El Costillar Merlot
El Costillar is a traditional folk-dance thought to have originated in central Chile. Though its exact roots are unclear, it is assumed to relate to an ancient custom of dancing around a bottle of wine.
Dancing couples circle around each other moving closer and closer together – if one of them knocks over the bottle they must pay a fine, which is then used to buy more wine for the other dancers.
El Costillar are designed to offer tasty, straight forward and accessible single varietal wines: perfect for drinking and dancing!
Deep red with touches of purple; mellow red fruit aromas such as cherries and raspberries and a touch of bramble and spice. The fruit has a full juiciness but with a fresh balance: medium-bodied, lively, with elegant tannins.
Match food: ideal to accompany white cheeses, pastas with tomato-based sauces and stewed or casseroled meat.
About the Producer
Viña Morandé
Viña Morandé was founded in 1996 by Pablo Morande, whose claim to fame is being the first person to plant vines in the Casablanca Valley. The winery has since developed important viticultural in different terroirs, always in line with an innovating spirit.
They have developed pioneering work in search of creating wines that express the full potential of the different properties located in Casablanca, Maipo and Maule. Among others, in 2004 they incorporated high-density plantations at a scale previously unknown in Chile (more than 10,000 plants/ha.) in their Belén estate in Casablanca. At the winery, they returned to aging wines in oak foudre (a practice that had long been forgotten by Chilean winemaking) and the use of ‘cement eggs’ to carry out fermentations.
Ten years ago Viña Morandé chose Ricardo Baettig as the winemaker who best embodied the pioneering spirit of the winery. With a long winemaking career in Chile and in foreign countries, especially Italy, Baettig successfully leads a team fully committed to the task of projecting Viña Morandé accomplishments and innovations to the next generations. This has included the introduction of ‘unknown’ (to Chile) varieties, such as Cinsault, Grenache, Carignan, País, Portugais Bleu and Romano; and a new winery named Aventuras (Adventures) to experiment in.
Viña Morandé were the first Chilean winery to be recognised as 100% sustainable.
