Ventisquero explores coastal Chile

Viña Ventisquero has launched “Kalfu”, a range of wines designed to show off the different expressions that exist across Chile’s coastal regions.

Drawn from four different sites along a 1,000 kilometre stretch of coast from Colchagua up to Huasco on the edge of the Atacama desert, the range incorporates various expressions of Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Syrah, all drawn from either a single vineyard or specific block.

Meaning “blue” in the Mapuche language, Kalfu is divided into three regionally-based labels: “Molu”, meaning starfish, for wines from Casablanca and Colchagua; “Kuda”, meaning seahorse, for wines from Leyda; and “Sumpai”, meaning mermaid, which features wines from Huasco as well as a Syrah from Leyda.

Introducing Kalfu at this week’s London Wine Fair, winemaker Sergio Hormazabal highlighted the dominance of coastal sites in Ventisquero’s vineyard portfolio as he stressed the differences that exist within these.

In particular he noted the “mineral” character that comes from Huasco’s “extreme” climate that may see just 25mm of rain per year and whose saline soil adds further stress for these low yielding vines. Hormazabal also pointed to the especially cool conditions in Leyda, where Ventisquero’s vineyards lie just 5km from the Pacific ocean.

“We’re trying to show a sense of place for cool climate wines in Chile from the north to the south,” he explained.

With RRPs ranging from £9.99 for the Molu wines up to £15.99 for the Sumpai collection, this project’s single vineyard focus means that quantities for each expression are small, from a maximum of 3,000 cases down to just 500 cases for the Sumpai Syrah.

Noting that this Leyda Syrah was the result of an experimental half-hectare planted in 2010 to see if it would ripen in such a cool region, Hormazabal suggested that other varieties such as Riesling could potentially join the Kalfu range in due course, “but we need to be sure about them.”