Roberto Henríquez: Translator of Chile's Ancestral Vines
Roberto at RAW Wine Fest
In a time when homogeneity permeates the world, vintners and winemakers who preserve the traditions and flavors of a place are rare and deserving of recognition. Roberto Henríquez is one of these beacons and has been working to highlight the centuries old traditions of Chilean wine.
Roberto has dreamt of being a winemaker since childhood. Born and raised in Concepción, a city in southern Chile, he grew up among some of the oldest vineyards in South America, where he absorbed techniques passed down through generations. This history drives Roberto’s work in the vineyard and winery. One of our catadores, Ronni, had the pleasure of chatting with him at the 2019 RAW Wine Festival in New York while sampling his current vintages of País and other Chilean ancestral varieties.
After getting a degree in Agronomy and Enology at the University of Concepción, Roberto worked in many wine regions around the world, including South Africa, New Zealand and France, before returning to his roots in Bío-Bío, Chile. After purchasing a couple hectares of centuries-old vineyards, he quickly learned he had little use for what he’d been taught in school about correcting and modifying wine with chemicals, using commercialized yeast, and spraying pesticides. He needed to return to his roots.
Roberto embraces and champions Chile’s rich viticulture history by working with numerous families with 100 to 200 year old vines of their own. Together, they strive to make wine that translates Bío-Bío’s terroir and traditions. To Roberto, farming without pesticides and making natural wine revives and preserves the forgotten history of Chilean viticulture.
Natural wine can mean different things depending on whom you ask. Yet, at its core, the concept rejects chemical intervention. As Roberto put it, “natural wine must include the families who have owned and farmed the vineyards for generations. To make natural wine you need to struggle, to be in the vineyard every day seeing and feeling what the vines and the land need. To me, if there is a bad season, bad weather, and you need to add a little copper to save the wines, it is still natural because you’re there working with and caring for the land every day.”
Today, Roberto has been focusing on identifying the vines in his numerous plots. “These plots are like mausoleums,” he says of the super old vines, “each vine has a unique history to tell.” Through genotyping, he recently discovered that he has a single planting of the variety Uva de Rein, a rare type of grape that originates from the sherry region of Jerez, Spain. Roberto is working to discover how this and other forgotten varieties, like Trosseau Gris and Malvasia, came to be planted in southern Chile. He also partners with local friends who make wine vessels from concrete and clay so that he can clearly express the voices of these ancestral vines.
Shortly after Ronni met with Roberto, we received shipments of his recently released wines. Come on by the shop to buy a bottle and enjoy this rich history for yourself!