Vintage Report

Appellation

Apalta.

BLEND

66% Carmenére, 21% Cabernet Sauvignon, 13% Merlot.

HARVEST

27th of February to April 25th.

GROWING CONDITIONS

The 2023 vintage is considered an early and warm season in Apalta. The winter maintained the historic drought with a slightly lower deficit of 23% of rain versus the historical data, but with 464 mm of during this season, it still gave us 46% more than the very little rains from 2022 vintage. Most rains where concentrated in June and July so we started with a good hidric levels in the soils. The temperatures over the winter where cooler as we where experiencing the last leg of "la niña" climatic phenomen. These conditions carried over to the begining of the spring, with mostly cooler and overcast days. But from mid October onwards, higher temperatures and sunny days became the norm, with consistent heat waves and peaks in average from November onwards until the begining of April 2023. Minium temperatures where consistenyly much higher than the historic data all trough the growing season. A carefull Irrigation was key and also to plan and adjust very carefully our canopy management to avoid heat damage and maintain the plants in good balance until the harvest. These hot & dry conditions meant very little pressure of diseases, so the sanitary conditions of the fruit was excellent. The growth accelerated trough the end of the summer, and the season was finally earlier between 6 to 13 days depending on the variety. The harvest started from the 22nd of February finishing the 25th of April and was all made by hand. As the maturity arrived so fast it was also uneven, so we had to follow a very close selection of all our vineyard blocks and go in very fast when the maturity was there, to harvest quick and protect the acidity and the fruit. Quality control was very strict at the reception of the grapes, and also a gentle extraction followed with carefull controled macerations this vintage, as the compounds where easy to extract. The yields ended up being 4% lower than the last 5 vintages and most importantly with grapes of excellent quality. The wines show great depth, with elegance and a dense fruit expression.

The detailed work in the vineyard, in the cellar and at the end moving fast to harvest allowed us to keep freshness and juicy fruit on our whites & rosé and we have also very promising results with the reds.