- Carignan
- Dry
- Residual Sugar: 2 g/l
- Medium Bodied
- 750ml
- 13% alc./vol
About the Winery
Garage Wine Co.
Garage Wine was literally started in a garage in 2001, by Etobicoke expat Derek Mossman and his wife Pilar Miranda. Since then, the dynamic duo handcraft wines from a series of individual vineyards located in the Maule and Itata Valleys, in the south of Santiago, Chile.
Garage Wine Co makes wines from a series of individual parcels, small lots / bottlings of 8-22 barrels that include a series of dry-farmed field-blends of Carignan, Garnacha, Monastrell, País, Cinsault and Cab Franc grown on pre-phylloxera rootstock with small farmers in the Maule and Itata. Each wine is from a 1-2 hectare parcel in a different place.
Over the years working in the community they have raised a veritable posse of vineyard hands whose skills are working the vineyards the old way / the traditional way– originario. The vineyards are on the old coastal range of mountains closer to the Pacific and have granitic soils with cracks for roots to get deep down into.
When GWCo. speaks of the provenance of these wines they mean more than just the geological terroir. Derek and Pilar think the farming practices that have evolved over generations have as much to do with the wines’ personalities as the soils. All the wines are made by hand with native yeasts in small tanks, punched down manually and pressed out in a small basket press. GWCo is still very much a DIY operation and we still tow much of the crop back to the winery in trailers behind trusty pickup trucks 2,000 kilos at a time.
Press Reviews
Robert Parker
98 points
There are nuances between the three wines produced with Cariñena from Truquilemu and between those from 2018 and 2019, and the 2019 Vigno is the most powerful of the three. But that's all relative, as the wine is still 13.5% alcohol and has remarkable freshness and balance. But the fruit is a bit darker and the tannins feel a little grainier. But it's still complex and expansive, with red and blue fruit, herbs and flowers and a medium-bodied palate with a long, lingering finish with resonances of acid berries. Vibrant and brilliant. 4,471 bottles were filled in January 2021.
Deschorchados
95 points
Garage Wine Co. obtains the grapes for this Vigno from an old cariñena vineyard planted in the 1940s in the coastal area of Truquilemu in the Maule Valley. Aged in old barrels for about 18 months, this is a faithful example of that area influenced by sea breezes. There’s acidic tension here and a structure that’s determined by sharp, piercing tannins and a rather light body, but at the same time full of delicious fruit flavors that make it impossible to stop drinking it. Perfect with smoked pork.