Casa Silva Cool Coast Pinot Noir

Casa Silva produce a wide range of terroir specific wines, with multi-tiered pricing and styles, from £7 to £50 retail. Renowned for being the Number One producer for Carmenère, also with beautiful Cabernets and Merlots, also leading the way in developing Cool Climate Vineyards, with Pinot Noirs, Viogniers and Syrah Wines. Casa Silva are the most Awarded Chilean Winery at International Competitions.

Founded in 1892, Casa Silva is 100% owned and managed by the Silva Family, a family whose origins are from the heart of the Colchagua valley and they fiercely transfer the pride of their roots, respect for nature and the people of the Colchagua to the rest of the world.

Pinot Noir,

Paredones vineyard, Cool Coast Colchagua Valley, Chile. The vineyards are planted just 6 km from the Pacific Ocean, drawing a straight line on a map. Planted on rolling hills of granite soil with a percentage of clay, the soils are deep and exhibit good drainage. These soils evolved from granite rocks with a high percentage of quartz (in the form of gravel), which interact with clays and quartz rocks in decomposition. The average maximum temperature for January does not exceed 23 °C.

Grapes are chilled in a cold room to 3°C. Grape clusters and berries are manually selected both prior to and post destemming. Tanks are filled by gravity, without the use of must pumps. Pre-ferment maceration takes place at 5 - 7 °C for 12 days, after which a careful alcoholic fermentation is undertook at 21 – 24 °C for another 15 days. “Punch downs” of the fermentation cap (of grape skins) are done daily, in order to break as few berries as possible and as such promote intracellular fermentation. 70% in 3rd fill oak barrels, 30% stainless steel tanks, 6 to 8 months in barrels and stainless steel tanks, 6 months in bottle prior to market release.

Paredones is a unique pioneer vineyard property on the Cool Coast of the Colchagua Valley. It´s a distinct place, natural and with very little exploitation, where the beauty of the Chilean coastline can be seen in its full splendour. It is ideal for grape varieties like Sauvignon Blanc, Sauvignon Gris, Pinot Noir, and Syrah. Wines from this property express unique fruit characters, very fresh and elegant. The Paredones vineyards have been a pioneer in this new growing area for producing high-quality, cold-climate wines.

Deep cherry red with ruby highlights. Enticing bouquet of ripe strawberries, raspberries, and a hint of savoury earth. Medium-bodied with refreshing acidity and well-integrated tannins. Juicy red fruit flavours lead to a lingering, fruit-forward finish.

Serve with grilled tuna on mushroom risotto.

Nolan - Text from the Spotlight On French Red Wines & Their Global Influences blog

For a new world example of Pinot Noir, I have chosen a wine from Chilean producer, Casa Silva. This is a wine we served by the glass on one of our previous menus where it went down a storm. Bourgogne is a very marginal climate for Pinot, a climate where the grapes can be slowly coaxed to full flavour ripeness whilst maintaining their balance. Most New World wine regions, even in the highly regarded Pinot sites of California, are on the warmer side of what Pinot Noir enjoys. The best new world Pinots are all planted in areas with moderating factors such altitude in places like Australia’s Yarra Valley, extreme Southern latitudes in places such as New Zealand’s Central Otago or Argentina/Chile’s Patagonian sites. Another key moderating influence is the cooling effects provided by the Oceans. Fantastic Pinot Noirs are grown in coastal sites all around the world, Mornington Peninsular in Australia, Hemel-en-Aarde in South Africa, Carneros and Santa Barbara in California and also here on the coast of Chile’s Colchagua Valley.

Casa Silva is Chile’s most awarded winery. They own vineyards in all three of Chiles West-East wine zones, Coastal, Central Valley and High Andes. This “Cool Coast” Pinot is from the companies Paradones vineyard, a short 6km from the Pacific Ocean. Here, these vineyards experience similar climatic effects to those of Carneros and Santa Barbara but the wines are a fraction of the cost. Morning sea fogs roll in, blanketing the vineyards and protecting the grapes from the sun, these fogs burn off in the afternoon, exposing the grapes to the extreme sunshine that Chile is famed for. These limited sunshine hours help to lengthen the hang time the grapes are allowed, leading to fully developed ripe grapes which are still in perfect balance.

In the winery, Casa Silva has taken a very Burgundian inspired approach. Grapes are chilled in a cold room to 3°C. Grape clusters and berries are manually selected both prior to, and post destemming. Tanks are filled by gravity, without the use of must pumps. Pre-ferment maceration takes place at 5 - 7 °C for 12 days, after which a careful alcoholic fermentation is undertook at 21 – 24 °C for another 15 days. “Punch downs” of the fermentation cap (of grape skins) are done daily, in order to break as few berries as possible and as such promote intracellular fermentation. 70% in 3rd fill oak barrels, 30% stainless steel tanks, 6 to 8 months in barrels and stainless steel tanks, 6 months in bottle prior to market release.

The end result is a wine that is juicier than the Bourgogne and with a very slight nod to the earthiness present in our pervious wine. The fruits are vibrant strawberries and raspberries but it is the texture of the wine that grabs me here. It has a fleshy feeling to it, almost as if you have bitten into a grape. This fruitier style of pinot noir lends itself nicely to duck, particularly with an Asian style flare to it.