Today’s Story: Garage Wine Co.
Garage Wine Co. is a boutique winery established in Chile in 2001 by Derek Mossman, his wife Pilar Miranda, and friend Alvaro Peña. The venture quite literally started in Derek and Pilar’s garage with production limited to family and friends, and the team sources fruit from small, dedicated winegrowers in Maule and Maipo. With a portfolio that includes Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, País, Carignan, Cinsault, and other varieties, Garage Wine Co. produces a few thousand cases of wine each vintage in a traditional and minimal fashion. For instance, all wines are made by hand and fermentation occurs only with native yeasts in small tanks with manual punch-downs. Throughout the winemaking process the team makes zero additions and the wines see zero or minimal new wood before bottling and ultimately end up with very low sulfites. As a fun fact, Garage Wine Co. uses recycled bottles for all of their wines to lessen their carbon footprint and, should you line up a number of their wines together, this is apparent.
I highly suggest checking out the Garage Wine Co. website here, as they have a wonderful photo gallery and strong social media presence. You can also find more information about the wines or their vineyard sites.
Today’s Wine: 2017 215 BC Ferment País
100% País; 13% ABV
The 2017 215 BC Ferment País is pale ruby in color with garnet hues. This is pretty much ready to go right out of the bottle, offering up medium intense aromas of ripe red cherry, stewed strawberry, licorice, rose, sage, and mild smoke. Meanwhile the palate is also of medium intensity, showcasing notes of cherry, raspberry, red plum, rose, anise, dried green herbs, and graphite. This fresh and enjoyable red is quite dry and light- to medium-bodied with medium acidity, medium tannins, medium alcohol, and a medium length finish. All-in this is an easy-going wine which I think would be a perfect match for those summer days where instead of pulling a white wine you want to go for a red.
Price: $19. This is my first País, so I’m not too sure where this bottling stands on a value perspective. However, for its price I certainly enjoy drinking it. The fruit quality here is very solid and there is some terroir poking through, though I don’t think this necessarily fits the potential of the variety to a T based on my research.
JB's Wine Talk 