“No Es Pituko” is Spanish for “It Ain’t Fancy”. That is the main name and philosophy of the new project from Vina Echeverria in Chile. The Echeverrias have been making excellent estate-grown, organic wine for decades, long before it was a trend. They had cemented themselves as restaurant industry staples with their terroir driven, French style wines. Their M.O. has always been organic, sustainable, and very elegant and drinkable wines. And because their viticulture has always been organic and sustainable, it was a fairly easy transition over to experimenting with unsulphured, unfiltered, raw, natural wines. All the wines as certified sustainable, but have forever been farmed organically.

Roberto Echeverria (left) punching down Sauvignon Blanc grape skins for their Romiorange wine.

Roberto Echeverria Jr. is the current head winemaker of the family operation. And he’s just an awesome guy. From mapping their 80 hectare home vineyard into over 100 distinct micro-climate zones, to collaborating with Thomas Bachelder from Niagara to seek the best cool climate Pinot Noir and Chardonnay in Chile, to his new natural wine project, he’s always innovating. Chile is known in the wine world as being “winemaker’s paradise”. This is because it’s warm enough to ripen all the big varietals like Cab Sauv and Carmenere, but also has very cool climate pockets for Chardonnay and Pinot Noir in the south or higher elevation areas. The amount of microclimates in the various appelations and sub-appelations throughout this very narrow and long country is astounding. In addition to that, Chile’s Central Valley where most of the wine is made is protected from a lot of weather by the Andes mountain range to the east and the Central Range to the west. Then there’s the very cool Humbolt wind current that blasts up through the valley from Antarctica and helps keep the vines cool during the summer heat and keeps down disease pressure from mold and mildew. Because of these ideal growing conditions, it makes being entirely “natural” much easier than say in Niagara or Muscadet where disease pressure is much higher due to the humid summers. And that’s partly why these new wines have been so outstanding right out of the gates, because Roberto has been a master of green, organic viticultre in his winemaker’s paradise and going that step further to no sulphur or filtration isn’t much beyond what he’s always been able to do.

In addition to all that, he’s also really funny and insightful guy, who’s always there when you need him—including answering my WhatsApp texts at 9pm last night to send me tech sheets for these 3 wines haha. So that’s why I’ve asked him to join us for this Saturday’s 7pm Zoom tasting to talk about all things Chilé and Natural Wine. If you’re new to the world of natural wines that are unfiltered with no sulphides, here’s a great opportunity to learn more about them. If you’re already a natural wine lover, Roberto Echeverria will be able to geek out with you and answer any questions you may have about his wines or the natural wine process as we taste through the 3 wines we have featured. And as usual, the Zoom tasting is free to anyone who has picked up any 1 or all 3 of the bottles. Just send me a note to say that you’ve got the wines and want to join the Zoom! All 3 wines are available by the case from Lifford, or by the bottle in Ottawa at the Byward Wine Market, and in Kingston at Pan Chancho. Here’s a little bit about each of them:

‘El Compadre’ Pinot Noir, 2019, $25 per bottle
This comes from one of the southern-most winemaking regions in Chile, the Malleco Valley. A cool climate region that is right across from the Andes from the Rio Negro, the southern-most winemaking region in Patagonia, Argentina. 75% of this wine is aged in old French oak barrels for 6 months, the rest in stainless steel. And for those natural wine geeks, this is wild yeast fermented and sees only 10 ppm of sulphides added after fermentation and goes to bottle unfiltered. It’s one part earthy and 3 parts juicy, for a savoury Pinot Noir that’s balanced and nuanced, showing lifted notes of Cherry, Blueberry, Hibiscus, and Violets.

‘Romiorange’ Sauvignon Blanc, 2020, $32 per bottle
Orange wine is all the rage these days, but partly tongue in cheek, they still feel the need to say “Contains No Oranges” on the label haha. This is 100% Sauvignon Blanc from their old school estate-owned, pre-pheloxera vines on original French rootstock. It’s organically grown, wild yeast fermented, 45 day skin maceration, with no sulphides or any other additives, aged 12 months in neutral French oak barrels. Click here for a video of them filling their old barrels with crushed Sauvignon Blanc for extended skin contact and barrel aging. It’s unfiltered, hazy, raw natural orange wine. It’s not super funky, but it has a delicious hazy edge to it that makes it simultaneously, pretty, pleasant and edgy. It has a beautiful amber colour and honeyed notes of rosehip, orange blossom, and a saline minerality. A great value in the orange category for $32!

‘No Es Pituko’ Cabernet Sauvignon, 2020, $23 per bottle
As the name says, ”It Ain’t Fancy”…but it sure is awesome! We’ll soon be getting their ‘No Es Pituko’ Chardonnay, Viognier, and Cab Franc bottles later this year, but for now we’re kicking things off with the Cab Sauv. This is a Cab Sauv unlike you’re used to. It’s almost as if Cab Sauv was done as a Beaujolais, naturally with no sulphur or filtration, serve it a bit chilled. So delicious and so interesting. Like the Romiorange, this is from their old school estate-owned, pre-pheloxera vines on original French rootstock. The result is a deep purple wine with notes of ripe red fruit, mixed herbs and dusty earth. Really interesting as Cabernet if you want to analyze and think about it, or just easy and delicious if you just want to drink it.

What: Zoom Tasting with Roberto Echeverria
When: 7pm Saturday May 15
How: Pick up any of the feature wines and send me an email that you’d like to join the Zoom! You will be emailed the Zoom link on Saturday afternoon ahead of the tasting.

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Have a case delivered almost anywhere in Ontario or grab a bottle or two from Byward Wine Market in Ottawa or Pan Chancho in Kingston! And just a reminder that the order deadline for Friday case deliveries is Wednesday before 9:00am. Reach out if you have any questions, and check out the archive of past FEATURES if you’re interested in other recommendations. Lastly, please feel free to forward this to anyone in Ontario who may be interested in home wine delivery and follow us on Instagram for daily wine content at @bywardwinemarket and @capitalwine.ottawa!