A new quarter brings a new featured country in our International Series! We’ve “travelled” to Chile to bring you three stellar wines from Matetic Vineyards, located in the San Antonio Valley.   The valley is located about seventy miles west of the capital of Santiago. This favorable location provides incredible Meditteranean-type climactic influence that results in temperature variations of more than 50 degrees and is ideal for the maturation of grapes.  Historically, San Antonio Valley’s cool climate vineyards have produced flavorful, spicy red varietals that increasingly turn heads in international competitions.

The Vina Matetic Winery was founded in 1999 and came into existence when the Matetic Family decided to diversify its businesses and invest in a winery operation.  When they did this, they decided to make their new winery a biodynamic entity. Biodynamic farming insures that the principles and practices of biodynamics are based on a spiritual/practical philosophy, called athroposophy, which includes understanding the ecological, the energetic, and the spiritual in nature. This type of viticultre views the farm as a cohesive, interconnected living system.

“We chose this path because we love nature and the outdoors,” Matetic recently stated. “This sytem involves harnessing the forces of nature to act with positive enerty. For example, if a bug is bad for crops, find another bug to eat it. When you treat the plants that are naturally good this is evidenced in the vineyard, because when our neighbors are affected by frost we are not.”

The wines we featured this quarter speak for themselves, but have also garnered great accolades!

Matetic “EQ” 2007 Pinot Noir – 90 Points, Robert Parker. 89 Points, Wine Spectator

Matetic “EQ” 2008 Syrah – Chilean Syrah Trophy, International Wine Challenge 2010

Matetic “EQ” 2008 Sauvignon Blanc – 89 Points, Wine Spectator.

Tags: international wine club