Villalobos Vinedo Silvestre Carignan

About Villalobos Vinedo Silvestre Carignan

Villalobos Vinedo Silvestre Carignan is delicate and soft, with round tannins on the palate. A food-friendly acidity bears traces of cherry and strawberry.

It doesn’t get more natural than this! The winery was founded in 2008 in the Colchagua Valley. This wine is sourced
from around 80-year-old “wild” vines of Carignan on clay/quartz soils. These are ungrafted, bush vines growing in
wild bunches 18 feet off the ground! Native fermentation in stainless steel, aged 18 months used neutral French oak.
Bottled unfined, unfiltered, minimal s02 at bottling. Only 9k bottles were produced. A total family-run project, including
the label art made by the father.

About Familia Villalobos

People like to talk about “sauvage” or “wild” wines, but few are literal examples. Villalobos’ “Silvestre” cuvee is sourced from a forest of fruit, where the Carignan grows in wild bunches 18 feet off the ground. That’s insane. These are ungrafted, bush vines on quartz and clay that are left untouched until harvest. It does not get more natural than that folks.

Villalobos is 100% a family project, and 100% a passion project. All the labels are paintings done by papa, who is a well-respected artist in his own right. The wine is more like an extension of his creative side than a traditional business. His sons handle the biz part.

In addition to the wild wines, they source organic fruit from two farmers. All the negoce wines are 100% stainless, native yeast, unfined, unfiltered expressions of Pacific terroirs. These are much lighter, fresher examples of Chilean viticulture than we are used to tasting, but ones that still express a clear sense of place. That’s a nice balance.

These wines show us there is always something new to discover and bring a totally fresh perspective to a genre with a somewhat tired and cheapened reputation. And a fresh perspective is exactly what the doctor orders!