The #WorldWineTravel crew is exploring South American wines in 2023. So far, we’ve celebrated the Foods And Wines of Chile, looked Beyond Malbec from Mendoza(Argentina), Wines of Uruguay, and Organic Wines of Chile.

This month, we’ll be exploring Chilean Coastal wines from Chile’s Coastal (a.k.a. “Costa”) regions.

Note that Costa is not a delimited geographical DO; but flexible designations, based on ever-changing data. For this event we’ll focus on wines from westerly appellations including Limari, Casablanca, San Antonio, Colchagua, Itata and Bio Bio.

The aforementioned regions are situated close to, or influenced by the Pacific Ocean along Chile’s western coast. The Pacific Ocean’s cold waters generate fog, cloud cover and cooling breezes moderates temperatures in these regions.The wine I chose is from the Bio-Bio region south of the Itata Valley. It is one of Chile’s more extreme wine-producing regions, experiencing more wind, rain and climatic variation than most of the rest of the country. The cool climate – and the extended growing season it allows is much better suited to the development of complex aromatics in white wine than the hot, dry climates of Central Valley to the north

About The Bio-Bio Valley

The wine I chose is from Bio-Bio Valley which is located in one of Chile’s most southern wine-producing regions. It about 270 miles south of the Chilean capital of Santiago, between the Andes and the Coastal range. Based solely on its location, one might consider Bio Bio to be part of the broader Entre Cordilleras (literally, “between ranges,” ) regional denomination. I don’t because the Entre Cordilleras is virtually comprised of warm inland valleys.

On the other hand, the more southernly Bio Bio Valley sit at a latitude of 36°S, which is mirrored in the northern hemisphere by the similarly cool and windy region of Monterey in the United States. The cooler climate and more rainfall make dry farming more possible. But how much oceanic influence greatly depends on where in the Bio-Bio the grapes are planted.

There are more than 120 grape varieties growing in Bío Bío, and dozens of which are not recorded anywhere else in the world.

The primary grapes in Bio Bio are Moscatel de Alejandria and Pais, but the future is likely to be dominated by cool climate varieties such Riesling, Gewürztraminer, and Pinot Noir.

2017 Louis-Antoine Luyt Gorda Blanca Cuvée Benôit

Blend of Moscatel, Chasselas, Sémillon, Torrontes sourced from a single organically farmed vineyard of 250-year-old, ungrafted, dry-farmed vines planted on granitic red clay soils in the village of Guarilihue in the Bío Bío region. The wine is named “Cuvée Benoît” after winemaker Louis-Antoine Luyt’s oldest son.

Winemaking: 4-day maceration with the skins in stainless steel then pressed and left to age on its gross lees for 6 months in tank; bottled unfined/unfiltered with no added SO2; zero-zero (“nothing added and nothing taken away.”

Tasting note: Ever so slightly cloudy pale lemon color with enthralling floral, tropical, stone-fruit, spiced kumquat zest and a hint of flinty aromas. On the palate, it’s medium-bodied and dry with brisk acidity and white peach, nectarine, mango, and kumquat zest flavors accented with a very appealing saline and smoke tinged minerality. 12% ABV| SRP – $27|89pts

This wine benefits beautifully from just enough skin-contact to enhance its texture and complexity.  

On My Plate

We do quite a bit of grilling in the Spring and Summer, and one of my favorites is Cedar Plank Grilled Salmon with Maple-Chipotle Glaze from the Fire + Wine Cookbook. It features a sweet and spicy chipotle dry rub, cooked on the grill over a cedar plank giving it that smoked influence, and finished with a sweet maple syrup glaze. The author’s go-to pairing with the dish is Riesling and Pinot Noir. After reading about wine I chose I thought it would work well with the dish.

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It was a very good pairing, the wine’s crips acidity, and saline/smoky notes were a good match for the subtle smokiness of the salmon, and though dry, it found peaceful co-existence with the subtle sweetness of the salmon.

About Louis-Antoine Luyt

“He may be a native Burgundian, but Louis-Antoine Luyt (“L.A.”) has quickly become a seminal voice in the fight for independent, terroir driven winemaking in Chile. In a country where wine production is run almost entirely by enormous industrial wineries, L.A. has managed to source fruit and rent vines from independent farmers throughout the Maule Valley. Furthermore, his insistence on dry farming, horse plowing, organic viticulture and native yeast/intervention free winemaking are welcome proof that wines outside of Europe can successfully be produced with this work philosophy

At 22, L.A was sick of living in France. With the excuse of polishing up his Spanish, he planned a 3 month trip to South America. This quickly became a permanent vacation of sorts, and needing to find work, L.A found a gig as a dishwasher at a local restaurant. Working his way up, he eventually became the wine buyer and was introduced to Hector Vergara, who at the time was the only Master of Wine in South America. Hector was opening a sommelier school in Santiago, and Louis-Antoine was amongst his first students.

Louis-Antoine flew back to France to study viticulture and oenology in Beaune. During his studies, he befriended Mathieu Lapierre, and a subsequent 5 consecutive harvests in Villié-Morgon led to a great friendship with the Lapierre family. It was also L.A’s introduction to natural wine, a philosophy he became determined to bring back to Chile“explains importer Bowler Wine.

In 2010 he bottled his first vintage of the Pais line, the only Chilean wines following the European model of using the same grape variety to highlight differences in terroir.

I invite you to more read more about Chilean Coastal wines and wine pairing from the World Wine Travel crew:

• 2017 Louis-Antoine Luyt ‘Cuveé Benoit’ + Maple-Chipotle Cedar Plank Grilled Salmon by ENOFYLZ Wine Blog
• A Sauvignon Blanc from the Leyda Valley + Gambas al Pil Pil by Culinary Cam
• Organic Veramontes Chardonnay from Chile’s Cool Coast: Pair with seafood — or try with mole sauce! by Wine Predator…Gwendolyn Alley
• Sauvignon Blanc from Casablanca Valley Hits the Spot by Avvinare
• Talinay Sauvignon Blanc from Limari by A Day in the Life on the Farm