Winemakers

CLAUDIO CONTRERAS, MAURICIO GONZÁLEZ AND JAIME PEREIRA

Grapes

PAÍS, CINSAULT, MOSCATEL OF ALEJANDRIA

PHILOSOPHY

RENAISSANCE

Tinto de Rulo is a project producing craft wine or Artisinal wine as they’d call it in Chile, born from the dream of three agronomist friends based in South Central Chile, the Bio Bio region, which is approximately 500 kms south of Santiago.

They work in association with small growers, using only grapes from organic vineyards planted over a century ago with no trellising system and growing freely across the rolling hills on some of the most southern planted vineyards within the long thin country.

Tinto de Rulo literally translates to ‘Red from Curls’, which doesn’t explain much in english, however in Chile it refers to the way these grapes are grown on old bush vine with no established irrigation through the season, also known as dry farming.

The trio are in unison with letting the fruit do all the talking and pursue the discovery of individual character revealed by each vineyard. Adamant to make wine with no chemical additions nor a great deal of hands on manipulation, they emulate ancestral techniques for ferments with the use of clay vessels (amphorae) and elevage in very old large format vats called Pipa (made from native Chilean Beechwood) used back in Chile’s early winemaking days i.e. pre oak times. Now this is how the name ‘Pipeño’ came about, as traditionally the wine was sold to the local population directly from the sizeable ‘Pipa’, poured into refillable 5 litre bottles known as Garrafa or Demijohn.

Hand harvesting and wild yeast fermentation combines with all of the above, delivering wines with edge and a unique character that is giving the South American wine industry a whole new reputation.