Onda Brava "Cinsault" Itata Valley, Chile 2022

FROM DAVID BOWLER:

THE WINE: 100% Cinsault from a 60-80-year-old vineyard with granitic soil. 50% foot-stomped, 50% hand de-stemmed with zaranda, fermented in open-top Rauli tank, aged in cement galileo.

THE PRODUCER: Onda Brava is a partnership between Dani Rozman of La Onda and Leonardo Erazo of Rogue Vine / A Los Viñateros Bravos. Dani and Leo have been producing wines in Argentina and Chile since 2014, brought together by a common interest in organic farming and Itata’s terroir.

This collaborative effort is focused on the ancient, unirrigated and ungrafted vines in the hills of Itata. They explore sites that highlight the granitic soil and maritime influence that makes this region unique, and seek to make wines with intensity and freshness. The winemaking is very simple, and they use cement tanks as well as open Rauli vats. Grapes are foot-trodden as well as hand-destemmed in zarandas (the large bamboo mat-like sieves that are extended on top of the vats) utilizing traditional winemaking techniques. The wines are produced on a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean and the town of Cobquecura.