What is ‘Andean Grand Cru’?

Santa Rita Estates is using a new marketing concept to showcase four of the South American wine regions where it has vineyards influenced by the Andes mountains.

During a recent visit to London, winemaker Sebastián Labbé explained why this titan of South American wine, which includes the Santa Rita, Carmen and Doña Paula wineries, is pushing the idea of ‘Andean Grand Cru’.

The term is not going to be used on wine labels, and it isn’t an official classification system, like that in Burgundy, but rather, according to Labbé, it is being used to communicate specific terroirs which Santa Rita Estates cultivates, and how they are tied to the mountainous spine which divides Chile and Argentina.

“I thought ‘Grand Cru’ was easy to understand without needing to create a new terminology,” he shared. “The main idea was to show the best appellations that are influenced by the Andes.”

Three of the four regions which are included in this idea are in Chile: Limarí, Alto Maipo and Apalta.

Limarí

Situated in the desertic northern half of Chile, Limarí may be close to the Pacific coastline, but Labbé suggested that “wherever you are in Chile, you get the influence of the mountains”.

The region’s subsoils are highly calcareous, with a calcium carbonate content in excess of 25%. Chardonnay is the most-planted variety there, with data from Wines of Chile concerning the valleys of Limarí and Choapa recording 780 hectares of Chardonnay, more than double the 332ha of the second most popular variety in the valleys, Syrah.

“Most of our Chardonnays are coming from there,” Labbé shared. “The wines are very austere, with great minerality. Water management is an issue – you have to be on top of things, the use of water could become a problem in the future, though this last winter was very wet.”

He revealed that this year, Limarí had seen around 280ml of rainfall, with 130ml falling in June – a figure double that of the 140ml rainfall in an average year.

Alto Maipo

Moving further inland and just south of Santiago is Alto Maipo, a centre for Cabernet Sauvignon, and the home turf of Santa Rita’s legendary Casa Real.

“Maipo is the nest of Cabernet Sauvignon, where the soul of Santa Rita started – we’re investing a lot in new vineyards, and we’re taking a more modern approach of clonal selection alongside more traditional massal selection, with ungrafted vines,” said Labbé. “The influence of Bordeaux is very apparent in Maipo.”

Describing some of the recent expressions of Casa Real, Labbé shared: “The last couple of vintages have been very good for us – 2021 is showing better earlier, but 2020 needs a bit more time. Most people aren’t raving about the 2022 vintage yet, but I’m super happy with the results – it was a cooler vintage, lower yields, and the wines are just being bottled now, and showing super good character, good purity.”

“2023 was also another hot vintage, but with good rain in the winter – 272ml of rain, whereas in 2020, for example, in the winter of 2019 we only got 73ml of rain – the driest winter we’ve ever had of the last 27 winters,” he continued, pointing out that the winter before each harvest is key.

And, of course, it all comes back to the Andes.

“Most of the water we’re using comes from deep underground – the problem with dry years is the water is very high in salts, with calcium carbonate from the Andes, and it can compact the soils, but in wet years those salts get washed down and it prevents compaction.”

Labbé noted that avoiding soil compaction helps with the pursuit of regenerative agriculture and soil biodiversity.

Apalta

“As we go down south to Apalta, in Colchagua, you find vineyards that were planted in the 1920s and 30s which were 100% Carmenere, and there was no confusion at the time as to if it was Merlot!”

“And they’re producing amazing Carmenere,” added Labbé. “I feel we need to be spreading the word about it.”

Santa Rita’s Apalta vineyard has largely granitic soils, providing good drainage – a necessity given the relatively heavy rainfall the area can receive in the winter, supposedly more than a third (35%) heavier than elsewhere in Colchagua.

The two Carmenere wines that Santa Rita Estates is keen to push as ‘Andean Grand Cru’ are the expression in the Floresta range and Pewën de Apalta

Broadening horizons

It isn’t just the Chilean side of the Andes that come under the Andean Grand Cru concept – across the mountains in Argentina, Doña Paula, part of Santa Rita Estates, will be using the term in relation to its plantings in Gualtallary, in the Uco Valley. db editor Sarah Neish recently spoke with its winemaker about Doña Paula’s involvement in the Andean Grand Cru, and what the future holds for Argentine wine.

At present, Santa Rita Estates does not have plans to extend the scope of Andean Grand Cru to other regions or grape varieties: “Our plan is to focus on what we have and promote it across the globe.”

However, Labbé did allude to the possibility of broadening the concept inside the four areas involved: “There’s enough diversity within those regions, and other varieties are interesting too – Cabernet Franc in Maipo, Pinot Noir in Limarí, etc.”

“Sometimes in Chile, 100 kilometres from north to south has less variation than east to west,” he added, alluding to how dramatically wine styles can differ if the vineyards are towards the mountains, or closer to the ocean.

Asked about whether tourism might play into the Andean Grand Cru idea, with around 3.7 million international visitors coming to Chile last year, Labbé said that it could be an “interesting” prospect.

“The Andes are a destination for skiing in the winter and trekking in the summer, Chile’s tourism ministry is intent on getting more visitors to the mountains,” he said. “If they go to Santiago, it’s a huge opportunity for us – Casa Real is only 45 minutes from the city and it receive more than 100,000 visitors a year. It’s like the US cellar door system, they take the bottles off your hands, you don’t need to worry about exports and taxes!”

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