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Carter Mollenhauer
Husband and wife team Edgard Carter and Karine Mollenhauer run their family winery in the Maule, making a few small-production wines from indigenous grapes. Their idea is to elevate the reputation of purity and authenticity of Chilean wine through organic farming, and minimal intervention in the cellar.
This single vineyard, ungrafted, dry farmed bush vine Cinsault is their Cru from Guarilihue Alto. It was planted in 1955 in rocky soils at 265m. The wine was native fermented with 80% foot trodden whole clusters, and vinified slowly in a Chilean tinaja, with maceration lasting 138 days. It then aged 4 months in older barrels. There were no sulphites used during vinification or aging.
So fragrant, with lavender, rosemary, iris, wild mint, native pine. Salted, pitchy, and herbaceous. So intense, but so light, with lifted, finessed, expressive aromatics and long, fine tannins with ample salinity throughout, lingering on the finish. An intoxicating wine. 824 bottles.
“I love the nose and the fluidity of the bright ruby 2020 Los Queles Cinsault, which surprised me when I read 14% alcohol, as the wine feels lighter and less ripe, but it is terribly balanced and tasty. It was produced with grapes from a vineyard planted in 1955 in Guarilihue in Itata. It fermented with 80% full clusters that were foot trodden in tinaja, where it matured for four months and a further four in well-seasoned barrels. It's expressive and varietal, with typicity from the place. Only 824 bottles and 33 magnums were filled in December 2020. Drink 2021-2024.” - 92 points, Luis Gutiérrez, Wine Advocate, August 31, 2021.
Read about Carter Mollenhauer here.
Vintage: 2020
Bottle Size: 750 mL
Bottles per Case: 6
Price per Bottle: $53
Style: Still
Appellation: DO Itata
Region: Guarilihue Alto
Country: Chile
Grape: Cinsault
Colour: Red
Vegan: Yes
Organic: Yes
Biodynamic: No
Natural: Yes
Low Intervention: Yes
Carter Mollenhauer
Husband and wife team Edgard Carter and Karine Mollenhauer run their family winery in the Maule, making a few small-production wines from indigenous grapes. Their idea is to elevate the reputation of purity and authenticity of Chilean wine through organic farming, and minimal intervention in the cellar.
This single vineyard, ungrafted, dry farmed bush vine Cinsault is their Cru from Guarilihue Alto. It was planted in 1955 in rocky soils at 265m. The wine was native fermented with 80% foot trodden whole clusters, and vinified slowly in a Chilean tinaja, with maceration lasting 138 days. It then aged 4 months in older barrels. There were no sulphites used during vinification or aging.
So fragrant, with lavender, rosemary, iris, wild mint, native pine. Salted, pitchy, and herbaceous. So intense, but so light, with lifted, finessed, expressive aromatics and long, fine tannins with ample salinity throughout, lingering on the finish. An intoxicating wine. 824 bottles.
“I love the nose and the fluidity of the bright ruby 2020 Los Queles Cinsault, which surprised me when I read 14% alcohol, as the wine feels lighter and less ripe, but it is terribly balanced and tasty. It was produced with grapes from a vineyard planted in 1955 in Guarilihue in Itata. It fermented with 80% full clusters that were foot trodden in tinaja, where it matured for four months and a further four in well-seasoned barrels. It's expressive and varietal, with typicity from the place. Only 824 bottles and 33 magnums were filled in December 2020. Drink 2021-2024.” - 92 points, Luis Gutiérrez, Wine Advocate, August 31, 2021.
Read about Carter Mollenhauer here.
Vintage: 2020
Bottle Size: 750 mL
Bottles per Case: 6
Price per Bottle: $53
Style: Still
Appellation: DO Itata
Region: Guarilihue Alto
Country: Chile
Grape: Cinsault
Colour: Red
Vegan: Yes
Organic: Yes
Biodynamic: No
Natural: Yes
Low Intervention: Yes
Alexana Winery
Though named Terroir Series, this is a Willamette-wide blend of various soils and clones. The wine is a selection of barrels from the dry farmed younger blocks of the Revana vineyard in Dundee Hills, along with vineyards in Yamhill-Carlton, Eola-Amity, Chehalem Mountains, and McMinnville, and clones Pommard, 115, 777, Wadenswil, 667, La Tache, 943, 114, 828, Coury, and 113. Each lot is separately native fermented whole berry before aging 11 months in French oak (23% new). Forest, wild cherry, fresh moss, and pretty florals rule the silken palate, sided with fine, long tannins and finishing with a gently warming baking spice note. Quite polished and fresh, this medium bodied wine is drinking ideal now with any kind of mushroom / duck dishes.
“Vivacious and expressive, with sleek raspberry and cherry flavors laced with rose petal, orange peel and hints of forest floor as this sails on the long, supple finish. Drink now through 2030. 6,490 cases made.” - 93 points, Tim Fish, Wine Spectator
Read more about Alexana Winery here.
Vintage: 2021
Bottle Size: 750 mL
Bottles per Case: 6
Price per Bottle: $65
Style: Still
Region: Oregon
Appellation: Willamette Valley AVA
Country: USA
Grape: Pinot Noir
Colour: Red
Vegan: No
Organic: No
Biodynamic: No
Natural: No
Low Intervention: No
Minimus
Minimus
Chardonnay Dijon Free
No Dijon clones were harmed in the making of this wine. Though Dijon clones are prevalent throughout the Willamette, they wanted to create a wine using only heirloom clones. This used Calera, Old Wenté, Musqué, Mt. Eden, Mendoza, and spent 16 months in 30% new French oak. Showing beautiful evolution, but still shining, with shimmery lemon and a buzzy undercurrent livening yellow and green apple, pear skin, subtle toast on a layered palate. Polished and impressive, reflective of the striking potential for Willamette Chardonnay.
"Beautiful chardonnay, as rich, sumptuous and unctuous as one could want from the Willamette, but also this stony and flinty subtlety running through the wine's interior like a hidden treasure of a message. So graceful and gracious, clearly exulting a sense of vineyard pace and place coaxed graciously by the people who work to make this fruit so real and proper. Excellence incarnate for a "Dijon-free" clonal iteration of the standard variety, opted for and exulted instead by that which is truly local. Drink 2023-2027. Tasted November 2023.” - 94 points, Michael Godel, WineAlign.com
"The first chardonnay I have seen promoted as Dijon-free, a reference to the invasion of French Dijon clones in recent years. It uses more 'native' clonal stock instead - Calera, Wente, Musque and others - and signals a reversion to American chardonnay of old. Indeed the very ripe banana, floral and buttery/custardy notes, complete with oodles of clove/nutmeg barrel spice - does recall the 80s. It is full bodied, off-dry warm and very rich. The texture is quite silky and the heat is on, yet the acidity holds. All kinds of complexity and power here, with excellent to outstanding length. The name of the wine is given a signal to the style but it is oblique. Tasted November 2023" - 93 points, David Lawrason, WineAlign.com
"Work past the creepy front label, and the tongue-in-cheek "Dijon free" mention on the back label (a reference to the proliferation of the so-called Dijon clones of chardonnay, whose arrival and spread in the early 1990s signalled the beginning of serious quality chardonnay in Oregon), and get on to the serious wine contained within, one with marked barrel influence and rancid butter flavours in a classical style. The palate is fullish and intensely flavoured, with resinous oak notes and lemon curd, creme brulée flavours. One can't argue with the flavour intensity and concentration - off-the-charts high, and the superb length, bold, dense and powerful. Similar quality from Napa would command a far higher price. Drink or hold short term - I'd capture with the remaining fruit intact, even though it's anything but a fruity wine. Tasted November 2023.” - 93 points, John Szabo, MS, WineAlign.com
"Cheekily labelled as a "Dijon Free Chardonnay", this assemblage is made from only heirloom clones such as Calera, Old Wenté, Musqué, Mt. Eden and Mendoza that have matured for 16 months in 30% new French oak. Despite the fact that the oak is quite prevalent on the palate, the wine is not heavy and exhibits a great deal of lift from acidity. Aging gracefully, there is very little oxidation noted and the fruit is still generous on the palate. A pleasant degree of nuttiness has surfaced adding to the overall complexity. Showing a notable stamp of place and a low-intervention cleanliness. The label is a bit dark and enigmatic in contrast with the wine. Best now to 2027. Tasted November 2023." - 93 points, Sarah d'Amato, WineAlign.com
Vintage: 2017
Bottle Size: 750 mL
Bottles per Case: 12
Price per Bottle: $55
Style: Still
Region: Oregon
Appellation: Willamette Valley AVA
Country: USA
Grape: Chardonnay
Colour: White
Vegan: No
Organic: No
Biodynamic: No
Natural: No
Low Intervention: Yes