Massal 1945 Carmenére

HISTORY OF ALMAHUE
Massal 1945 Carménère comes from the oldest plots in the Almahue Valley belonging to the D.O. Rapel Valley.
This small valley is planted with only 360 hectares of vineyards. Almahue has one of the oldest vineyards in Chile.
The history of viticulture in this valley begins with the Spanish colonisation in the 17th and 17th century. Around 1933 our ancestors introduced French varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, which was later found to be Carménère.

GENERAL CONDITIONS OF THE CLIMATE OF THE ALMAHUE VALLEY
The Almahue Valley is located 113 km southeast of Santiago, 65 km from the Pacific Ocean and 45 km from the Andes Mountains.
Rainfall is concentrated during the winter, averaging over 550 mm. During the months
From October to April, temperatures are warm, with no rain. There are often cool breezes in the afternoons and cooler temperatures in the evenings. We benefit from a wide temperature fluctuation between day and night, which is a key factor for colour concentration and tannin quality. Slow ripening allows the grapes to achieve the ideal ripeness, to preserve fruit character and natural acidity, which ensure good ageing potential.
Our property has a mountainous and volcanic topography, with granitic rocks in varying degrees of decomposition, with elements of quartz and iron oxide.
In the lower areas, there is a strong fragmentation of the rocks, which eventually results in soils made up of thin layers of clays and silts that gravitate down from the mountains.

WINEMAKING
As a general philosophy, at Clos de Luz we seek elegance, balance and ageing potential.
We want to reflect the characteristics of our land, Almahue, through a process of natural production and minimal intervention.
Our key points are a much earlier harvest and manual 100% in small boxes of 1 4 kilos.
The fermentation process takes place spontaneously on the third day that the grapes arrive at the winery with native yeasts.
The extraction methods are gentle and are determined daily by tasting.
In the 2020 harvest the components are 100% from the former Almahue barracks #4 and #6.

AGEING
The wine is aged for 12 months. A 50% of the blend is aged in new 4,000 litre Gamba foudre, 44% in used 225 litre and 300 litre French oak barrels and the remaining 6% is aged in new 500 litre Sylvain barrels. The aim is to give structure to the wine without altering the aromas and fruit of the wine. This wine is stabilised naturally thanks to the cold winter climate in the cellar, without the use of any chemical products. This wine may present minor sediments in the bottle that do not alter its quality.