Wine: Ventisquero vineyard in Chile (Photo Essay)

During a 2011 Winebow-sponsered press trip, I found the soft light hitting Ventisquero’s leaves with genuine kindness. The Maipo Valley, Chile, vineyard’s fall colors and the few grapes left behind from harvest smiled with their tannins. In my short time here, I tried to capture the vineyard’s earth and beauty with a hint of wine and people.

Fall comes in March for Chile, and the vine's leaves trickle down to the vineyard's rich soil. — Fall comes in March for Chile, and the vine’s leaves trickle down to the vineyard’s rich soil.

The clay. loam and granite soils of Ventisquero.

The clay. loam and granite soils of Ventisquero. — Fall comes in March for Chile, and the vine’s leaves trickle down to the vineyard’s rich soil.

The clay. loam and granite soils of Ventisquero.

A Carmenere's leaf, its vascular system collecting water and nutrients for its grapes. — A Carmenere’s leaf, its vascular system collecting water and nutrients for its grapes.

And the wine ages in French and American oak. Somewhere in this mix of barrels are a few barrels of Hungarian oak.

Head Winemaker Felipe Tosso joined Viña Ventisquero in 2000, and here he noses a Carmenere.

The end.

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