Chile steps up efforts to perfect País

Scientists at Concha y Toro’s Research and Innovation Centre in Chile are working to improve the prospects of País to prevent it from disappearing into obscurity, with a sparkling rosé and Beaujolais-inspired wine vying to become the grape’s trademark style.

Gerard Casaubon, director of the Concha y Toro Research and Innovation Centre.

The US$5 million research centre in Chile’s Maule Valley opened last year with the aim of carrying out research to help elevate the entire Chilean wine industry, focusing on innovation in both viticulture, winemaking, product design and marketing.

The purpose-built facility houses an experimental winery with the capacity to vinify 200 tons of grapes, tasting rooms, a lecture room, as well as 78 hectares of nursery vineyards – a project that began 16 years ago and now has the ability to yield up to two million plants a year. (Sadly its state-of-the-art laboratory burnt down in a fire in August, but is now being rebuilt).

One year in the centre has 54 projects underway, however one of its major focuses has been on the Chilean grape variety País. The variety, known as Mission in California and Criolla in Argentina, is Chile’s second most planted variety but has historically been confined to blends and table wine. However Chilean producers are now making efforts to revive the variety. 

“There is a huge commitment by small producers with País”, said Sebastien Vargas, research scientist and winemaker at the centre who previously worked in research development for Gallo. “Last year I had three different experiments for that particular grape, things to improve the quality of wine. We had some issues, it was a little bit tannic so we are working on different strategies and vinification to find the sweet spot of extraction. Experiments that involve different timings in temperature and different methods of extraction.”

With Chile home to many País vines that are more than 100 years old, Vargas sees plenty of potential for the variety, if producers can improve their methods and raise its international reputation.

“It’s very unique and it’s very Chilean and there’s a lot effort going into that”, he said. “I don’t want that to disappear. It’s not a difficult variety to grow but it is difficult to vinify.”

According to Gerard Casaubon, director of the facility, challenges faced by País are its relative lack of colour, very dry profile and simplistic aromas, all of which can be improved upon by using the correct winemaking methods.

Winemaking experiments currently being carried out on the grape include the production of a sparkling País rosé that is “like Provence rosé in colour”, a País produced using whole bunches and carbonic maceration to extract more colour, and a third produced using thermovinification, which Casaubon, said resulted in a wine that was “less dry” and more fruity in character.

Concha y Toro’s Research and Innovation Centre just outside of Talca in the Maule Valley

“It’s very tricky because few people understand that it’s a variety”, said Casaubon. “So I think it’s more important to identify opportunities for the grape – if it is able to produce a good wine with a rosé or through using carbonic maceration. We should create a niche concept so we can reach our final goal, which is to sell more Pais. First we need to define the product and style it must be. We cannot try and do a big red, let’s do something different and work together – a sparkling País rosé for example.”

The aim of the project is to give País producers a stronger platform from which to sell their product and make greater use of the many País vines planted in Chile. Helping to pave the way for País, Concha y Toro’s Marques de Casa Concha released its first País Cinsault blend from 100 year-old dry-farmed vines in Maule’s Cauquenes Province, and Cinsault from 50 year-old vines planted further south in Chile’s Itata Valley, following the 2014 vintage. Produced using carbonic maceration, the wine has an abv of around 12.5% and retails for around £9-10 in the UK.

Meanwhile Miguel Torres Chile laid claim to producing “the first truly Chilean sparkling wine” in 2011. Its Santa Digna Estelado Rosé is thought to have been the first sparkling wine made from País.

While founded by Concha y Toro, the centre is open as a resource for the wider Chilean wine industry as part of a collective effort to move the industry forward. Around 80% of the 54 experiments currently underway at the centre relate to Cabernet Sauvignon, Carmenere and Pais, with UC Davis in California also involved in a number of projects.

Projects include the development of an app to assess the best practice for leaf removal in Cabernet Sauvignon vines, identifying the best clonal material for Cabernet Sauvignon and best practice for water management, which will be of particular benefit to producers in the north of the country.

Having been set up in 2014, the centre hopes to expand its operations until 2020, consolidating by 2024, with the long term goal of fostering a research and innovation culture within the industry.