I first had the pleasure of tasting De Martino wines about 6 years ago when they became one of the first organic wines on the Hong Kong market and I have to admit that back in those days I was a little bit skeptical of the whole organic thing. It seemed back then that winemakers were just starting off with the movement and wines, either psychologically or not, tasted nowhere near to the taste of what we had become accustomed to back in the mid-2000’s and probably because we were so used to the tropical, fruity and aromatic whites from New Zealand that were taking the market by storm.
Fast forward to 2013 and it was time again to taste
the ranges of wines from almost wholly organic winery De Martino together with
Axel Vade Pruzzo, the Export manager for Asia, together with their exclusive
importers, Kedington Wines here in Hong Kong.
De Martino is a Chilean winery that is situated
predominantly in the Maipo Valley region of Chile but has vineyards all
throughout the country because of their firm beliefs that the terroir of
different areas in the country are better suited to specific grape varieties.
Thus, unlike many Chilean mass-produced wines, they do not just grow for the sake
of growing, rather they find and evaluate the likelihood that the region the
grape is grown in will show the grapes true colours by the time is has been
poured into your glass.
The winery itself was founded in 1934 by
Italian immigrant Pietro De Martino Pascualone who came to Chile to satisfy his
passion for winemaking. Now in its 3rd generation, the winery
started its 100 per cent organic drive in 1998 and since then has become one of
the leaders in Chilean sustainable and organic winemaking.
Talking to Axel he told me that; “The problem
with the Chilean wine industry is that it is looked upon as an industry. De
Martino is committed to regaining its identity, changing the philosophy and
style of winemaking. We needed to show people that we make unique and different
wines, not industrial wines”.
Their motto “Re-Inventing Chile” stems from
wanting the world to look at Chilean wines in a different light, one where
terroir is a factor in winemaking and that Chilean wine is not just
non-descript wines from the Central Valley – a huge winemaking region in
Central Chile where a lot of the mass produced wines come from these days. Over
here in Asia, many associations are still made with regard to Chilean wines,
one of them being that Chile only produces mass-quantity wine; something De Martino
is trying to change.
“It’s fairly easy to be organic in Chile”, Axel
tells me. “The country is phylloxera free and because of its terrain with a
desert to the North and extreme cold to the South, it’s almost impossible for
bugs, pests or insects to survive”.
For De Martino, it’s all about terroir and
finding the specific terroir to grow each separate grape variety as they
believe it just does not make sense to grow the same varieties in the same
place. When making the wines, they only use natural yeasts in the fermentation
and there is no balancing of the acidity like in other wineries. The wine is
what it is - and is a reflection of where it came from.
De Martino are specialists in the Carmenere
grape and were, in fact, the first Chilean winery to export wine made from the
grape back in 1996. They were the winery who registered the growth of the grape
with the Chilean authorities and they like to think of their Carmenere wines as
ambassadors to their winery. We tried the De Martino Carmenere 347 2007
together and it has a nice body with smoky and savoury flavours. It’s definitely
a food wine but has a great tannin balance.
Their Chardonnay 2010 is superb with delicious
apple ripeness and no oak flavours to mask the fruit intensity – it has a body,
but it’s not ‘in your face’. Another wine I loved was the Old Bush Vines 2009
which is a blend of Malbec, Carmenere and Cabernet Sauvignon. It has a big
minty finish with fantastic tannins and is a big, meaty wine.
The renaissance of Chilean wine has started
with De Martino and we can only hope it spreads to enable the country to shrug
off some of the negative sentiment that’s associated with it. Hell, the Aussies
managed to get people back drinking Chardonnay!! It will, though, take a concerted
effort from more Chilean winemakers and with the guidance of pioneers such as
De Martino, the future looks bright once more for the Chilean wine business.
De Martino wines are available from Kedington
wines in Hong Kong. For more information on the wines please contact them at info@kedwines.com or call them on 2989-9323
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