El Esteco Old Vines Criolla

El Esteco Old Vines Criolla

ORIGIN

• Las Mercedes Estate – Plot No. 27 – El Esteco Winery, Cafayate Valley – Province of Salta – Argentina.

TERROIR

• Age of the vineyard: 60 years – Year of implantation: 1958
• Trellising system: Pergola trained own-rooted vines
• Row orientation: north-south
• Average yield: 8,500 kg/ha
• Irrigation System: surface furrow irrigation. Meltwater from the mountains.
• Soil: Sandy-loam texture – poor soils

VARIETAL

Criolla

WINEMAKING

The crafting of this wine involves the careful marking and selection of each of the vines for harvesting. Once they have reached their optimal level of ripeness, the grapes are manually harvested into 18-kilo bins in the early hours of the morning, paying absolute attention to every detail along the way. The berries are promptly taken to the winery for winemaking. Once there, they go through a sorting line. Pre-fermentative maceration takes place in ovoid 3,000-litre vats for five days, after which the alcoholic fermentation immediately begins. This grape variety calls for a very special type of fermentation, which begins by fermenting the juice with the whole berries (as in red winemaking) for the first third part of the process. After this, the juice is separated from the berries, and fermentation of the juice alone ensues, using native yeasts until the end of the process. The wine is bottled unfiltered and aged in the bottle for the following 6 to 8 months.