Erasmo Late Harvest Torontel (375ML half-bottle) 2009
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Wine & Spirits
Made with grapes dried outdoors, protected from the sun and rain, this is a honeyed wine that weaves tropical fruit into a dense tapestry of flavor. With 166 grams of residual sugar, it’s a wine with weight and abundant sweetness. However, amid this orgy of sweetness, a penetrating beam of acidity appears, shining a spotlight on the naked fruit and sending it off in a more refreshing finish.
“Erasmo is the name of a local farmer that helped me understand the uniqueness of the ancient land of Caliboro…Come and visit this extraordinary organic farm where ancient traditions and state of the art winemaking meet.” –Count Francesco Marone Cinzano
In 1995, Count Francesco Marone Cinzano, owner of the eminent Col d’Orcia estate in Montalcino, visited the Maule Valley in Chile on a trip to the Conquistadores Trail. He fell in love with the land – an area he felt exhibited a true “Harmony of Nature” - and felt there was immense potential for the production of world-class wines. Count Cinzano and longtime consultant Maurizio Castelli settled on the area of “Riserva di Caliboro” in the Maule Valley to establish Erasmo. The decision to farm organically was paramount from the beginning. In fact, the Caliboro area was chosen because of the allowance of dry farming. The estate was certified organic with the 2014 vintage.
The Caliboro Valley lies along the river Perquilauquen. It is covered in gently sloping alluvial terraces and rich in native vegetation and wildlife. The area enjoys intense sunlight, dry southerly winds and optimal rainfall.
Count Cinzano’s life is inextricably linked with fine wine, with a family tradition of winemaking dating back over 400 years. His unshakeable dedication to producing the highest quality sustainable and organic wines is apparent with Erasmo, but it does not end with grapes. His dedication to the people behind the wines is foremost. Most of the estate’s workers live on the farm and are allowed to cultivate their own plot of land within the propriety, as well as keep their own livestock.
Apart from the classics, we find many regional gems of different styles.
Late harvest wines are probably the easiest to understand. Grapes are picked so late that the sugars build up and residual sugar remains after the fermentation process. Ice wine, a style founded in Germany and there referred to as eiswein, is an extreme late harvest wine, produced from grapes frozen on the vine, and pressed while still frozen, resulting in a higher concentration of sugar. It is becoming a specialty of Canada as well, where it takes on the English name of ice wine.
Vin Santo, literally “holy wine,” is a Tuscan sweet wine made from drying the local white grapes Trebbiano Toscano and Malvasia in the winery and not pressing until somewhere between November and March.
Rutherglen is an historic wine region in northeast Victoria, Australia, famous for its fortified Topaque and Muscat with complex tawny characteristics.
Maule is the Central Valley’s most southern and coolest zone, reaching a southern latitude of 35°S, yet it is still warmer and drier than Bío-Bío to its south. The Maule Valley enjoys success with a unique set of grapes.
It lays claim to the local variety, Pais (synonymous with Tinta Pais, which is actually Tempranillo), which has dominated much of the region’s area under vine until the recent past. Now many growers, not confined by the tradition and regulations of the Old World, also successfully grow Cabernet Sauvignon.
While Maule’s total area under vine remains relatively static, its old Carignan vineyards are undergoing a great revival. The VIGNO (Vignadores del Carignan Vintners) group, an association in charge of promoting this long-forgotten variety, is getting fantastic results from the old vines in its dry-farmed coastal zones.
The Maule includes the subregions of Talca, San Clemente, San Javier, Parral, Linares and Cauquenes.