Our Wine Choice: De Martino Valle de Itata Guarilihue Las Olvidadas 2022

During my recent four-day expedition of Chile’s Itata region, I discovered some remarkable red wines made from pais and cinsault. The battle for supremacy between the rustic pais, derived from ancient and gnarled vines, and the vibrant, fruit-forward cinsault, is currently unfolding in the south of Chile, with both varieties vying for the title of producing the most drinkable reds.

Depending on the terroir and how the wine is made, both cinsault and pais can produce incredibly fluid and delicious wines. However, the more I taste, the more my affection grows for pais. My wine choice this week exemplifies what I mean by drinkability: the De Martino Las Olvidadas Valle de Itata Guarilihue 2022, an extraordinary old-vine wine, is one of the top pais reds I had during my trip.

Possibly the oldest grape variety in Chile, pais, also known as listan prieto, was introduced by Spanish conquistadors in the mid-16th century. According to De Martino co-owner Sebastian de Martino, Itata and Bio-Bio are home to ancient vines that date back 120 or even 200 years. “These vines have stood witness to generations of change within families,” he said.

While most winemakers and producers in Chile buy grapes from local growers, De Martino stands among the select few producers who actually own their own vineyards in Itata, along with recognized names such as Leonardo Erazo and Pedro Parra.

Although pais wines can often be rustic, showing simple, diluted flavors and coarse tannins, exceptional quality is possible when they are well made. The best pais should be comparable to something between Barolo and Beaujolais, and De Martino’s rendition is a prime example.

“It may be too much of a statement, but I think pais has the potential to make wines like Barolo. We just need to better understand the variety and the place,” said De Martino winemaker Nicolas Perez, whose 2022 vintage brings him closer to this realization.

“For the first time, we separated the extremely old vineyard plot, at least 120 years old, from the rest. It was fermented in open-top, 1,000-liter plastic bins with gentle extraction and around 10 percent whole clusters,” he explained. The wine also incorporated 9 percent San Francisco (negramoll) and it was aged in 2,500-liter foudre (large wooden vats) for 14 months. The fact that they decided to use foudre as opposed to barrels used in previous vintages exemplifies their pursuit of more finessed winemaking and enhanced understanding of the grape.

“The first vintage of Las Olvidadas was 2018. Today it is has a more reductive profile and the color is also brighter,” Perez said.

Only 3,300 bottles of this nervy, peppery and characterful país were made, and anyone who is interested in the potential of great pais from Chile should give it a try.

There are a few other producers today in Itata crafting beautiful, good-value pais that I personally love to drink, such as Leo Erazo, Roberto Henriquez, Ricardo Baettig and Ana Maria Cumsille. Despite being one of the oldest grape varieties in Chile, the journey of understanding pais and making excellent wines from it has just started.

– Zekun Shuai, Senior Editor