Stronger Together
5 min read
with
Alessio Zenato (Hacienda San Juan) Cellar-master
José Miguel Sotomayor Grower & Maker
Luiz Antonio de Gracia Allegretti (Clos Santa Ana) Grower & Maker
Description
Chile has hundreds of years cultivating the vine in different valleys throughout our territory with different varieties and cultural practices, which print a stamp of typicality and character to the wines. Chile is one of the few countries that can cultivate the grapevine in free standing, which allows to have a very old and unique plant material, added to a diversity of very pristine climates and soils due to the existing natural barriers such as the desert in the north , the mountain ranges and the sea. Due to all the unique characteristics that define the Chilean viticultural landscape and that make it a unique landscape, it is necessary to bring together all wine producers who embrace the same principles of ecological practices and the sustainable management of our vines and their environment. The wine has its origin in the vineyard and therefore the care and handling of this marks the beginning of what will finally define the wine. The vineyard is the habitat, it is the universe and therefore the principles that govern cultivation practices must be organic, biodynamic or ecological, in order to respect and preserve the life that inhabits this universe, not only focusing on the life that we can observe. with our eyes, but also to all that microbiological universe that is hidden either in the cultivation and in the soil itself, which will accompany us throughout the transformative process until we obtain our wines. It is an invitation not only to be respectful of the environment, but also to be compassionate and to learn to observe and listen to it with more love. We must always bet on sustainability and quality, promoting an expression faithful to its origin, generating clean and transparent production methods. Where both the wild environment of our vineyards and the final consumer are considered with the same respect and transparency. To achieve our objective we must generate an objective theoretical framework that allows us to interact with each other under the same rules, which must establish objective parameters when making our wines. For this we have determined a series of qualitative parameters, both in the production of grapes, and in wines, where the least intervention and respect for the environment where it is developed is promoted, parameters that define the new Association ¨Chilenudo¨.
Alessio Zenato (Hacienda San Juan)
Cellar-master
Born and raised in Italy. After University (Science of movement), Alessio opened a restaurant in Adria, close to Venice. It was in that moment where love for natural wines began.
Alessio decided to study as Sommelier and to start a trip around South America on 2018; during this trip he visited many wineries between Mendoza Region and Chile. During one visit in Colchagua Valley he had the opportunity to start working at Clos Santa Ana winery as sommelier and tourism director. Day by day love for vineyard and cellar grew up until he got in charge of the vinifications lead by Jose Miguel Sotomayor and Luca Hodgkinson (Wildmakers).
From february 2021 he is working at Hacienda San Juan (San Antonio Valley) cellar-master.
From 2018 he is based in Chile; truly in love with wine and its people.
José Miguel Sotomayor
Grower & Maker
I was born in Santiago de Chile, and I come from a family closely linked to the world of wine, since my father and other family members are winemakers. My arrival in the world of wine, went through several stages since when I was little, I always knew that I would dedicate myself to agriculture, but not to wine.
After finishing school, I studied Agronomy, deciding me on the production of fruit. Once I graduated as an Agricultural Engineer, life confronted me with the decision to dedicate myself to enology and after carrying out a vintage in Santa Rita winery in 2000, I did not hesitate more and dedicate myself completely to the beautiful world of oenology and wine production.
After finishing my Agronomy studies, I completed a postgraduate degree in Oenology and in Physiology of the Vine at the University of Chile and at the same time I started working as a viticulturist in a vineyard in the Maipo Valley. When I finished my studies, I went to work in Medoc-France to continue acquiring knowledge.
On my return from France, I had the enormous opportunity to take charge of a new wine project in the Colchagua Valley where I was able to participate from the beginning of project. I participated in the plantation of more than 100 hectares, with the latest technologies, I lead the implementation of a wine cellar, designed wine lines and end up as chief winemaker and commercial manager of the project, which gave me a huge background in the different areas in the world of wine.
After 7 years of hard and exciting work in the winery, I decided together with my great friend Luca, that we should focus on what he really, we like, MAKE WINE, but "live wines" that reflect the value of a terroir and respect for environment.
This is how after almost 10 years of learning and convinced of what we believed we decided to create Wildmakers!
One of the things that fascinates me most about my work is that I can connect with my senses and freedom sensation, and that is something that really fills me with energy and magic. In according to my way of seeing wine, I´m 100% connected with my work and I do not depend on what an instrument or a certain lab analysis may indicate, but rather I trust my know-how, my instinct and I feel that that leads me to produce a product, in this case wine, with a great sense of origin, with typicity, unique stamp and charisma.
Luiz Antonio de Gracia Allegretti (Clos Santa Ana)
Grower & Maker
Italian-Brazilian nationality, studied contemporary art, economics and business, in Italy, Brazil and Germany. From a family of Italian winemakers, pioneers in the colonization of southern Brazil. He resumed the family's winemaking tradition, interrupted by World War 2, choosing Chile to develop his project. A staunch defender of natural vitiniculture, he practices organic, biodynamic and vegan methods in the elaboration of Clos Santa Ana wines, in the Colchagua Valley, in Central Chile, together with his friend and partner, Ambassador Roberto Ibarra Garcia.
#rawwineALIVE
Our mission is to contribute to the country's sustainable development, through the Chilean companies' internationalization and the promotion of goods and services, to support the diversification of exports, the attraction of foreign investment and tourism, as well as the strengthening of the country's image, through a national and international network of specialized and committed people.
