Colchagua Valley has a warm climate where at the construction of vineyards against the foot of the mountain, grape types such as Carmenère, Syrah, Petit Verdot and Merlot provides the best results. The vineyards will be irrigated in the colder areas which improves the canopymanagement. Mr. Montes Senior gave us a guided tour. He showed us the importance of water management, the sun exhibition and the grape type in producing a vineyard.

Below you will find some examples of how a vineyard can be managed.

The wine company Torrres is also busy with vineyard management, where they fight insects as red spiders. These are tackled at the beginning of leaf forming with a salt sulfate.

At Conosur they have organic vineyards where they fight the vermin in a biological manner. They do this through a population of with spiders who are fighting the red spiders whereby the biological balance is kept.

At Casa Lapostolle they tell us that a plot of the vineyard, (in the afternoon there is no direct sunlight but shade), produces more grapes. The total blending of the harvest resulted in a better balance of fresh fruit and acidity.

At the Maipo Valley they work with several types of natural vineyard management, for their different climate areas and terroirs, whereby planting and irrigation are different for each area.

I hope you enjoyed reading my story’s as much as I have enjoyed my wine excursion. I hope to be able to welcome you in the Ciel Bleu Restaurant any time, where I can personally tell you more about my wine discoveries!

Wine regards,

Noël Vanwittenbergh
Sommelier Ciel Bleu