magazine layout - test paste

8/20/2019 Magazine Layout - Test Paste

1/3

Maule is a land locked in time. Tucked into the VII re-gion of Chile, it is 5 hours from the capital - Santia-go - and feels at least 50 years away from today. Horses

not only plough vineyards, but they are a main source of

transport for country folk, as well as large road- battered

and dirt-splattered pick up trucks. The villages and smaller

towns are groups of pink-washed mud brick houses with

quaint and sleepy plazas and the occasional church still

standing proud after many, many powerful earthquakes.

The biggest city is Talca - an agricultural capital best known

for its produce market selling artisanal crafts and food

stuffs.

Locals still giggle at their parochial saying, ‘Talca, Paris,

London’, which became the neighbourhood joke since a

local hat maker tried to aggrandise his business by false-

ly stating he had shops in each capital. While Talca is a

far cry from any cosmopolitan city like London or Paris,

the phrase almost perfectly sums up the locals’ tongue-

in-cheek humour and undeniable affection for their own

country capital and way of life.

As with most of Chile’s wine regions, Maule is framed by

the coast on the West and the mountain s to the East. The

vigorous Humbolt current creates large swells and the

coastline is rugged and untamed. Moving inland are the

middle valleys with small hillsides, fruit plantations and

many old vineyards. The long Maule river snakes through

the valley offering a handful of water sports and a lifeline

to all the growers. Forests and lakes sit somewhere in-be-

tween guarding old legends and legacies of the native

tribes, and up to the Andes mountains the horizon chang-

es to volcanos and snowcapped mountains where the Al-

tos del Lircay national park is alongside a handful of ski

resorts and hot springs.

Maule is wild, largely undiscovered, and rich with culture

and histormany old vineyards. The long Maule river snakes

through the valley offering a handful of water sports and a

lifeline to all the g rowers. Forests and lakes sit somewhere

in-between guarding old legends and legacies of the na-

tive tribes, and up to the Andes mountains the horizon

changes to volcanos and snowcapped mountains where

the Altos del Lircay national park is alongside a handful of

ski resorts and hot springs. many old vineyards. The long

Maule river snakes through the valley offering a handful of

water sports and a lifeline to all the growers.

Forests and lakes sit somewhere in-between guarding old

legends and legacies of the native tribes, and up to the

Andes mountains the horizon changes.

C H I L E

4.2 millionHectolitres/ year

M A U L

E

C H I L E T O

T A L

MAULE =50,574 hectares

2016

Mediterranean Climate

Sub regions Loncomilla

Cauquenes Tutuvén

Summer avg. 25º C

8º C 6 mm Total rain 735 mm/year

Winter avg. 8º C

1º C 110 mm

Harvest March - May

35.4º Latitude

Soil Profiles

GRANITE CLAY LOAM

170 producers5,390 vineyards

$24 USDArg. priceper bottleof VIGNO

12.8 millionhectolitres/

year6th largestproducer in

the worldMain Varieties

23% 19% 18% 11% 10% 7% 7% 8% P a i s

C a b e r n e t S a u v i g n o n

C a r m e n e r e

M e r l o t

S a u v i g n o n B l a n c

C a r i g n a n

C h a r d o n n a y

O t h e r s

40-100YRS Age of vines

0 1600s

Viticulture History

28 %

23


2/3

THE VINES & WINES:

Although it might not be the best known, Maule is one

of the biggest wine producing regions in Chile. Its great

diversity of varieties often don’t even get a mention on

the wine label as traditionally this has been the heartland

of anonymous wines sold as bulk or table plonk. VIGNO

(Vignadores de Carignan) is a movement that has helped

change that - putting Maule on the map.

With 17 member wineries or producers, making one VIG-

NO wine each, enthusiasts claim that VIGNO is the first

real appellation of Chile, and there may well be reason to

their rhyme as the rules of VIGNO are very similar in spec-

ificity to those of a traditional European ap pellation: a min-

imum of 65% Carignan (only to be blended with other red

old-vine varieties from Maule); using vines over 30 years

old (or grafted onto old rootstock); vineyards must be dry

farmed; and wines must be aged over 2 years before sale.

The characteristics of VIGNO show you exactly what is

special about Maule. Maule has beautiful old vineyards of

varieties such as Carignan and Pais, whose root systems

are so deep that many of the vineyards (known as Secano)

can be completely dry farmed (with no additional irriga-

tion beyond the rain). This is quite unique in the viticulture

world, and is a real gem in Chile where many of most

famous wine regions are pioneering new regions barely

in their teens.

So what does the wine taste like? Well, with 17 different

wines in VIGNO there is of course some diversity with-

in producer styles. Although there is a family line in VIG-

Food Pairings

CARIGNAN 9º-13ºCALC% 12-14

What was Sonoma like when you first came here?

In 1979 Sonoma was a sleepier place. Napa had all the sizzle because

of this rush to Cab, and the marketing genius of Mondavi and col-

laborative cohesion of Robert Parker gave it this great cache. When I

first came here I liked the idea of Sonoma that was very agricultural,

genuine, laid-back and chill. There’s not a lot of high octane stuff. Napa

seemed liked one great retail mall.

You were very instrumental in getting the Moon Mountain AVA.

Why is it i mportant to differentiate?

It was really important to me because what I do in terms of farming

and to produce these wines should not be associated with those in

Sonoma Valley that just do the status quo. That was not acceptable

to me. I am only interested in the highest end you can get from my

vineyards. I used to want to make the best wine in the world, then

the best wine in California. Now I want to make the best wine from

my vineyard.

You live on your vineyard, are you hands on in the process?

I hate leaving. There are whole days that I don’t leave the vineyard. I

do martial arts on the porch in the morning, then I write all day, then

I go to the winery and cycle to the tasting room [in Sonoma] to visit

everybody. I am involved in all the decisions and the blending. I am

tasting out of the barrels all the time. I am around the process but

don’t influence the process in the least.

Where does the magic happen?

The vineyard is where the magic happens. The winery is where the

winemakers try not to fuck up the magic. You’re working on the newjudgement of Paris film based on Steven Spurrier’s life. Apart from

that, would you say wine inspires many of your movies?

Can any part of your life so big, like your vineyard, really be that

separate from your writing?

In my screen writing I live in the world of imagination. Growing grapes

is diametrically the opposite! Everything is very concrete. There’s

nothing you can make up or invent in a vineyard…

Tell us about the 1996 fire.

I made a movie and I burned the vineyard down [A Walk in the Clouds].

Then 2 years later my own vineyard burned down… It destroyed the

whole vineyard. Moon Mountain lost 70% of their fruit. When we

went to collect from Pacific Gas [the fire was caused by their power

line] they didn’t care till I hired a lawyer who had beaten them before

and then they wanted to settle.


3/3

TRAVEL GUIDEHOW TO GET THERE

Maule is a 5 hour journey from Santiago, Chile, by road. You can easily hire

a car and the journey is quite direct straight down the Ruta 5, although the

wine routes require a bit more patience and good GPS. Alternatively catch

a bus to Talca, and a taxi from there to your final destination. To reach

Santiago, United Airlines offer flights from major US airports. Santiago is

a 16 hour flight from London, 10 hours from New York, and 5 hours from

Sao Paulo. www.united.com

WHERE TO STAY

If you are looking for vineyard accommodation, try www.tabonko.clat

Gillmore winery, or the private guesthouse at J Bouchon www.bouchonfam-

ilywines.com For a stay in central Talca, try the Eco Hotel www.ecohotel.

cl or the casino chain hotel www.hotelcasinotalca.cl. If you are looking for

vineyard accommodation, try www.tabonko.clat Gillmore winery, or theprivate guesthouse at J Bouchon www.bouchonfamilywines.com For a stay

in central Talca, try the Eco Hotel www.ecohotel.cl or the casino chain

hotel www.hotelcasinotalca.cl

WHERE TO EAT

Maule is filled with low key, locals eateries but if you want a bit of haute

cuisine Cocina y Gastronomia en San Bonifacio in Chanco and Terra Costa

in Constitucion are top picks. Maule is filled with low key, locals eateries

but if you want a bit of haute cuisine Cocina y Gastronomia en San Bonifa-

cio in Chanco and Terra Costa in Constitucion are top picks.

BUDGET PLANNING

On a low budget, $60 - 80 a day. On a top budget, $150-200 a day per

couple.

On a low budget, $60 - 80 a day. On a top budget, $150-200 a day per

couple

.

Matt Wilson is a British photographer who moved to Chile’s wine regions

after marrying his wife, a Chilean winemaker ten years ago. With a

background in skateboarding and music photography, he always brings a

lively dimension to wine photography and his personal philosophy is that

“no wine photo should ever have a glass of wine in it!”

www.mattwilson.cl Photos_in_Chile matt.wilson_gc

Through the lens ofFeatured photographer: Matt Wilson

NO, and that is the old vine Carignan.

Almost all the wines are made from

grapes purchased from very small

producers around Maule, small to the

extent whereby they may count their

land by number of vines owned rather

than hectares.

More text here. So what does the

wine taste like? Well, with 17 differ-

ent wines in VIGNO there is of course

some diversity within producer styles.

Although there is a family line in VIG-







than hectares.

Although there is a family line in VIG-







than hectares.

magazine layout - test paste

Documents