Co. From: Chile, Central Valley, Maule Valley, Empedrado Color: Red Type Table Sweetness: Dry Variety: Proprietary Blend |
The harmonious, fresh, clean, aromatic and floral 2020 The Ploughmen Carignan Field Blend from Empedrado in Maule was produced with a blend of 55% Garnacha, 39% Cariñena and 6% Monastrell from a vineyard originally 100% Cariñena that they regrafted with the other varieties. Like many of their wines, they added around 20% of the stems in the fermentation vessel. It has moderate alcohol, 13.6%, and more freshness and acidity, which they think is because there’s more Garnacha in the blend. This has also escaped the vintage signature and feels more elegant and less rustic than the majority of 2020s.
2020 Garage Wine Co. • Isidore Vineyard Maule Valley Semillón


Rating: 94 Prices: View here Drink date: 2023 – 2029 Reviewed by: Luis Gutiérrez Issue Date: 6th April 2023 Source: April 2023 Week 1, The Wine Advocate Producer: Garage Wine Co. From: Chile, Central Valley, Maule Valley, Empedrado Color: White Type Table Sweetness: Dry Variety: Semillón |
The just-bottled 2022 Isidore Vineyard Maule Valley Semillon has even lower alcohol than the 2021, 12.3%, and a little less acidity and freshness, but it matured in the same way: in a mixture of tinaja, FlexTank, stainless steel and used barriques for 12 months. It’s paler and more floral than the 2021 I tasted next to it, younger and less developed, a little rounder and softer, a little gentler, but this can change a lot in the bottle. I think it will eventually be as good as the 2021 feels now… 6,201 bottles produced. It was bottled in February 2023.
2020 Garage Wine Co. • Old Vine Pale


Rating: 94 Prices: View here Drink date: 2023 – 2034 Reviewed by: Luis Gutiérrez Issue Date: 6th April 2023 Source: April 2023 Week 1, The Wine Advocate Producer: Garage Wine Co. From: Chile, Central Valley, Maule Valley, Empedrado Color: Rosé Type Table Sweetness: Dry Variety: Proprietary Blend |
The 2022 Old Vine Pale is no longer produced only with Cariñena and Monastrell from Truquilemu Vineyard. They saw a local grower in Linda Vista, also in Maule, with similar grapes and decided to use them here, which brought off-the-chart acidity, 9.3 grams, that makes the wine electric and vibrant. They did mostly direct pressing this year (only 10% The white 2021 Isidore Vineyard Maule Valley Semillón was produced with grapes from a vineyard planted in the 1940s on decomposed granite soils. It fermented in tinaja with skins (one-third each with full skins) and some whole bunches added, and it matured in tinaja, FlexTank, stainless steel and used barriques for 12 months. It has 12.6% alcohol and a very low pH with very good acidity. It has a golden color and a complex nose of pollen and chicken broth, and there’s an oxidative whiff (in a positive way) that made me think of peroxide. The palate is vibrant, and there’s a chalky, austerity in the mouthfeel. 4,146 bottles produced. It was bottled in February 2022.). It’s even lower in alcohol (12.3%) and pH (3.1) and is aromatic and nuanced, and the palate is effervescent with acidity and minerality. This is a rosé like the Clarete from Pícaro del Águila, a serious wine that repays cellaring, but unfortunately, most people will drink it young and will miss the point and the complexity. 7,108 bottles produced. It was bottled in January 2023.
2021 Garage Wine Co. • Isidore Vineyard Maule Valley Semillón


Rating: 94 Prices: View here Drink date: 2023 – 2028 Reviewed by: Luis Gutiérrez Issue Date: 6th April 2023 Source: April 2023 Week 1, The Wine Advocate Producer: Garage Wine Co. From: Chile, Central Valley, Maule Valley, Empedrado Color: White Type Table Sweetness: Dry Variety: Semillón |
The white 2021 Isidore Vineyard Maule Valley Semillon was produced with grapes from a vineyard planted in the 1940s on decomposed granite soils. It fermented in tinaja with skins (one-third each with full skins) and some whole bunches added, and it matured in tinaja, FlexTank, stainless steel and used barriques for 12 months. It has 12.6% alcohol and a very low pH with very good acidity. It has a golden color and a complex nose of pollen and chicken broth, and there’s an oxidative whiff (in a positive way) that made me think of peroxide. The palate is vibrant, and there’s a chalky, austerity in the mouthfeel. 4,146 bottles produced. It was bottled in February 2022.
2020 Garage Wine Co. • Bagual Vineyard Cariñena Garnacha Monastrell


Rating: 94 Prices: View here Drink date: 2023 – 2029 Reviewed by: Luis Gutiérrez Issue Date: 6th April 2023 Source: April 2023 Week 1, The Wine Advocate Producer: Garage Wine Co. From: Chile, Central Valley, Maule Valley, Empedrado Color: Red Type Table Sweetness: Dry Variety: Proprietary Blend |
The 2020 Bagual Vineyard Cariñena Garnacha Monastrell comes from plants that have been worked with regenerative farming with grower-partner the Solar family in transition now for three years, and it’s the first vineyard in Chile (three in Bagual) to receive Ecological Outcome Verification™ (EOV™) from the Savory Institute. It has 13.8% alcohol with a pH of 3.25 and 6.75 grams of acidity. Despite the moderate alcohol, I found the imprint of rusticity from 2020, the earthiness and the ripeness sensation, but as I often saw in many wines, the palate showed better, so it could be a transitional moment for the nose. The wine is medium-bodied with fine-grained, granite tannins and with purity of flavors and a long finish. 5,239 bottles were filled in February 2022.
2020 Garage Wine Co. • Las Higueras Vineyard


Rating: 94 Prices: View here Drink date: 2023 – 2030 Reviewed by: Luis Gutiérrez Issue Date: 6th April 2023 Source: April 2023 Week 1, The Wine Advocate Producer: Garage Wine Co. From: Chile, Central Valley, Maule Valley Color: Red Type Table Sweetness: Dry Variety: Cabernet Franc |
The 2020 Las Higueras Vineyard comes from 120-year-old bush vines on alluvial soils in a vineyard that is no longer ploughed. The vines in Loncomilla are worked under regenerative viticulture, but there’s no organic certification. The wine is marked with Lot #122 and now bottled in a lighter Loire-shaped bottle, to reflect the new profile of the wine to something more elegant and graceful. It fermented with indigenous yeasts with 15% to 20% of the lignified stems added after the crush, with the cap punched down by hand and aged in third-use and more barrels for two winters. It has only 12.8% alcohol and very good freshness and acidity parameters. 2020 was warm and dry, and the harvest was early, before the big problems with COVID-19 started; but there’s a hint of ripeness here, coming through as faintly rustic, not as refined as the Cabernet Sauvignon from Maule… 9,671 bottles were filled in January 2022.
2020 Garage Wine Co. • Pereira Vineyard Syrah


Rating: 94 Prices: View here Drink date: 2023 – 2029 Reviewed by: Luis Gutiérrez Issue Date: 6th April 2023 Source: April 2023 Week 1, The Wine Advocate Producer: Garage Wine Co. From: Chile, Central Valley, Maule Valley, Cauquenes Color: Red Type Table Sweetness: Dry Variety: Syrah |
They worked for years with Javier Pereira, who provided them Cariñena, País and San Francisco/Negramole. When he died, they decided to name the 2020 Pereira Vineyard Syrah after him. It comes from old País plants regrafted to Syrah 10 years ago. It fermented with the addition of some 20% of the stems and indigenous yeasts in open-top vats and matured in used barrels for two winters. It has a moderate 13.5% alcohol and a low pH of 3.2 with a high 6.68 grams of acidity (measured in tartaric acid per liter of wine). I found this wine harmonious and balanced, and somehow the 2020 character is very subtle here; the wine is tasty and harmonious, with very good freshness and balance and mellow varietal character. The 2021 will be aged in Italian botti. 4,876 bottles were filled in February 2022.
2019 Garage Wine Co. • Reelegido Vineyard


Rating: 94 Prices: View here Drink date: 2022 – 2030 Reviewed by: Luis Gutiérrez Issue Date: 6th April 2023 Source: April 2023 Week 1, The Wine Advocate Producer: Garage Wine Co. From: Chile, Central Valley, Maipo Valley Color: Red Type Table Sweetness: Dry Variety: Cabernet Sauvignon |
The Cabernet Sauvignon from Maipo in Isla de Maipo that was introduced in 2018 was also bottled as 2019 Reelegido Vineyard and marked with Lot #110. It was produced with fruit from 65+-year-old vines on alluvial soils with round stones (40-50 centimeters in size). The vineyard produces 1.5 kilos per plant of small bunches. They feel they were more accurate with the harvest date this time to achieve a fresher and more elegant wine with 14.1% alcohol and a pH of 3.47 and 6.14 grams of acidity. As with the majority of wines, it fermented in open vats with native yeasts with the cap punched down by hand and matured over two winters in well-seasoned, neutral French oak barrels. It feels harmonious, balanced, powerful and elegant with fine-grained tannins, varietal and precise. 5,728 bottles were filled in February 2021.
2021 Garage Wine Co. • Cinsault The Soothsayers Ferment


Rating: 93 Prices: View here Drink date: 2022 – 2027 Reviewed by: Luis Gutiérrez Issue Date: 6th April 2023 Source: April 2023 Week 1, The Wine Advocate Producer: Garage Wine Co. From: Chile, Southern Chile, Itata Valley Color: Red Type Table Sweetness: Dry Variety: Cinsault |
The 2021 Cinsault The Soothsayers Ferment was produced with grapes from two farms and three plots in Guarilihue Alto in Itata, within the appellation Secano Interior Coelemu, worked by horse in the old style and fermented together. “All of the fruit does not enter the tank at same time. When the second day’s picking is ready, we simply stack a part or all on top of the tank already fermenting—one single ferment” was the explanation for the name of the wine, which finished with 13% alcohol and a pH of 3.48, quite low for the grape. The wine matured in what they described as very old barrels over one winter. It’s serious, with a slightly shy nose, not as open and expressive as others, more elegant, very clean and fresh. It’s medium-bodied and with fine-grained tannins and a granite texture. 5,416 bottles were filled in February 2022.
2021 Garage Wine Co. • Old Vine Pale


Rating: 93 Prices: View here Drink date: 2022 – 2027 Reviewed by: Luis Gutiérrez Issue Date: 6th April 2023 Source: April 2023 Week 1, The Wine Advocate Producer: Garage Wine Co. From: Chile, Central Valley, Maule Valley, Empedrado Color: Rosé Type Table Sweetness: Dry Variety: Proprietary Blend |
The rosé 2021 Old Vine Pale was produced with Cariñena and Monastrell from Truquilemu Vineyard, half a hectare from DO Empedrado, an appellation in Maule. It has 12.9% alcohol and very good freshness. This is a serious rosé that goes beyond the category; I drank a bottle of 2013 the day before I tasted this, and the wine was fantastic, a lot more nuanced and with depth, serious, which is how this wine should turn out with time in bottle. You can sense this in the palate of the 2021, but without having the reference of the 2013, it would be difficult to imagine the evolution… 7,199 bottles produced. It was bottled in January 2022 after spending one winter in used barrels.
2021 Garage Wine Co. • Passageiro Escondido


Rating: 93 Prices: View here Drink date: 2023 – 2028 Reviewed by: Luis Gutiérrez Issue Date: 6th April 2023 Source: April 2023 Week 1, The Wine Advocate Producer: Garage Wine Co. From: Chile, Central Valley, Maule Valley, Cauquenes Color: Red Type Table Sweetness: Dry Variety: Negramoll |
Negramole was brought to Chile inadvertently mixed with País hundreds of years ago. It is called San Francisco locally, and it’s the grape used for the 2021 Passageiro Escondido, which was produced like all the reds: native fermentation in open-top vats and aging in used barrels. It has 12.8% alcohol, moderate pH, 3.53, and good acidity. Mossman’s explanation was great: “If Cinsault is a sort of classic Little Black Dress, then Negramole is an elegant pair of capri linen trousers made to be worn with sandals.” I loved the wine, which is quite pale, aromatic, refined and different, with a strong personality. It feels mineral, like a wet pumice stone, and has complexity and depth. The palate feels elegant, balanced and fine-boned, tasty and refined. A great debut. Only 971 bottles were filled in September 2022.
2021 Garage Wine Co. • País 215 BC Ferment


Rating: 93 Prices: View here Drink date: 2023 – 2027 Reviewed by: Luis Gutiérrez Issue Date: 6th April 2023 Source: April 2023 Week 1, The Wine Advocate Producer: Garage Wine Co. From: Chile, Central Valley, Maule Valley Color: Red Type Table Sweetness: Dry Variety: País |
The 2021 País 215 BC Ferment, a village red from plots they know well, four of them fermented together. The explanation of the name is as follows: “A winery was making País in Portezuelo in 1548 (documented); Cabernet Sauvignon (a crossing of Cabernet Franc & Sauvignon Blanc) is documented from 1763 (near Bordeaux). The difference: 1763 – 1548 = 215 thus: 215 year BC ‘Before Cabernet.'” Like the rest of the wines, it fermented wit indigenous yeast in open-top vats with some stems and matured in neutral barrels over one winter. It’s perfumed, floral, clean and expressive, very elegant and balanced, with refined tannins. Brilliant. 6,517 bottles produced. It was bottled in February 2022.
2021 Garage Wine Co. • País-Cariñena Phoenix Ferment


Rating: 93 Prices: View here Drink date: 2023 – 2026 Reviewed by: Luis Gutiérrez Issue Date: 6th April 2023 Source: April 2023 Week 1, The Wine Advocate Producer: Garage Wine Co. From: Chile, Central Valley, Maule Valley Color: White Type Table Sweetness: Dry Variety: País |
The blanc de noirs Single Ferment Series 2021 País-Cariñena Phoenix Ferment was produced with grapes from the Secano Interior zone of Cauquenes in Maule, from different farms on decomposed granite soils in Truquilemu, Puico, Sauzal and Purapel, and due to the DO laws, it has to be 86% País and 14% Cariñena worked organically but not certified. The whole clusters were pressed, and the juice fermented with indigenous yeasts in closed-top fermenters and kept with lees for 10 to 12 weeks. It has 12.5% alcohol, a pH of 3.16 and 6.54 grams of acidity, floral, clean and expressive. It is a fun wine that seems grown up, tasty and more serious. They took it more seriously, and it feels nuanced, harmonious and more complex. 6,542 bottles were filled in February 2022.
2020 Garage Wine Co. • Bagual Vineyard Garnacha


Rating: 93 Prices: View here Drink date: 2023 – 2028 Reviewed by: Luis Gutiérrez Issue Date: 6th April 2023 Source: April 2023 Week 1, The Wine Advocate Producer: Garage Wine Co. From: Chile, Central Valley, Maule Valley Color: White Type Table Sweetness: Dry Variety: Garnacha |
The 2020 Bagual Vineyard Garnacha marked with Lot #119 comes from the vineyard in the village of Calivoro (old spelling) planted with Garnacha from Cataluña (a rarity) that achieved organic certification after working in regenerative viticulture for three years. The wine is unusually ripe, reaching 14% alcohol, but it keeps a low pH of 3.33 and 6.7 grams of acidity. One of 11 single-vineyard bottlings, this also matured in used barrels over two winters. This is definitely Mediterranean and Priorat like, with notes of aromatic herbs, dark plums and an earthy touch. The palate reveals tasty flavors of ripe fruit and dusty tannins. 4,638 bottles produced. It was bottled in January 2022.
2022 Garage Wine Co. • País-Cariñena Phoenix Ferment


Rating: 93 Prices: View here Drink date: 2024 – 2027 Reviewed by: Luis Gutiérrez Issue Date: 6th April 2023 Source: April 2023 Week 1, The Wine Advocate Producer: Garage Wine Co. From: Chile, Central Valley, Maule Valley Color: White Type Table Sweetness: Dry Variety: País |
The 2022 País-Cariñena Phoenix Ferment was marginally riper than the 2021, with 12.9% alcohol, a pH of 3.14 and 6.38 grams of acidity. It’s still aromatic and harmonious, a food wine, fresh and balanced. It feels a little younger and more primary than the 2021 that today shows more complexity. Maybe it’s just a difference in age. This is young and tender and should develop nicely in bottle. 6,471 bottles were filled in February 2023.
2021 Garage Wine Co. • Old-Vine Revival País


Rating: 92 Prices: View here Drink date: 2023 – 2027 Reviewed by: Luis Gutiérrez Issue Date: 6th April 2023 Source: April 2023 Week 1, The Wine Advocate Producer: Garage Wine Co. From: Chile, Central Valley, Maule Valley, Cauquenes Color: Red Type Table Sweetness: Dry Variety: País |
They recovered some País vineyards that produced the 2021 Old-Vine Revival País from four small plots in different farms in Cauquenes. It fermented with indigenous yeasts in open-top lagars with some lignified stems that were reintroduced after crush to avoid carbonic maceration, and it aged in neutral very old barrels over one winter. It has 13.1% alcohol and a pH of 3.45. It’s characterful and feels quite serious, juicy, balanced, varietal and on the elegant side with good grip and fine tannins, more fruit, less herbal. Serious País. 10,06 bottles produced. It was bottled in February 2022.
2019 Garage Wine Co. • Pirque Vineyard


Rating: 92 Prices: View here Drink date: 2022 – 2029 Reviewed by: Luis Gutiérrez Issue Date: 6th April 2023 Source: April 2023 Week 1, The Wine Advocate Producer: Garage Wine Co. From: Chile, Central Valley, Maipo Valley, Pirque Color: Red Type Table Sweetness: Dry Variety: Cabernet Franc |
The Cabernet Franc 2019 Pirque Vineyard, marked with Lot #110, comes from a one-hectare vineyard planted in the 1980s in El Principal Pirque on alluvial soils at 600 meters in altitude. They transport the grapes to Maule to ferment it in open-top vats with indigenous yeasts and manual punching down, and they aged the wine, trying to control the power. It has 14% alcohol and good freshness, noted by a pH of 3.5. It comes through as quite ripe with some rustic earthiness and a more elegant palate. 4,740 bottles were filled from 16 barrels in February 2021.
2022 Garage Wine Co. • Almaule

Rating: 91 Prices: View here Drink date: 2023 – 2026 Reviewed by: Luis Gutiérrez Issue Date: 6th April 2023 Source: April 2023 Week 1, The Wine Advocate Producer: Garage Wine Co. From: Chile, Central Valley, Maule Valley Color: Red Type Table Sweetness: Dry Variety: País |
The serious 2022 Almaule was done with a lighter hand on purpose for this bottling, but the wine is still a little darker and has more volume and body than the rest of the Almaule wines from other producers.
- Published in Critics, Press / Prensa
Garage James Suckling Scores


Garage Wine Co. Cariñena Empedrado Truquilemu Vineyard Field Blend 2019


Country: Chile Region: Valle Central Vintage: 2019 |
Beautiful blue fruit here with lots of wild herbs, white pepper, graphite and boysenberries. Flowers and garrigues. This is really soulful and incredibly silky and textured on the palate. Elegantly rendered with soft-spoken fruit quickly dominated by textured, velvety tannins. Impeccable juicy fruit and balance. Drink or hold.
Garage Wine Co.• Carignan Valle de Maule VIGNO 2020


Country: Chile Region: Valle Central Vintage: 2020 |
A very juicy, expansive VIGNO here with a twist of white pepper and herbs with plenty of blue fruit. This is more of a full-bodied carignan with an expansive mid-palate and concentrated fruit. Very bright and succulent. Fresh and lengthy. Drink or hold.
Garage Wine Co.•Cabernet Sauvignon Valle de Maule Renacido Vineyard 2020


Country: Chile Region: Valle Central Vintage: 2020 |
Really vivid and racy blue fruit to the nose. Punchy and floral with bright acidity that cuts through the tense, full-bodied palate, and creamy, melted tannins which are well integrated and expansive. Excellent fruit purity and raciness. Cabernet sauvignon grafted onto old-vine pais. Lot 114. Drink or hold.
Garage Wine Co.• Cabernet Franc Valle de Maule Las Higueras 2020


Country: Chile Region: Valle Central Vintage: 2020 |
Bright and racy deep blue fruit with a floral note. Full-bodied on the palate but so fresh and effortless, too, with dense but closely-knit tannins and a solid profile of fruit. Drinkable now, but better in a few years.
Garage Wine Co.• Cariñena Garnacha Monastrell Empedrado Sauzal Vineyard 2019


Country: Chile Region: Valle Central Vintage: 2019 |
A rich, full-bodied but fresh Mediterranean expression here with lots of wild dried herbs and garrigues to the black cherries. Juicy and bright on the palate with dense but really fine-grained and creamy tannins. Long and delicious. Lot 105. Drink or hold.
Garage Wine Co.• Cariñena Garnacha Monastrell Maule Calivoro Bagual Vineyard 2019


Country: Chile Region: Valle Central Vintage: 2019 |
Rich black and red berries with some wild herbs and dark spices. Full-bodied, juicy and vibrant on the palate with deep but polished and refined tannins. Drink or hold.
Garage Wine Co.• Syrah Maule Cauquenes Pereira 2020


Country: Chile Region: Valle Central Vintage: 2020 |
Tarry nose with lots of wild herbs and violets. Juicy, full-bodied and tense on the palate with dense, creamy tannins. Really fresh for a syrah from 2020 with vivid fruit in the finish. Long and expressive. Drink or hold.
Garage Wine Co.• Cabernet Franc Valle Maipo Pirque Vineyard 2019


Country: Chile Region: Valle Central Vintage: 2019 |
A savory cabernet franc with some tobacco leaves to the racy currants and dried strawberries. A splash of allspice and orange peel, too. Tannins are firm and nicely present on the medium-bodied palate. Very clean and dry in terms of sweetness. Medium acidity here, which is not very common for Garage. Lot 110. Drink now.
Garage Wine Co.• Cariñena Monastrell Empedrado Old Vine Pale Rosé 2022


Country: Chile Region: Valle Central Vintage: 2022 |
Bright coral pink color with a touch of reduction now. Some cherries, watermelon, grapefruit and strawberries. Vibrant, bone-dry and acid-driven on the palate with a bit of phenolic bite. A fuller rosé with brilliant tension, purity and structured tannins. One of the most serious rosés in Chile. Gastronomic! Drink now.
Garage Wine Co.• Garnacha Valle de Maule Bagual Vineyard 2019


Country: Chile Region: Valle Central Vintage: 2019 |
Sweet strawberries and raspberries to the nose. Wild red berries and some fine herbs and flowers. Very juicy and fluent on the palate with plenty of strawberries. I love the wild dried herbs here. Silky, fruit-expressive and long. Lot 109. Delicious now, why hold?
Garage Wine Co.• Cabernet Sauvignon Valle de Maipo Reelegido Vineyard 2019


Country: Chile Region: Valle Central Vintage: 2019 |
Ripe and savory nose with pretty currants and hints of iron and graphite. Black olives and tobacco leaf, too. Full-bodied on the palate with plenty of fine-grained tannins and juicy fruit. Pretty compact, concentrated and long. Lot 111. Drink or hold.
Garage Wine Co.• Cinsault Secano Interior Single Ferment Series The Soothsayers Ferment 2021


Country: Chile Region: South Region Vintage: 2021 |
Very bright nose full of red berries, cherries and flowers. A twist of fresh herbs. Fruity but bone-dry with succulent cherries and soft, fine tannins. Lots of drinkability here. Enjoy now.
Garage Wine Co.• País Secano Interior Cauquenes Old-Vine Revival. Vino de Pueblo 2021


Country: Chile Region: South Region Vintage: 2021 |
A white pepper note to the wild, brambly fruit. Cherries, raspberries and some pomegranate. The bone-dry, light- to medium-bodied palate delivers firm but creamy tannins. A very well-made pais. Drink now.
Garage Wine Co.• País Cariñena Chile Single Ferment Series Phoenix Ferment 2022


Country: Chile Region: South Region Vintage: 2022 |
Fresh nectarines, grapefruit and pears to the nose. A hint of chalk. The palate is bone-dry and creamy with a steely note to the center palate and plenty of white-fruit fleshiness. Austere. A tad more weight than 2021. 85% pais and 15% carinena. Whole bunch pressing. Fruit from Secano Interior. Drink now.
Garage Wine Co.• País Cariñena Secano Interior Single Ferment Series Phoenix Ferment 2021


Country: Chile Region: South Region Vintage: 2021 |
A slightly floral note to the green apple and limey fruit. Chalky and saline on the palate with a crisp mouthfeel. Very dry, fresh and gastronomic. Drink now.
2021 Garage Wine Co.• País Secano Interior Almaule


Country: Chile Region: South Region Vintage: 2021 |
Some dark earth and soil to the nose with fresh herbs and dark raspberries. Crisp and medium-bodied with fresh and firm tannins. Drink now.
Garage Wine Co.• Semillón Valle de Maule Isidore Vineyard 2021


Country: Chile Region: South Region Vintage: 2021 |
A little more old-school than previous vintages with a hint of Parmesan cheese to the fruit. Some apricots, stones, honey and lees. Pretty tight and full-bodied on the palate with chewy tannins and an austere finish. Drink now.
- Published in Press / Prensa
Vote for us!
OLD VINE HERO AWARD 2023 – VOTING FORM
We’ve been truly inspired by the response to our first Old Vine Hero Award. Both quantity and quality has made reaching the shortlist very hard. Huge thanks goes to our esteemed panel of judges who have given their time and expertise on a voluntary basis to help us.
The judges have distilled 85 entries from 15 different countries down to a shortlist of 8 pioneering and tenacious nominees. From winemakers to viticulturists and researchers/ academics to wineries. The shortlist is an inspiring line up of individuals, groups and organisations considered to be making the greatest contribution towards the positive progression of the old vine movement.
VOTING IS OPEN! Now it’s time for your help.
The Old Vine Hero Award 2023 will be awarded to one of the 8 shortlisted nominees that receives the most votes from you the global wine community. (*One vote allowed per person.)
To help you decide who to vote for you can find a summary of the contribution each of the shortlisted nominees is making towards the positive progression of the Old Vine movement here: https://www.oldvines.org/blog/old-vine-hero-award-shortlist
Voting will close on Monday 13th March, votes will be counted and the winner notified on Tuesday 14th March. The winner will be invited to join the Old Vine Conference Community Dinner in person or via Zoom to receive their award on Wednesday 15th March.
The result:
The award result will be announced on 15th March at our first Community Dinner in London. We hope those of you who are based in the UK (or happen to be in London that week!) are able to join us, please register here: https://swirl.eventscase.com/EN/old-vine-hero-award-dinner. We have a limited number of places still available.
GOOD LUCK to all the Shortlisted nominees, thank you to everyone that took the time to enter the Award and if you can’t decide who to vote for just yet be sure to follow us on Instagram and LinkedIn where we’ll be posting more in-depth detail about each of the 8 Old Vine Hero Shortlisted nominees.
Instagram: @ouroldvines
LinkedIn: @TheOldVineConferenceLtd
#oldvines #heritagevineyards #oldvinewinereviews
*Please respect the process and integrity of the competition by only voting once. By entering your email address we will be able to validate how many entries are made per email. We will not store or use your email address for any other purpose other than to monitor how many votes have been made per person. If more than one vote is made we will only count the first vote processed.
If you would like to receive news announcing the winner please select the opt-in box in the question at the bottom of this form.
Please check this link:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeLAXOCx3rBuF3yZP82abqyUDcnuQyIzzZd9PLqPLm6qZcu1w/viewform
- Published in Editorial, Press / Prensa
Falstaff: Truquilemu 2018, 98 tasting notes 2023
- Published in Critics, Press / Prensa
Chile 2022 special report – by Tim Atkin MW
- Published in Critics, Press / Prensa
Ganadores de Mesa de Cata – PODCAV
Excellent talk. Recommended 🎧👌🏻
Listen to us at PodCAV where journalists Alejandro Jiménez @ajsusarte, Ana María Barahona @anam_barahona and Ana María Cumsille @amcumsille talk about our results in the 2023 Tasting Table Guide.
Excelente charla. Recomendada 🎧👌🏻
Escúchanos en lo PodCAV donde los periodistas Alejandro Jiménez @ajsusarte, Ana María Barahona @anam_barahona y Ana María Cumsille @amcumsille conversan sobre nuestros resultados en la Guía Mesa de Cata 2023.
- Published in Press / Prensa
Vinos rosados: no más el patito feo
- Published in Critics, Press / Prensa
Alvaro ¨The Investigator¨
Terrific to see our partner Alvaro ¨The Investigator¨ given some well deserved ink. Alvaro is a study in under statement in the classic English tradition. A wine scientist he has published a great deal of ink / of papers over the years although perhaps he is better known in the
academic community for his teaching. Never one to toot his own horn— nor take the time to be interviewed come to think of it, he is today Chile´s representative for the OIV, various academic boards and scientific bodies to boot. Alvaro quietly spends a great deal of time with Pilar and I in the Garage. He is an essential part of our viticulture practices and a fundamental part of blending. Trained in Europe and very well wine travelled, with years consulting he remains acutely and technically curious. He has one of the best palates in Chile, and his humility forms an integral part of its application. We have learned a great deal from Chile´s investigador. @la.cav
Estupendo ver nuestro socio Alvaro ¨El Investigador¨ recibe un poco de tinta bien merecida en La Cav. Álvaro es piola en la clásica tradición inglesa. Un científico del vino que ha publicado una gran cantidad de tinta en los últimos años, aunque tal vez es más conocido en la comunidad académica por su docencia. Toma pocas oportunidades de ser entrevistado, hoy en día es el representante de Chile en la OIV y en varios consejos académicos y organismos científicos y también Premio Mérito Vitivinícola por sus colegas. En silencio, Álvaro pasa mucho tiempo con Pilar y conmigo en el garaje. Es una parte esencial de nuestras prácticas de viticultura y una pieza fundamental en el ensamblaje. Formado en Europa y muy viajado por el vino, con años de consultoría sigue siendo un perseguidor curioso. Tiene uno de los mejores paladares de Chile, y su humildad forma parte integral de su aplicación. Hemos aprendido mucho de El Investigador.
#gwcogente#maule#maulechile#regiondelmaule#universidaddechile#gwcompanywines
- Published in Editorial, Press / Prensa
Garage 97 super premium, otra apuesta ganadora
- Published in Press / Prensa, Works