A Sense of Place: Terroir Hunter
Meet Pedro Parra from Concepción, Chile. Arguably the world’s foremost expert on terroir, hence his nickname “Terroir Hunter.” Specifically, Pedro studies soil types; even more specifically, rocks. Pedro’s decades of experience - accompanied by years of academic and viticultural research as part of his PhD in soils in regions as storied as Burgundy, Rhône Valley, Sierra de Gredos and as diverse as Brunello di Montalcino in Italy - shines through in his family projects in Itata Valley.
While continuing to tour the world with his terroir consulting work, for the past ten years Pedro has turned his attention to his home.
Itata Valley is going through a renaissance with the influential hand of the "terroir hunter" and other wine magicians such as Roberto Henriquez and Leo Erazo, to name a few producers that have a presence in our shops.
The wines of Itata have a similar personality to historic wine regions of Ribeira Sacra, Galicia and Sierra de Gredos just west of Madrid in Spain.
All of his wines come from dry farmed vineyards with 80 - 175 year old vines. All of them are worked by hand with no chemicals. He keeps it “old school” by just using the labor of human love and (literal) horse power to help harvest the grapes and plow the vineyards. He mostly works with five vineyard sites with diverse soils of ashes of black and granite “basalto” which delivers layers of minerals, an austere fruit profile, acidity and complexity.
Pedro captures all these characteristics by truly understanding the personality of the vines, the strengths of the soils and microclimate patterns that produce magic wines in this region.
His family wines evoke history, with elegance and drinkability as the primary goal. He cultivates mostly old vine País and Cinsault, while recently adding to his repertoire varieties like Riesling, Moscatel, Corinto and Chardonnay.
As a music Jazz enthusiast Pedro has a keen eye for precision and creativity. This clearly influences his wines, and it shows in every bottle! He strives for finesse, elegant aromas, subtle fruit profiles, grip, and personality. For Pedro, Itata is the mirror of Europe, a region in South America that produces the caliber of wines to rival many historic wine regions in the world. A true natural gem.
