Laberinto Valle del Maule Pais Arcillas 2022 JULY42024 and until pretty recently almost

and until pretty recently almost nobody outside Chile knew it

The Rollin family's parcel in Les Fichots—a clay-and-iron-dominated site situated just beneath Île des Vergelesses—contains vines planted as far back as 1945

These vines were planted around the time Chile was fighting for its independence — roughly 200 years old

5% Cabernet Franc — that higher Merlot share is what makes Carruades approachable earlier than the grand vin while still carrying the Lafite house style of graphite

Laberinto Valle del Maule Pais Arcillas 2022 JULY42024 and until pretty recently almostRafael Tirado planted his Maule vineyard with the rows running every which way, one block laid out as an actual labyrinth, which is how the estate got its name. Up at 1,800 feet on granite in the Andean foothills near Colbun, he farms Pais, the grape Spanish missionaries brought to Chile centuries ago and that almost everyone spent the last hundred years dismissing as peasant wine. Arcillas means clays, and that is the point: wild yeast fermentation,