Amanda Barnes

Author: AmandaB

  • Rioja changes its DOC legislation

    Rioja changes its DOC legislation

    The Denominación de Origen Calificada Rioja (Rioja DOC) recently launched its new campaign Saber quién eres (Know who you are) to promote the modern regional focus of the Rioja DOC legislation, which was updated in 2017. The new legislation reflects Rioja’s growing diversity and gives producers more tools to communicate their specific terroirs.

    “Rioja is constantly improving, reviewing its definitions, and strengthening what it currently offers with new geographical indications,” says Jose Luis Lapuente, director of the Consejo Regulador DOCa Rioja. “The goal is to highlight the unique origin of the terroir, recognize its diversity, and continue to establish quality requirements that assure the high standard of its wines.”

    New Regional Classifications

    The new regulations allow wine producers to make their region more identifiable to the consumer, which includes using a larger typeface and taking up more space on the label. Rioja now has three regional categories…

    Read the full article on Daily.SevenFifty

  • Wine festivals in South America

    Wine festivals in South America

    South Americans know how to throw a party, and almost before the first grape has been picked, the harvest is being celebrated with wine festivals across the Southern Cone.

    Traditionally the fiesta de vendimia (harvest festival) was a small celebration in the villages to celebrate the end of the harvest and a good vintage – the bigger the crop, the bigger the party. But today’s harvest festivals are far more elaborate with mammoth theatre productions, decadent wine tastings and VIP tickets sold months in advance.

    Ica, Peru: Second week of March

    Peru is the first wine country of South America and while production is mainly focused on Pisco today, in order to distill Pisco you have to make a lot of wine first.

    Although Peru’s harvest celebrations date back to pre-Incan times, the annual wine harvest festival has only been held since 1958 and attracts an influx of revellers who come to greet the new harvest queen and taste fresh cachina (partly-fermented must) before moving onto the stronger aguardientes and mistela (fortified must). Music, grape-stomping and bountiful Peruvian cuisine are all part of this Pisco-fuelled festivity in Peru’s main wine region…

    Read the full article on Decanter

  • Pioneering island viticulture in Chile

    Pioneering island viticulture in Chile

    Montes planted two hectares of vines this month on the small isle of Mechuque, on the eastern side of the Chiloé Archipelago, which lies more than 600 miles south of Santiago.

    It is one of the world’s southernmost plantings at a latitude of 42.6° S and a landmark experiment for island viticulture in Chile.

    Despite its southerly location, Aurelio Montes – who frequently sails and flies in the region – believes the warm ocean currents on the eastern side of the archipelago will protect it from frost and the extreme temperatures that are common elsewhere at this latitude.

    ‘I explored the Chiloé Archipelago dozens of times — by air, by sea, and by land, so it gave me a detailed knowledge of its many islands,’ Montes told Decanter.com.

    ‘Chiloé is not only a place of myth and legend, it has major climatic benefits…’

    Read the full article on Decanter