Sierra Grande Merlot

The long standing working relationships with growers enable Boutinot to source premium fruit, with the ultimate aim of making excellent quality Chilean entry level wines with true style and character. For the Merlot, Boutinot work with two families in two different locations for a blend with huge appeal. The first is the Martin Family who are nestled into the Andes Mountains in a western corner of Curico. Their vineyards sit around 500 metres above sea level (masl), a far higher altitude than the majority of Curico’s main valley which lies around 250masl. Vines are between 40 and 60 years old and part of a 45ha estate where peaches and apples are also grown. The vines are unirrigated and the vineyard is cool with a unique rocky mountain soil and glacial streams. At this elevated height and proximity to the mountains, Merlot enjoys a long growing season with cool evening temperatures. We love the crunchy plummy fruit character which gives the backbone to this wine. Ths is then blended with grapes from the El Milagro Estate in the centre of the Curico valley. The warm temperature and fertile soils allows Merlot to flourish here. Grapes are harvested during the coolest part of the day to ensure they reach the winery in prime condition. Temperatures are kept fairly low throughout the winemaking process, to allow the grapes to express their natural fruit characters. No oak is used. The resulting wine is fuller with more body and softer tannins and works really well with the higher altitude component. The biggest strength of this blend is the ability to balance out warmer and cooler vintages with these two different profiles.