Flaherty Wines

The end of the year is a quiet time in the winery. The 2009 lots all finished malolactic in mid-December—later than usual, but not quite as late as last year. The wines will now age in barrel for another year before bottling, with a move up to Viña San Esteban in March to make room in our cellar for the next harvest. The 2008 Limarí blend has been bottled, while the 2008 Aconcagua is in barrel up at Viña San Esteban, waiting to be bottled in late January. The 2006 is almost sold out, and the 2007 has officially been released and is selling in Santiago.

In the vineyard, we had a good fruit set. We are controlling irrigation, aiming for a balance between keeping the vines healthy without promoting too much vigor so the berries don’t plump up too much. Otherwise, we’re just letting the fruit develop until harvest in late March. The cool spring means the vineyard is about ten days behind it’s usual development, so we’re expecting a late harvest.