Aquitania is the second Cabernet Sauvignon wine from Viña Aquitania. The partners of the winery wanted to name and produce a wine with the name of the Aquitaine or Aquitaine region in the south-west of France from where Bruno Parts and Paul Pontallier come, as well as the family of Felipe de Solminihac. Aquitania Cabernet is a Cabernet Sauvignon wine from Peñalolén, one of the highest and closest places in the Andes mountain range that has the Maipo Valley.
This place has been the origin of the fame of Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon thanks to the softness of its tannins and the elegance of the wines produced in this terroir. The vineyard, being located at the foot of the mountain range of the Andes, receives the cold breeze that comes down from the mountain range, providing the grapes with the vegetal and distinctive aromas of the mountain range that are translated into fresh mentholated scents, sometimes combined with camphor, and very spicy, which gives a great complexity and a very different typicality to other wines from the Maipo Valley that originate at a much lower altitude.
Studies of ours and of other countries have shown that this set of different aromas is dominated by a molecule called vitispyrene, which develops especially in Cabernet Sauvignon from cold areas and in wine it manifests itself with intensity after the second year.
Characteristics of the vineyards: The Peñalolen vineyards are in the foothills of the Andes mountain range at 750 meters high. These are a mixture of alluvial and colluvial soils with a clayey silt. This mixture allows a very good drainage of the waters, which allows a very good maturity of tannins. The irrigation of these vineyards is essential and is done with water from the Maipo River. A drop-by-drop system is used and supplemented, if necessary, by furrows. The plants of these vineyards are of mass origin in free standing planted in the years 1990 and 1991, with a density of 4,200 plants per hectare. The yield is 5,500 kgs / ha.
Elaboration (including used yeasts): The grapes are harvested manually in boxes of 10 kg. The manual selection is done on a belt before washing and drying the grapes.
The grapes are washed and dried before grinding. It is then completely destemmed and then gently ground.
Then the fermentation begins with six days of pre-fermentation maceration at a low temperature. Fermentation is carried out in the presence of yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, in a 6,500-liter stainless steel tank. at 26o C for seven days, with three pump-overs a day to respect the fruit as much as possible. After the alcoholic fermentation is finished, post-fermentation maceration is carried out for six or more days. The malolactic fermentation is carried out in barrels.
Aging: In French oak barrels of 400 and 225 liters for 8 months (33% 2nd use, 33% 3rd use and 33% 4th use).
Ruby colored wine. Very elegant nose with intense aromas of fresh red fruits such as cherries and cassis, combined with spicy notes. On the palate it is smooth, with round tannins and long persistence, highlighting its fruit flavor combined with the wood provided by its aging in barrels.
Designation of Origin : Maipo Valley, Peñalolén
Grape type : 85% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9% Syrah, 6% Merlot
Planting Date : 1991
Soil : Piedmont of Cordillera de los Andes
Production : 35,250 bottles
Color : Ruby
Type : Vin rouge sec
Alcohol : 14,5%
pH : 3,64
Total Acidity : 3,44 g/L (H2SO4)
Residual Sugar : 3,33 g/L
