A red wine blend from the
Aconcagua Valley of Chile

58% Syrah
31% Cabernet Sauvignon
11% Tempranillo

Yield:
Syrah: 9.5 tons /ha
Cabernet Sauvignon: 6.0 tons/ha
Tempranillo: 2.0 kilos/plant

100% Barrel aged for 19 months

Total production:
5,646 bottles (471 cases)

Bottled 8 February 2011

Alcohol: 15.0% (Vol%)
Volatile acidity: 0.72 g/l
pH: 3.53
Total acidity: 5.88 g/l tartaric acid
Reducing sugar: 2.16 g/l

Flaherty 2009 was made by friends and family at our home near the village of Santa María in the Aconcagua Valley. The Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon were hand harvested and delivered in small picking lugs from the 11^th through 28^th of April from the windy riverside Manzur vineyard just outside of San Felipe, beside the Putaendo River in the Aconcagua Valley. The Manzur vineyard, which was planted in 2000, has alluvial sandy loam soils with lots of river stones. The Tempranillo is the third vintage from the vineyard at our home near Santa María, a warmer section of the Aconcagua Valley with well-draining loam soils; it was harvested on the 11^th of April. All the grapes were hand harvested and delivered to the winery in small picking lugs, We punched down the musts by hand three times a day throughout the fermentation. The wine macerated with the skins for an average of 18 days before being drained and basket pressed. It then aged 19 months in oak barrels, with 15% in new American and Romanian oak and the rest in two- and three-year-old French and American oak barrels. The 2009 Flaherty blend is 56% Syrah, 31% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 11% Tempranillo. The wine was filtered but not fined before being bottled in February 2011.

Tasting Description

Our 2009 Flaherty displays the classic fruit flavors of the Aconcagua Valley, with a rich base of ripe berry fruit. The nose features forward aromas of cherry, kirsch, and dried peach (called huesillos, en Chile), with notes of licorice, mint, powdered sugar, and vanilla. This medium-bodied wine has a twist of acidity on the entry and a longer finish than the 2008. Best before 2017.

Enjoy as we do with friends, family and food.

Ed Flaherty
Winemaker

Versión en español

A red wine blend from the
Aconcagua Valley of Chile

44% Syrah
31% Cabernet Sauvignon
25% Tempranillo

100 % Barrel aged for 19 months

Total Production:
4,488 bottles (374 cases)

Alcohol                    15.0% (Vol%)
Volatile acidity       0.68 g/l
pH                             3.60
Total acidity            5.60 g/l Tartaric Acid
Reducing Sugar      2.00 g/l

Flaherty 2008 was made by friends and family at our home near the village of Santa María in the Aconcagua Valley. The Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon were hand harvested and delivered in small picking lugs from the 12th through 26th of April from the windy riverside Manzur vineyard just outside of San Felipe in the Aconcagua Valley. The Manzur vineyard, which was planted in 2000, has alluvial sandy loam soils with lots of river stones. The Tempranillo is the second vintage from the vineyard at our home near Santa María, a warmer section of the Aconcagua Valley with well-draining loam soils; it was harvested on the 13th of April. The grapes were crushed directly into one ton fermenting bins. We punched down the musts by hand three times a day throughout the fermentation. The wine macerated with the skins for an average of 18 days before being drained and basket pressed. It then aged 19 months in oak barrels, with 15% in new American and Romanian oak and the rest in two- and three-year-old French and American oak barrels. The wine was filtered but not fined before being bottled on 20 February 2010.

Tasting Description

Our 2008 Flaherty displays the classic fruit flavors of the Aconcagua Valley, with a rich base of red cherry, ripe plum, and dried peach (called huesillos, en Chile).  Notes of licorice, black pepper, forest floor, dark chocolate, and toasted oak contribute complexity and depth. This medium-bodied wine has a twist of acidity on the entry and finishes with sweet juicy tannins. Best before 2016.

Enjoy as we do with friends, family and food.

Ed Flaherty
Winemaker

So far this year, San Felipe has received 119 millimeters, whereas the normal accumulation at this point would be well over 200 (average total annual rainfall is 230 mm for the area). Most of that deficit occurred in July and August: San Felipe received just 26 mm of rainfall in that period, versus a normal average of 90 mm.

Droughts are not uncommon here. The typical weather pattern cycles through rainy years and dry years, with rainy years receiving as much as ten times the precipitation of a drought year. The rain also tends to be concentrated in a few big winter storms, with the rest of the season being delightfully clear and warm. This year, however, the storms haven’t been very big, and there have been even fewer of them than normal.

Finally, while the high temperatures have been about average this winter, we’ve had more days of frost than usual. This doesn’t affect the vineyards, since the vines are dormant at this time. The lack of rain, however, will be an issue. Since there isn’t much water in the soil profile, we’ll need to start irrigating the vineyard earlier and more often than normal.

Flaherty Wines once again used the event to launch our new vintage. We poured two wines: our 2008 Aconcagua blend and our 2008 Limarí blend. This is the first vintage of the Limarí, and it was very well received at the tasting. It was interesting to pour the two wines side by side, as they are quite different. The Aconcagua is similar to the 2007 blend, with about 60% Syrah, 25% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 15% Tempranillo. It is well structured and elegant, with cherry fruit and lots of spice, while the tannins are still young, giving the wine verve. The Limarí, in contrast, has a third each of Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Carmenère, all from Jim Pryor’s organic vineyard outside Punitaqui in the Limarí Valley. The Carmenère gives the wine a softer mouth feel, with a hint of the ripe red pepper typical of the variety. Both wines will be available on our sales markets within the next few months.

The harvest started off with Syrah from the Escorial vineyard owned by Gonzalo Manzur. This was the first vintage from this vineyard of clone 300 Syrah. The quality was very good, and we have high expectations for this site as the vineyard matures. Unfortunately, we lost control of the temperature on a couple fermenters, which then stuck. We therefore had to referment these two lots with some Syrah and Tempranillo that came in later. It was a relief to find some very nice results.

The best Syrah came in from the older Encón vineyard, which has rich layers of flavors and wonderful texture on the mouth. The Tempranillo has better color and more concentration than in 2009. The best lots were co-fermented with some stuck Syrah lots, which helped fix color and create added complexity. So what looked like a big problem has actually planted the idea of doing more co-fermentations with Syrah next year. Finally, the Cabernet Sauvignon from Encón this year has ripe flavors, but less intensity than the 2009 vintage. Most of the lots were cold soaked for two days before fermentation and had 14 to 20 days of skin contact before pressing. Overall we are very happy with the quality of the 2010 vintage. As our production slowly expands, however, we will need to improve planning and make some targeted investments to ensure a smoother, less stressful harvest in terms of time and control.

The Aconcagua Valley was not hit nearly as hard as other areas to the south. Even Santiago, just one valley over, had much more structural damage than our immediate area. We had very minor, superficial damage to our house and none at all to our cellar. We only stack our barrels two high, so they moved a bit but did not topple. Our friends at Viña San Esteban report that they did not suffer any damage either (and our wine stored there in barrels and bottles is also fine). The Von Siebenthals are also safe, with very little damage to their winery. Most of their wines would be in barrels and small tanks, which are generally much more stable than than larger tanks. We were all very fortunate in this time of crisis, and we are so thankful that everyone is fine.

Our big worry right  now is for our friends and colleagues in Cauquenes. Land lines and cellular towers are down, so we still have not been able to talk to anyone there. The epicenter was 63 kilometers southwest of the town, about 50 kilometers from our vineyard. The vineyard will be fine, of course—there is an old adobe building on the property that might have collapsed, and the water tanks might have fallen, but we really don’t have any important structures on the property that could be compromised. We are just hoping and praying that everyone there is safe.

We have quite a bit going on here at Flaherty, but it’s all fairly slowly thanks to the cool weather. The Aconcagua Cabs are finally dry; they’ll undergo a post-fermentation maceration for another week or so before they are pressed out. The Limarí Cab is peaking temperature-wise and should slow down now as it finishes over the next few days. We also have a bin each of Carmenère and Syrah from Limarí, which arrived Saturday morning. Ed crushed the two lots before flying out that afternoon (talk about a hectic day). The juice is currently cold macerating on the skins and will start fermenting within a couple of days.

Jen taking density readings