I believe you all have enjoyed of our Carignan. Today we heard news from the growers and the neighbouring town of Suazal– right there next Cauquenes very very close to the epicentre. This is precisely the zone where the dry-farmed old-vine Carignan grows. These vines are part of Chilean wine history and we want to lend our support. Today
Renan Cancino viticulturalist, and son of Sauzal, asked for our help in the wake of the tragedy.
At garage Wine Co. we want to extend help but have very little means owing to the events of these days that have caused losses of our own wines at the winery in Maipo (including the Carignan 2009). Thus we have decided to donate the remaining stocks of Carignan 2008 that we had kept for counter samples and posterity and send these funds to the people who need them. Note some of these bottles have chipped wax capsules from the dear earthquake that started all of this mess.
What little stock of this wine today is for sale in Supermercado Diez for 11,ooo / bottle so we have fixed the price of 6o,ooo for a case of six bottles. In the event that we can sell more than the stocks of Carignan Garage will replace bottles with Cabernet Franc toward raising more funds.
Please help us to help he people of Suazal and you will be lending your support to piece of wine history– Maule Carignan.
To help be in touch with derek on derek@garagewineco.cl call me on +569 9750 0379 and or deposit directly in the account of Pilar’s / Garage Wine and send the transfer notice to sauzal@garagewineco.cl
Please do not send me mail to say “yes” nor “put me down for one”. Show me the money already and let’s get it to these folks. They are camped out in the plaza as we speak.
Thank for your help!
Creo que todos conocen o han escuchado de nuestro Carignan. (90 puntos dio Ana Maria Barahona de la CAV si han tenido el gusto)
Ayer 3 de marzo escuchamos por primera vez noticias del productor y el pueblo vecino Sauzal allí justo en la zona cerca de Cauquenes y el epicentro del terremoto. Esa zona es precisamente de donde viene los viejos viñedos secanos de Carignan (dry farmed old bush-head vines). Estos viñedos son parte de la historia vitivinicola de Chile y queremos dar nuestro apoyo a la zona. Hoy Renan Cancino viticultor, hijo de ese pueblo, nos pidio ayuda para su pueblo devastado por completo en la tragedia.
En Garage Wine Co. queremos ayudar. Nuestros recursos despues las perdidas de la misma tragedia son limitados así que hemos conversado entre nosotros y decidido a vender todo lo que tenemos guardado para la posteridad de ese mismo Carignan 2008 y dar los fondos a la zona. Nota que algunas botellas tienen casula de cera ‘chipped’ por el mismo siesmo.
Actualmente tiene un precio de $11.990 (Supermercado Diez) el cual lo cambiaremos a $10.000 y asi fijar en $60.000 la caja de seis botellas.
Si tu quiere ayudarnos por favor comunicar con Derek por el e-mail derek@garagewineco.cl o celular 9750 0379 o se puede depositar directamente en la cuenta de Pilar / Garage Wine Co. citado abajo y favor mandar la notificacion a sauzal@garagewineco.cl
Riding shotgun earlier today I overheard that Tonelería Magreñán (Spain) is sending two master coopers to help repair damaged barrels in Chile and I can’t help but say: “I told you so”. The spirit of the Chileans to bounce back is not only gaining ground, but crossing oceans to infect international wine equipment suppliers.
The winemaker commented afterward that Teresa Magreñán had been sending barrels to Chile for more than 20 years and she knew full well just how important wine is to the Chilean economy. Two coopers have been committed to travel about southern wine country working without charge– and without power with their traditional manual tools. For the record Garage Wine Co is interested if anyone reads this. Oak is expensive and this is a great initiative. I take my hat off to the local Magreñán rep Craig Thornbury who must have had something to do with this!
The windows rattled, the earth moaned then, Santiago shook hard. We grabbed the kids and rushed out of the house crashing against the walls unable to stand up during the quake. We spent the better part of two real minutes holding on to the door-frame and the kids. Then the electricity was gone.
My wife’s Chilean earthquake reflexes soon kicked in and we swiftly
filled the tub with water (now brown) found the torches/flashlights,
turned off the gas and cleaned up the broken glass. Afterward, I sat
outside in the car listening to the radio and realised Santiago hadn’t received the worst of it; Maule had. The epicentre was close to Cauquenes. We make an old-vine Carignan from there and have many friends in the business with old adobe cellars and homes. Then the hillside of San Cristobal behind our house slid and a dust cloud hung over the neighbourhood.
Power was restored the next morning. Highway overpasses and
clover-leaves down all around Santiago were the first images on the TV. Internet came back mid–morning and twitter connected me to others. The phones were useless.
7 is a big shake, but Santiago for the most part fast became a bubble of normality. On Saturday authorities asked people who were okay to stay at home. Having watched the first images of the roads on the news it was clear it wasn’t a good idea to go out in the car and be the first to discover the heaved pavement and/or a fallen overpass.
So we swam with the children in the neighbor’s pool. The pool was
substantially emptied by the quake. My three year old’s toes didn’t
touch the surface as he tried to dip his feet. Freezers had thawed in
the night without power so the menu was “Angus beef before it spoils”. All the while we knew friends were having a brutal time of it. Our little lunch party next the pool was odd and distorted. I guess we were trying to be normal for the children. The earth continued to shake in aftershocks. Our minds’ were in the Maule and Concepción with friends. No word from anyone down there. Authorities asked all to refrain from using the telephone unless absolutely necessary. We managed to e-mail dozens of friends and spoke to a few who’d heard from a few others.
At nightfall, doors were left open (so as not to jam in the event of).
The kids didn’t want to sleep.
Sunday - Day 2 Pirque — Alto Maipo
Yesterday Sunday I worked with the staff of William Fevre Chile, in
the Alto Maipo (where my small company makes its wines), saving
barrels one by one. If Saturday was odd, Sunday was surreal. The fumes of the propane forklift in the confined cellar made my head spin. There was no power no fan no ventilation, just more aftershocks– 3’s and 4’s now.
On route south there was little traffic and lots of big cracks in the
roads. Gas stations had lines for gas of 50-60 cars, and people were lined up everywhere to buy pan amasado (country bread) on the road-side. In Pirque approaching the bodega a corn silo leaned over like that tower in Pisa. Driving in one could smell the first waft of winery hundreds of metres from the cellar door. Most of the William Fevre staff had already spent Saturday cleaning up.
The first hand had arrived at dawn passing by the cellar on his
bicycle when he heard what he thought was water running. Two tanks were damaged (he would find another later) so he performed a modified Australian emptying from the leaking tank into an empty one with hose and gravity. When the two tanks evened out, half in half, then he changed the hoses again and saved half of the remaining half into yet another tank. Effectively he saved three quarters of not one but two tanks of Grand Cuvee 2008 before the sun had come up and without power. He’s twenty one and his name is Cristian. (The rest of Saturday was spent cleaning up broken tanks, moving the contents of the stainless with buckled legs and mopping up two more.)
Today, Sunday, it was time for the barrel room. Dozens of barrels had toppled down onto others breaking barrel heads and joints and with bungs popping all over.
With the help of two very skilled forklift drivers and a dozen
dedicated winery hands we started bringing the teetering barrels down to the ground and organising them by lot in the main reception area. Work went on and on for hours. We were making a dent and saving dozens of barriques. We were all on an adrenaline rush. At some point the air quality got worse but no one noticed. At one point I was so dizzy I walked outside into the breeze to see the managing director Gonzalo Pino storming up in his pickup with drinks and bread. Then we all sat around enjoying Bilz (awful Chilean cream soda) from the stemware from the tasting room. In this communion, and dead tired, we found our way to smiles and then humour– odd, yet cathartic.
Monday - Day 3 San Juan - Alto Maipo
Today I managed to get gas and am heading back out to Pirque. There is a lot more work to be done. An irrigation canal has been seriously damaged by a slide. We’ll be walking along the banks of the Maipo inspecting and clearing rocks out before it can be reopened.
We’ve heard from more people in the south. Many people are missing including several hands in Reserva de Caliboro. All over Chile more than 700 have died, mostly from the various Tsunamis, but many others under falling adobe bricks of old, country homes. It is a small number. Chile was very well prepared. Consider for a minute that this quake was the fifth biggest earthquake in recorded history.
On route news arrives from Viña Rukumilla, one of our partners in
MOVI, of the passing of José Pizarro their winery’s first-hand and
maestro extraordinaire since the building of the cellar. Suddenly I
must slow for a rather BIG bump between two sections of pavement on the 5 Sur.
What we lived through in Chile over the weekend was a very big bump. It cannot be measured in lost litres, nor by insurance adjusters, nor even by mister Richter himself. Hundreds of people living earnest and vibrant lives just days ago: preparing for harvest, vacationing on the seacoast, and doing so many other things, are no longer with us tonight. My humblest thoughts and prayers are with their families. I can only begin to imagine what all of them have have been through but, tomorrow, early, the Cristiáns and the Josés will be hard at work rebuilding– perhaps one of the most naturally spectacular countries on earth. A seismic country of quakes and volcanoes with crazy geography, far away, that most only know for its fruits and wines.
Chile will rebuild what mother nature broke this past Saturday. We’ll do it whilst we change governments and whilst Chilean soldiers continue to head up the mission in Haiti. We shall rebuild, where and what is necessary, industry by industry, town by town, roof by roof, and barrel by barrel. You can help us because Chile is a country of traders. They say we have more free trade agreements than any other nation on earth. Let’s see. Chilean products travel all over the world and most likely they are on the shelf just down the street from where you are now. What we need most right now is your business, so we can rebuild and yes, bounce back.
I believe you all have enjoyed of our Carignan. Today we heard news from the growers and the neighbouring town of Suazal– right there next Cauquenes very very close to the epicentre. This is precisely the zone where the dry-farmed old-vine Carignan grows. These vines are part of Chilean wine history and we want to lend our support. Today
Thus we have decided to donate the remaining stocks of Carignan 2008 that we had kept for counter samples and posterity and send these funds to the people who need them. Note some of these bottles have chipped wax capsules from the dear earthquake that started all of this mess.
Day 1 : Saturday - 3:30 am Santiago
