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Maule Valley Chile

El Viejo Almacén

OUR PRODUCERS: El Viejo Almacén

  • THE ARTIST
  • THE PLACE
  • PHILOSOPHIES
  • WINEMAKING

Renán Cancino Abarza’s parents were from Sauzal, along with his great-grandparents, making Renán the fifth generation of his family to live in Sauzal. Renán’s ancestry goes back to the Spaniards first arriving in Chile. The village’s history goes back to it’s founding on January 10th 1780. Then mostly aristocratic families owned the land. Today the population is 800.

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Renán’s paternal grandmother Melinda Cancino was a nanny for the old aristocratic families of Sauzal. She was a single mother with a daughter, Julia, and a son, Bolivar, Renán’s father. She later dedicated her energies to her own family, sewing at home. She finally opened her own shop (Almacen) in 1960, where she was a seamstress. Bolivar worked in the shop, following in his mother’s footsteps until 2010, when the big earthquake destroyed most of Suazal and closed the old Almacen.

Renán graduated with an Agronomy degree in 1997. While he was studying his parents purchased a small plot of land next to Sauzal with 9 acres of vines. Once Renán finished his studies, his first job was in an the Agricultural & Viticulture Cooperative of Cauquenes, where he worked until 2004. He went on to work as a viticulture consultant for producers all over Chile, as well as for larger production companies.

Renán has traveled around Europe observing production styles and the many small family wineries. It inspired him to take these methods back to Chile, where this was far from the norm. In 2009, he attempted to make wine with 450 kg of grapes from local producers in Sauzal. He used his work tested techniques he learned in enology school to make a clean, correct wine. It was in 2010, when the disasterous earthquake resulted in a revelation for Renàn, for his second vintage.

The earthquake hit right around when Renán would normally harvest Carignan, around March 10th. Luckily everyone was safe, but the town was destroyed. Renán was determined to continue with the project, and borrowed and old wooden press to start a makeshift cellar. In the midst of recovery there wasn’t much time to adjust or tweak the wine, the way Renán was taught, so it was left alone. The results were Renán’s favorite wine that he’d ever made. It was destiny.

Wines made the old traditional way, naturally and with little technology, and just a little of the culture that Renán has developed in his years of working as an enologist, have developed into the house style for El Viejo Almacen de Sauzal.

Renán later went back to Europe to gain a better understanding of the natural wine scene there. During this last trip Renán became committed to making natural wine. He makes wines of origin, steeped in culture and tradition and designed for gastronomical pleasure.

Sauzal is 300 kilometers south of Chile’s capital, Santiago. It’s located in the interior dry land of Chile. This zone extends from the coastal mountains in Casablanca to Bio Bio. The region has dry soils with no irrigation or canals. The soils are nutritionally poor granite with a high pH, which may contribute to the natural acidity the wines.

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These are well-structured soils with good drainage and components of clay, greater at shallow depths depending on the location of the mother rock. This allows the root system to install deep and become independent of climatic condition. The grounds can get very hot in the summer and autumn, which develops concentrated grapes of high quality.

The swing between daily maximum and minimum temperatures, similar to other parts of Chile during the summer and fall. The cool evenings give the grapes a freshness and allows fall to enter faster and prolong the harvest.

In winter of 2010, the bodega started farming biodynamically. They introduced anthroposophy and spiritual science to their process, and started growing healthy foods, wheat, livestock, fruits, vegetables and wine grapes. They began working with no irrigation, chemical treatments or machines in the field.

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Vines are manually trimmed and the land is worked with draft horses. This is much better for preserving the humidity in soils until they slowly dry in spring and summer. This creates a natural soil to vine equilibrium. The grapes can mature as a reflection of the land they are rooted in, without corrections. Renán is has a deep conviction to work this way, naturally, and traditionally, no certifications required.

The main concept is to treat the vineyard with love. The goal is to yield no more fruit that the vineyard can adequately protect and support. After observing the farming and winemaking practices of a few producers in Burgundy and Barolo, Renán noticed that they used the same methods that he grew up around in Sauzal. He decided to stick to these time tested traditional winemaking practices.

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Renán made a big shift away from schooled winemaking after his 2010 vintage, when he noticed a big upswing in quality resulting in less intervention into the winemaking process.

Video – El Viejo Almacén

Video by: Grape Collective

PHOTO GALLERY

Portraits of Renán Cancino by photographer Monty Waldin

AT A GLANCE

WHO:
Renán Cancino Abarza

WHERE:
Sauzal, Cauquenes, Maule Valley

WHAT:
Garnacha, Cariñena, Pais

HOW:
Practicing Organic

QUANTITY:
18,600 bottles

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PHOTO GALLERY OF OUR EVENTS

NEW YORK

Portraits at Portfolio Tasting on March 7, 2017

NEW YORK

Work with on March 6th, 2017

NEW YORK

Portraits at Portfolio Tasting on March 8, 2016

NEW YORK

Portfolio Tasting on March 8, 2016

PHILADELPHIA

The Artisan's Cellar Tasting on March 7, 2016

NEW YORK

Franciacorta Seminar with Giovanni Arcari on July 8, 2015

SAN FRANCISCO

Portfolio Tasting on March 4, 2015

NEW YORK

Portfolio Tasting on March 2, 2015

IN THE PRESS

HUFFINGTON POST

Indie Wineries: Discovering Artisanal Wines Around the World

The SOMM Journal, January 2015

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