ALBERTO TAKES CHARGE AT CALITERRA

Alberto Eckholt is new chief winemaker at the Colchagua producer with an unrivalled reputation for innovation, experimentation and sustainable practices

Chile is gaining a reputation as a land of well-travelled, cosmopolitan winemakers. These are worldly, technically adept professionals whose international experience has ensured that Chile takes its rightful place at the top table of global wine production.

Alberto Eckholt, who had just taken the reins at Caliterra, has a CV that namechecks Bordeaux, Mendoza, the Napa Valley and Limarí. A graduate in agricultural engineering, you sense he regards his career as an endless opportunity for learning. The roles he’s had have included creating successful mainstream wines as well as more premium fare, and he’s served his time on the commercial side of the industry too. He’s at home talking to trade customers and consumers just as much as he is with vignerons and winery technicians.

In Caliterra he has joined a business that was established in 1996 as a joint venture between Robert Mondavi and Viña Errazuriz, but is now 100% owned by the Chilean company. Based in a 1,000ha estate in the Colchagua Valley, it’s a producer that has been relentless in its experimentation, seeking out the optimum sites for a wide range of varieties. The process is complicated but the ambition is simple: to make authentic wines that reflect their terroir.

“Caliterra for me is a place where I can continue learning from a company that specialises in brand building and super high quality wines,” Eckholt says.

“It’s a great opportunity to be in a winery that’s trying to push the Colchagua style in a different way, making fresher, easier-to-drink wines in a valley that’s very warm and tends to be known for big tannins and big structure.

“It’s a big challenge to continue building on what’s already been achieved, and showing the world that we’re continuing that legacy. Hopefully we’re creating a portfolio of wines that can be well recognised and understood and find a place in the independents. It's a niche that we fit very well.

“I think we need to keep experimenting a little bit. But we also want to be talking to consumers about the things we’ve been trying to do.”

Caliterra almost literally wrote the rule book when it comes to sustainability: the targets that it set itself for things like herbicide and pesticide use, water conservation, canopy management and carbon emissions went on to be adopted by Wines of Chile for the industry as a whole.

“Today it seems very obvious to talk about sustainability,” says Eckholt. “Not everyone realises that Chile’s sustainability code was based on what Caliterra was doing in 1997, 1998, in terms of the land and the environment – concepts that are very much integrated into the industry today.

“Working with a company with so much experience of building brands but also working sustainability makes so much sense for me at this stage of my career.”

Tributo Single Vineyard Chardonnay 2020

From the Santo Tomas Vineyard in the Casablanca Valley, where the soil is granitic, with some clay and quartz. The wine is 100% whole bunch pressed and fermented in used French oak. Just over a quarter of the wine undergoes malolactic fermentation. There’s a beautiful minerality and freshness, with aromas of pear and white peach, and soft citrus notes, as well as almond shell and white flowers. On the palate, it’s balanced and elegant.

Tributo Single Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 2018

From the Caliterra vineyard in the Colchagua Valley, a wine that’s aged for 12 months in French oak. Ruby-red, the 2018 is elegant and expressive, with a great fruit intensity. Its aromas of blackberries, currants and cassis give way to spicy notes of cinnamon, black pepper and tobacco leaves. Slight hints of mocha, complemented by sour cherries, emerge little by little as the wine opens up in the glass. Its soft tannins and crisp acidity give shape to an impressive structure on the palate and suggests long ageing potential.

Pétreo Carmenère 2020

This special Carmenère, from the Mediterranean-climate Caliterra vineyard, is both intense and surprising. 100% barrel fermented using native yeasts, it’s aged for 18 months in second and thirduse barrels. The rocky slope where its fruit is grown yields aromas with pleasant and fruity aromas of sour cherries and blueberries. It is juicy and bracing, with a medium yet deep structure; the unique texture of its tannins makes this an outspoken and elegant wine, which gradually shows its whole personality as it’s being served.

45: The Gin Nest

Paul Firman The Wine Box, Torquay

In a nutshell: The Gin Nest is more cosy retreat than formal school, offering a fun and educational gin-making experience for Wine Box customers, adjacent to the shop.

Tell us more.

“We wanted it to be as interactive as possible. It’s a two-hour experience and we split it up into three parts starting with putting the recipe together, followed by the distillation part where we explain the science behind it. We round off with a discussion of what makes gin gin. We talk about juniper and the general history of gin including the period synonymous with Hogarth and ‘mother’s ruin’. We explain how Sipsmith changed distilling in the UK and about the growth of the category. Each customer takes home their half a litre of gin that they’ve created themselves. They also come up with a gin name and label it.”

Have there been any memorable names?

“I’ve got a Hall of Fame of names. I’ve heard every gin pun under the sun. I think my favourite one came from a guy who had a thing about making his gin with a strong lime profile. So he called it Vergin’ on the Sublime, which I thought was a genius name. And then we had lovely Anne, who got to the end of her gin distillation and couldn’t think of anything. Her mind was blank. And then suddenly inspiration came to her: Anagin Skywalker.”

Is there a natural synergy between the shop and the Gin Nest?

“When guests arrive, they walk through the wine shop, so immediately they’re exposed to the other side of the business. We have about 150 different gins in stock in our wine shop so they can talk about what they like as they see their favourite gins on the shelves. We run the gin school four days a week and there are two sessions available on those days. It means we can run the wine shop and the gin school at the same time. We didn’t want to go down the route of being a hybrid bar, as that requires a lot of staff and being open a lot of hours.”

What’s the set-up?

“We have eight mini pot stills and you can produce two bottles off each still. So we can have a maximum of 16 people in at one time. A pot still for one person would be £70 and for two people we charge £50 each. We do special rates for groups.”

Let’s talk botanicals.

“When we first started we used to go down to the beach and get samphire and navelwort and all kinds of weird and wonderful things. I think 85 was the most we had at one time but people got overwhelmed by the choice. We’re at 60 now. Some of them, such as lavender and rosemary, are sourced from my garden. We have tiny glasses of five gins and people can smell them to understand their citrus or floral or herbal profiles. It helps them to realise what they do and don’t like and decide on their recipe, to make a gin that’s unique to them.”

Has this been a slow burn or an instant hit?

“We had this big plan of having the gin school and then lockdown came along about seven months after we opened. But when lockdown lifted, people were just champing at the bit to have experiences. Because we’d sold a lot of tickets that we couldn’t honour because we had to close, on re-opening we had a big queue of people ready to use it. And those people who came first effectively became our marketing team, because they went out and told everyone else. People come back to bring friends and family and they buy the experiences as gifts.”

Paul wins a WBC gift box containing some premium drinks and a box of chocolates.

Tell us about a bright idea that’s worked for you and you too could win a prize.

Email claire@winemerchantmag.com