Pedro Parra Y Familia Cinsault Pais Pencopolitano

About

Pedro Parra was born in Concepción, Chile, near Bio Bio and Itata, and he is raising his family there now. Pedro holds a PhD in terroir from the Paris Center of Agriculture, with six years’ experience in French terroirs. As a highly respected consultant working in several countries and terroirs (Chile, Argentina, USA, Italy, Canada, France, Armenia), Pedro brings an open mind and vision to winemakers and viticulturists alike. Pedro has been described as the leading figure of the “New Chile” movement by the international press, in part because of his constant endeavor to bring a new vision to the Chilean wine industry, searching for quality terroirs and developing new plantings throughout the country. As a consultant, Pedro’s has work with many wineries, that includes Comando G, Jean-Marc Roulot, Marco Marengo, Liger Belair, Altos las Hormigas, Chapter 24, and Zuccardi to name a few.

Itata is a small, remote wine region in the Bio Bio area of southern Chile. The area is an outstanding mysterious place, full of history, terroir, and passion. Itata and Bio Bio were for many years an area of isolated granitic mountains, near the ocean, 500 kms south of Santiago. A difficult place to visit for centuries, with no roads, steep slopes, rain, and forest. Therefore, isolation was responsible for an strong local commitment to viticulture and wine, absolutely lost in time, and totally disconnected with the wine modernity that happened in Chile in the last 40 years. This isolation is the key factor for this terroir. No Bordeaux varieties invaded, no high yield production with irrigation; all of this kept the area pure and unique. In a geological sense, the area is defined by Paleozoic era, 220-300 million year old, schist and granite soils. There are no vines planted on the schist due to planting of pine and eucalyptus during the Pinochet era, so the terroir for wine in Itata is defined by the granite. Within the granitic areas, Pedro prefers to focus on the sandy quartz granite soils, as they force roots deeper than clay soils and therefore express the terroir better. Weather is coastal, cool, and cloudy with enough rain to make dry farming possible. The two varieties most widely planted in Itata are Cinsault (45 to 70 year old vines) and País (60 to 120 year old vines).

Pedro Parra Y Familia Cinsault Pais Pencopolitano was ged in untoasted foudres and cement tanks for one year, then eight months elevage in bottle. Pencopolitano comes from PENCO, an old spanish enclave where the City of Concepción was established for more than 250 years. It was totally destroyed by the big Tsunami of 1758. PENCOPOLITANO means citizen of Concepcion, my city, Capital of the Itata Valley and terroir for all of my wines.

It smells of wild herbs and flowers, with a light to medium palate and very good freshness. 1,100 cases produced.