Clos des Fous 'Cauquenina' Maule Valley 2016

Description

Fous is the French word for 'crazy men', a reference to the craziness of the the estate's four founding pioneers work in sourcing grapes from vineyards in the more extreme south and east of Chile: Pedro Parra (the viticulturalist), Francois Massoc and Paco Leyton (the winemakers), and Albert Cussen, who looks after the business.

Clos des Fous has 19 hectares of vineyards in total, which is supplemented by fruit from selected growers. Pedro Parra's key aim was to move plantings away from the fertile plains and up the slopes into the Andean and Coastal ranges, where the rockier soils result in lower vine vigour and deeper roots, which he believes gives better balance and more finesse to the wines.

Cauquenina meaning “girl from Cauquenes” is a blend of several varietals. This blend comes from non-irrigated old vines, planted on ancient red granite slopes. It is a blend of Carignan, Malbec, Pais, Syrah, Cinsault and Carmenere and is a heady mix of violet, black pepper, tea leaves and wet stone. It is lively yet balanced with refreshing acidity, fine tannins and excellent structure.