producer profile

<p>Pisador&nbsp;is a new project from&nbsp;<a href="httphttp://louisdressner.com/producers/Stoppa/">Elena Pantaleoni of La Stoppa</a>&nbsp;and her good friend Nicola Massa. Elena&#39;s connection to Chile is longstanding: her mother has been living there for more than twenty years. In the late 1990&#39;s, she&#39;d purchased a property with an old, beautiful <glossary term="Cellar" title="254">cellar</glossary> called Fundo Tomenelo in the south of the&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="641">Maule Valley</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> During a 2015 holiday trip, Elena had the chance to visit some of the amazing <glossary title="1026">terroirs</glossary> and very old vineyards between the <glossary title="641">Maule</glossary> and <glossary title="215">B&iacute;o B&iacute;o</glossary> valleys.</p> <p>Both valleys are planted with thousands of <glossary title="523">hectares</glossary> of 100 to 300 year old <glossary title="464">ungrafted</glossary> plants, an amazing and unique heritage. Soon after her trip, Elena reached out to Nicola Massa, a very good friend in the wine business for many years, with the idea of making a wine with the <glossary title="768">Pa&iacute;s</glossary> grape. <glossary title="768">Pa&iacute;s</glossary> is the oldest variety imported in Chile, dating back the to the middle 1500&#39;s. Nicola was excited and honored by Elena&rsquo;s proposal, and the two quickly agreed to start the project.&nbsp;<br /> <br /> With the help of&nbsp;<a href="httphttp://louisdressner.com/producers/luyt/">Louis-Antoine Luyt</a>, Nicola spent 2015 in the&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="641">Maule Valley</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> visiting old producers and vineyards to understand the way they work. In 2016, he selected four <glossary title="523">hectares</glossary> of 100+ year old,&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="464">ungrafted</glossary><span>,</span></span></span>&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="406">dry-farmed</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> <glossary title="497">bush-trained</glossary> vines planted on <glossary title="502">granitic</glossary> soils. An old&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="575">lagar</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> the traditional <glossary title="1218">open-top wood vat</glossary> used for&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="441">fermentation</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> was purchased along with some old&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="142">barrels</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> A zaranda, the typical wood <glossary title="378">destemmer</glossary> worked by hand, was also built.&nbsp;<br /> <br /> Unlike the juicy, easy-drinking <glossary title="806">Pipe&ntilde;o</glossary> style that has recently been regaining popularity, Nicola and Elena&#39;s goal was to make a structured wine with&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="768">Pa&iacute;s</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> They selected wonderful grapes, <glossary title="378">destemmed</glossary> them by hand and pressed them by foot (<em>pisar</em>&nbsp;translates to&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="458">foot-trodden</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> hence the name&nbsp;Pisador). <glossary title="976">Spontaneous fermentation</glossary> and a long <glossary title="610">maceration</glossary> took place, with no&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="447">filtration</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> no added&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="993">sulfites</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> just fruit! 3300 bottles were produced in 2016. A second <glossary title="575">lagar</glossary> was purchased for the 2017 <glossary title="521">harvest&nbsp;</glossary>and production was slightly increased.</p>