The Vinisterra Estate:
- The wines of Vinisterra are imbued with the spirit of intention from man, but the front-and-center show is the land and the vines and, of course, their fruit. Top to bottom, the wines in their line up are fastidiously made and completely oriented towards pure representation of place.
- All grapes are estate grown in two vineyard sites: one adjacent to their winery in the ejido of San Antonio de las Minas in Valle de Guadalupe and the other in the Valle de San Vicente further south. Both vineyards are organically farmed.
- Christoph, a winemaker who is constantly trying to peel back the layers of himself from the wines in an effort to let the character of the soil, sun, and plants speak more clearly, made the bold decision to not have any of the large granite boulders, (common in the area) removed from the vineyard when he first planted it. Some of the boulders on site are twice the size of cars, and, in addition to making the vineyard impossible to manage with any mechanized devices, creates a complexity of micro climates that results in the need to make many passes during harvest.
Total production: 22.5 acres under vine, 8 wines, 4,000 cases
2012 Cascabel - Vinisterra
Tasting Notes and Drinking Window:
Another somewhat unusual blend that, 'just works' is the Cascabel from Vinisterra. Full-bodied and decadent while having ample acidity and tannin to give the wine lift and structure on the palate, Cascabel is one of the premium wines from this benchmark estate.
350 cases made
Drinking window: Now - 12 years
Vintage:
2012
Blend:
75% Tempranillo, 25% Grenache
Producer:
Vinisterra
Winemaker:
Christoph Gartner - Swiss born, now a Mexican citizen.
Vineyards:
Valle de Santo Tomas - Estate vinyards, 900 ft elevation, 12 year old vines planted in minerally rich sandy soils.
Winemaking:
Pressed juice was fermented in stainless steel tanks over a period of 10 days and then racked to French oak barrels, (50% new) and aged for 18 months.
Sulfites: 30 ppm
Farming:
Organic, sustainable
Alcohol:
15.3%
