Origin:Colchagua Valley, Chili
Grape: Cabernet Sauvignon
Body: Medium
Year: 2015
Alcohol: 5%
Price point: $22
Year Reviewed: 2017
So purchased this wine just for two simple reasons: such a cute burlap wrapper and a Cab from Chili. Even though 2015 was supposed to be a great year in Chili for Sauvignon Blanc, I still couldn’t resist this bottling and I was going to find out why they were wrapped in burlap. So what did I end up with?
On the nose, I get vanilla, cherry notes-lots of it, dark currant fruit, a touch of violet (floral) and stone or clay. On the palate, I get medium acidity and get a well-balanced flavor of cherry, raspberry, woody and cedar tones, and what I will call a younger cab grape. Drink now or let age a few years. These grapes are harvested by hand and then matured for 10 months in a stainless steel tank and then 2 months in the bottle.
Okay, so why the burlap? In the early days of bad roads in the Colchagua Valley in Chili, when the wine was transported in open horse drawn carts, the bottles were wrapped in burlap to protect them from both sunlight and bumpy roads. That protective tradition still endures until today.
As I always say, every bottle has a story behind it.
History of Vino de Eyzaguirre the “EZ-GARY”
In the mid-seventeenth century, the Eyzaguirre family left their home in Vizcaya, Spain, and traveled to Chile to seek their fortune. They prospered and became distinguished citizens of their new country. In 1768 Domingo Eyzaguirre was appointed mayor of the capital city of Santiago.
His son, Domingo Eyzaguirre II, planted some of the first vines from French rootstock in that region and founded the Vino de Eyzaguirre near a village built by monks from a nearby Franciscan monastery.
At first the wine was “bottled” in sturdy, 15-liter earthenware chuicos, which survived the bumpy trip by horse-drawn cart from the village to the monastery. When the winery switched to much smaller glass bottles, however, breakage became a problem. To protect their precious cargo, the monks took to wrapping the bottles in burlap sacks. The idea caught on with the winery and became a tradition that has endured to this day.
Today the “EZ-GARY” is produced at Viña San Jorge in the prestigious Colchagua Valley, renowned for its near-perfect climate for growing grapes, and for wines of exceptional quality.
http://www.eyzaguirre.com/chilean_wine_background.htm
Enjoy with steak and potatoes or beef stew.
This winery advertises that they have “Beneficial Environmental Management and Green Practices” but when digging deeper into this, I couldn’t find out what they were exactly doing, except for recycled waste water and water saving irrigation techniques. Any reader has that information, let me know.