Coastal Climate Wines by 2020 Winemaker of the Year

Rolling fog at Attilio and Mochi, Casablanca Valley, Chile

Every year, we honor someone making wine in Latin America that celebrates the unique tastes and textures imparted by the terroir where they come from. This year, we picked winemaker of the year, Angela Mochi from Brazil, who make wines in the Casablanca Valley in Chile. With her husband they go by Attilio & Mochi. 

One of the two wines is Malbec, the grape most closely associated with Argentina. In a year where everyone has had to stay within their own borders, we wanted to look forward to a time when we can all travel again. In the meantime, let’s take a trip through this Wine Club release!

For the wines, you have the pleasure of tasting a Cabernet Franc and a Malbec. Casablanca is a cool climate area, and you can tell right away with these wines. They are lean, with elegant structure, and have a lovely balance between fruit notes and more savory tones. 

The Cab Franc is Pedro’s favorite. It has a red berry fruit profile, indicative of the cooler climate, and it also has herbal and bell pepper flavors that give the wine breadth and dimension. Each sip you will find a new element to ponder. This is a versatile wine in terms of pairing, but lamb and rosemary would be tough to beat!

Next we have the Malbec. We urge you to try this next to one from Mendoza, Argentina, to see how the cooler climate affects the wine. As with the Cab Franc, the fruit profile skews towards red berries, though it still maintains many of those classic dark fruit notes as well. Specifically, look out for a plum skin aroma. The wine has a smooth, polished, yet lean texture. It flows down the middle of your tongue rather than filling every corner of your mouth. It is impossible to describe how drinkable this wine is!

On top of these two wines, we also have available for purchase Attilio & Mochi’s Pinot Noir. Fans of southern Willamette Pinot have to check this one out! With surprising dark fruits, floral underpinnings, a super polished palate, and freshness on the back end, pair this with duck confit and thank us later! 

***

While we continue to pause our monthly Wine Club release party, you can come by at your convenience to pick up. We still offer delivery on orders $70 and over, which you can credit your Wine Club towards. Anyone seeking curbside pick up, please email info@grandcata.com with the subject line Wine Club Curbside Pick Up.

Final thing: we’ve officially launched Wine Club at La Cosecha as well! If you would like to pick up there, send them an email at cosecha@grandcata.com.