Wine: One of South America's best winemakers has been getting dung on his boots in a biodynamic vineyard, writes Mary Dowey
Alvaro Espinoza is a big name in Chile. For the past decade he has topped the list of talented winemakers, headed the posse of consultants with cachet. I imagined him to be a self- important figure in a Hugo Boss suit, a prosperous man approaching late middle age with a small paunch and a large leather briefcase. The long-haired thirtysomething in jeans and open-neck shirt laughs. "I suppose I could be the Michel Rolland of the southern hemisphere," he says, referring to the famous Bordeaux-based consultant. "But I'm happier to be a farmer."
Espinoza was in Dublin recently to explain why he is spending less time jetting around wineries dispensing wisdom and more time with dung on his boots. Since 2000 he has been involved with Viñedos Orgánicos Emiliana, the only Chilean company producing biodynamic wines (which is to say created in an eco-friendly vineyard and winery, although biodynamics is also bound up with the positions of the moon and planets).
Hearing him talk, in a low-key way, about compost and the cosmos, chickens and geese in the vineyards, vines with unusually deep roots and grapes with unusually pure flavours was electrifying. Some apostles of biodynamics seem a tad unhinged, but he made the process sound like common sense.
How did he get into it? A sabbatical year in California in 1998 sowed the seed. Espinoza spent eight months at the McNab Ranch in Mendocino, an estate now owned by Bonterra Vineyards, the organic arm of Fetzer. Having visited this place the year before last, I can see how it might have inspired him, especially as Bonterra winemaker Bob Blue is another laid-back but convinced and convincing advocate of organic and biodynamic viticulture.
Espinoza also began to read Rudolf Steiner, the Austrian philosopher whose theories underpin the biodynamic approach. "I thought: why on earth did I spend eight years training to be a scientist? Steiner's work made much more sense."
Viñedos Orgánicos Emiliana has three estates: one in cool Casablanca, which suits white grapes; one in Maipo, which is good for Cabernet; and one in warmer Colchagua (Malbec, Mourvèdre, Tempranillo, Syrah and many other red varieties are here, as is the winery itself).
Espinoza also has a small biodynamic winery and farm of his own, which he runs with his wife.
Unlike most Chilean winemakers, he is much more enthusiastic about blends than varietals. "I love Mediterranean-style wines," he says. And unlike most Chilean wines, which suffer from tasting too similar (and, dare I say it, too dull), his stand out from the crowd for their purity of flavour and strong individual identity - characteristics he ascribes to the biodynamic approach.
O'Briens stocks eight Viñedos Orgánicos Emiliana wines, including our white bottle of the week and Coyam, a massive, rich blockbuster red made from Carmenère, Merlot, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon and Mourvèdre (€14.99). Chile needs more Espinozas.
For more information, visit www.voe.cl
WARY OF WAREHOUSES?
I vow to keep a closer eye on wine-warehouse prices. At the Wine & Beer Warehouse in Stillorgan, our March 5th bottle of the week Aranléon Crianza, Utiel-Requena 2001, was €13.95 or €11.16 if bought by the case of 12 - "a whopping 20 per cent discount", I enthused. This brought a sharp retort from Andy Kinsella of Bin No 9 in Goatstown. "The pricing in so-called warehouses does not live up to the promise. I sell Aranléon Crianza at €11.95 per bottle or €10.95 if you take a case of 12. So I'm 14 per cent cheaper if you buy a bottle and 2 per cent cheaper per case." Other stockists also charge less than the warehouse. At Brechin Watchorn, in Ranelagh, it costs €13.49; at Claudio's, in the Market Arcade on South Great George's Street, it is on promotion at €12.
CHOC TACTICS
If you still have huge chunks of Easter egg to demolish, the right drink should add pleasure to the process. I've always found red wine is a pretty good bet for dark chocolate - not just sweet red wines such as Banyuls, Maury and Amarone Recioto, all undisputed stars, but also dry red wines, especially if they smell of chocolate (Napa Valley Cabernet often does).
But beer can be sensational with chocolate too, according to the results of a tasting organised in London recently by the Chocolate Society and Coors. The three top-scoring combinations were Innis & Gunn oak-aged beer from Scotland with Valrhona Manjari Écorces d'Orange (dark chocolate with candied orange peel); Aventinus, a German double malt wheat beer with Chiman's Milk Chocolate with Poppy Seeds; and Liefmans Kriekbier, a Belgian cherry brew, with the Chocolate Society's Organic Dark. Guinness Special Export, sampled with Scharffen Berger Extra Dark Chocolate, fared less well.
The tasters decided that milk chocolate suits beers brewed with paler malts better than darker beers or stouts. Or red wine, I would add.
BOTTLES OF THE WEEK
Pargua Cabernet Sauvignon, Maipo Valley 2002. Made by Alvaro Espinoza not for Viñedos Orgánicos Emiliana but for another winery whose vineyards are farmed organically, this is a remarkably stylish Chilean, mainly Cabernet with dashes of Syrah, Cabernet Franc and Carmenère for added interest. Ripe berry aromas give way to strikingly pure, elegant flavours against a subtle backdrop of French oak. A finely tuned wine with personality and charm at a great price. Treat it to roast beef or a Saturday-night steak. From O'Briens, 11.49
Step Rd Sangiovese, Langhorne Creek 2002. An unusual but smashing Italian-Australian wine. Smelling of damp earth and baked cherries - so far, so Italian - it reveals its sunny, Aussie side on the palate without being overly opulent (or overly alcoholic). Beautifully balanced with a dry, mocha-edged finish, it will transform the simplest Italian food into a feast. From Donnybrook Fair, Donnybrook; Bin No 9, Goatstown; Martha's Vineyard, Rathfarnham; Baily, Howth; Cheers-Gibneys, Malahide; Le Caveau, Kilkenny; World Wide Wines, Waterford; O'Donovans, Cork; Harvest, Galway; 14.99-15.99.