January 19, 2010
We continued our exploration of organic Casablanca wineries with a morning visit to Catrala Winery and its owner Felipe Rodriguez. Felipe has a real belief in doing things naturally and creating ecosystems in his vineyard, so his resulting wines will be a true reflection of his beautifully secluded property. He has 200 acres growing Sav Blanc, Chardonnay, Merlot, Pinot noir, and Pinot Gris, as well as over a thousand acres of native forest surrounding the vineyards. His close proximity to the coast results in large temperature swings. The day we were there it had been 40 degrees in the morning, and hit the mid 80s before we left. This gives his Pinot noirs exceptionally deep colors. Felipe is very conscientious of the benefits of technology, using a UC Davis developed, satellite-linked weather systems to warm him when conditions are optimal for various fungi and frosts, so he can take corrective action. He collects leaf mulch from the surrounding forest to spread in his vineyard. Many of his vineyard blocks receive little to no irrigation, which forces roots deep into the soil in search of water. This diffused root system pulls more nutrients and flavors from the soil as well. Before the rainy season each year, he drives his tractors through the vineyard, and rips out three deep (~8 inches) “canals” in each row, so the rain water collects in these ruts, and penetrates deeper into the earth. Felipe was quite a wordsmith, generating several great quotes during our tasting at a secluded deck area in a corner of the vineyard. My favorite had to be how a great vineyard is like a great woman, she must be delicate, with something always to discover, not something shallow and one-dimensional you quickly tire of.
After a lunch where Mike nearly broke his neck doing an unintentional back flip off a rickety wing set, we visited another biodynamic winery, Matetic. The Matetic family owns large ranching and forestry businesses in Chile. The patriarch didn’t want to do the vineyard biodynamically, but a younger member of the family had been studying it, and convinced him to try it. After significant awards from prestigious organizations like Wine Spectator, the patriarch has become a believer, and is taking steps to make his other businesses more environmentally friendly. The winery is extremely modern, both technologicall in its equipment and in its design. I’d love to work with their equipment in the cellar, but the architecture is too austere and modern for me. They had a delicious barrel fermented chardonnay, with 15% new oak and 15% malolactic fermentation. It was a perfect mid point between over the top California chards and light acidic French chards. This is how I’m going to make mine. There was also a cool climate Syrah. Matetic was one of the first wineries to grow and produce a cool climate Syrah, being located 15 miles from the coast. It was incredibly peppery!
