Falernia Reserva Pinot Noir 2013
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Pairs well with most food: chicken, pasta, meat, cheese, etc., but excellent with lamb chops.
In 1951 Aldo Olivier Granola’s family moved to Chile and in 1971 he started planting grapevines for Pisco production. Around that time Aldo became convinced of the potential for producing superb wines in this semiarid valley. The Falernia project was born after he and his cousin Giorgio Flessati, famed Italian oenologist, joined forces. Falernia is an innovative venture given that it is Chile’s most northerly wine estate, a considerable distance from the country’s main winegrowing areas. The driving force has been a passion for the wine and the challenge of transforming a tract of desert into a green vineyard with enormous potential for producing premium wines. They use the latest technology and have the support of agronomists from Chile’s top universities and worldrenowned oenologists.
Thin-skinned, finicky and temperamental, Pinot Noir is also one of the most rewarding grapes to grow and remains a labor of love for some of the greatest vignerons in Burgundy. Fairly adaptable but highly reflective of the environment in which it is grown, Pinot Noir prefers a cool climate and requires low yields to achieve high quality. Outside of France, outstanding examples come from in Oregon, California and throughout specific locations in wine-producing world. Somm Secret—André Tchelistcheff, California’s most influential post-Prohibition winemaker decidedly stayed away from the grape, claiming “God made Cabernet. The Devil made Pinot Noir.”
Part of the Coquimbo region, also with the Limari Valley, Elqui Valley is one of the northern wine producing regions of Chile, which historically focused on table grapes and pisco production. Intense sunlight and cooling effects of the ocean, together with rocky, clay soil make this one of Chile’s up-and-coming wine regions.