Last week Francisco Baettig, Chief Wine Maker at Errazuriz in Chile, whisked up some magic at the latest instalment of his annual series of lectures. I do my best not to miss out on these because of the simple and honest approach this talented wine maker takes in presenting his thoughts to us. This year he showed an array of Icon Wines from Errazuriz along with a fascinating discussion of what makes an Icon Terroir- if indeed such a thing exists at all.
This years lecture was the 17th in the Errazuruz series and the 11th delivered in Ireland. I loved Francisco's opening ramble where he attempted to define an iconic terroir - 'everyone talks about having the best soil.....picking at optimum ripeness .... sorting tables ... and so on ...' Everyone, it seems, has twigged how to make great wine. But, he asks is it enough to just follow a recipe to success or do you need to define the terroir required and then to work closely and intimately with it at every step of the growing process. Errazuriz reckons that truly great terroir is in short supply and so truly iconic wines are also. There is no short cut to success. A very deep understanding of the multitude of interactions in the vineyard, above and below the ground, is a vital ingredient to making wines that are the best.
The Vital ingredient is Terroir which can be taken as a combination of climate and soil along with a 'human factor'. Icon wines though need to take the following along as necessary baggage also:
'The term Icon refers to those wines that represent a given producers maximum quality potential and have earned recognition as such before the consumers'
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| Francisco Baettig in Dublin last week |
The Vital ingredient is Terroir which can be taken as a combination of climate and soil along with a 'human factor'. Icon wines though need to take the following along as necessary baggage also:
Heritage
Family History
A Scarce and Unique Terroir that can be characterised and recognised
Ethical Responsibility
Handcrafted wines made with particular care and attention to detail
Scarcity and Rarity
Critical Acclaim
Terroir - Soil - Climate - Human Factor
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| Truly helpful information from Errazuriz |
'Great soil has a high presence of rocks in its profile and a high rock to root ratio'
Francisco then related each wine to its location in the Valle de Aconcagua thus building climate and history into the equation. Interestingly irrigation technique and practice needs to be factored in to all of this. When I asked how potential climate change could be handled within a definition of an Icon Terroir Francisco accepted that change to terroir is not only possible but likely over the the next few years as he accepts that climate change is happening. mmm I wonder .... Is it?
We were then treated to an exquisite tasting so that the effects of everything mentioned above might make sense.
1. Don Maximiano Founders Reserve 2007
Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot, Cabernet Franc, Syrah
2. Don Maximiano Founders Reserve 2008
Cabernet Sauvignon, Carmenere, Syrah, Petit Verdot
3. la Cumbre 2007
Syrah
4. la Cumbre 2008
5. Kai 2007
Carmenere
6. Kai 2008
7. Sena 2007
Cabernet Sauvignon, Carmenere, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot
8. Sena 2008
Cabernet Sauvignon, Carmenere, Merlot, Petit Verdot, Cabernet Franc
9. Chadwick 2007
Cabernet Sauvignon
10. Chadwick 2008
11. Chadwick 2009
The wines all showed well. I may have finally shrugged off my bias against Carmenere - Kai is well worth looking out for -but was glad see my faith in Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon showing such confidence - Chadwick is immense.
FYI : If you get chance to look up the Errazuruz QR Code. It deflects you into a very fine company presentation.
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