2011 Limavida Single Vineyard Old Bush Vines Malbec

The 2011 Single Vineyard Limavida is produced with the fruit from a 2.3-hectare, un-grafted, dry-farmed, old vineyard from Maule planted back in 1945 with mixed varieties, mainly Malbec (around 80%) and other red grapes, mainly Carmenere and Cabernet Sauvignon on granitic soils. It displays a bright ruby color with strong aromas of flowers (the telltale violets that the best Malbec really masters) and notes of aniseed, red fruit, licorice, smoked hints and the tension and acidity from the old vines with fine-grained tannins. With time in the glass, it develops a beautiful orange peel note that makes it appealing and fresh. A serious red from Maule. Delicious! Drink now-2019. A revolution has been going on at De Martino since the 2011 vintage. You might as well forget what they were doing before; you can consider them born again or a completely new winery. They are an old family operation whose current motto is “Reinventing Chile,” and a lot of what they are doing is not “inventing” anything, but rather looking back at reliable old traditions, unearthing old dry-farmed vineyards planted in the past, and producing wines that reflect their origin, without any makeup. At the end of 2011, they decided to stop buying new barrels and only manage and reuse the ones they own. They purchased large (5,000-liter) oval-shaped oak foudres from Austria, and use them to age all their single vineyard wines. They also bought old tinajas (140 of them), terracotta amphorae, most of them over 100 years old, for a new line of wines. They produce a total of 1.5 million bottles and cultivate 270 hectares of vineyards (all of them un-grafted). They also source grapes from small producers as they produce wines from all over Chile. They do not use external yeast or any other products in their wines. They harvest early and do not wait for phenol ripeness, because they want vibrant wines, harvesting instead when the skin is ready. The magic word is balance. None of their wines are above 14% alcohol. The local market is reacting well to theis new direction, and the company is now even selling small quantities in Spain, which is virtually unheard of for wines from South America. When I first met with winemaker Marcelo Retamal and Sebastian De Martino in Madrid while they were in Europe, they told me they love food and want to produce wines that go with food. I didn’t know what to expect but was blown away by the single-vineyard line-up, all different and showing strong personalities. I subsequently visited Retamal and De Martino in their winery in Isla de Maipo, where I could complement what I had tasted and had the chance to listen to the team and learn and understand what they are doing. Head winemaker Marcelo Retamal travels with his team to the main wine regions of the world once a year for about a month. They’ve been doing that for more than a decade and it certainly pays off. Seeing what others do, knowing the wines, the regions and the greatest wines in the world helps you not only to understand where you are, but also to understand your own terroirs, to question what is done in your region because someone made that decision long time ago; it opens your mind and helps you improve your wines. You can hardly produce great wine if you don’t know (and drink and understand) great wines. That is something that Retamal has done very well, and he deserves all the recognition. De Martino is now one of the leading producers in Chile with a very exciting line of wines, all of them highly recommended from 2011 on. Imported by Opici Wines, Glen Rock, NJ; tel. (201) 689-3256; www.opiciwines.com