Octagono - Tinto Natural Wine Malbec 2021
Price: $33.99
| Producer | Octagono |
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| Country | Mexico |
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| Region | Guanajuato |
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| Varietal | Malbec |
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| Vintage | 2021 |
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| Sku | 35632 |
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Octagono Description
Marcelo Castro Vera runs a distillery, a brewery, a communal eatery, and shipping container hotel called El Nidal all from the same property high in the mountains behind the city of Leon in the state of Guanajuato. The winery is run mostly by women and directed by winemaker Celia Morales. Fermentations and aging are in buried amphoras (made by local artisans), grapes are pressed by hand and trod by foot, and there’s no use of sulfur or other additives.
Details:
- Wines are fermented for up to 9 months in buried clay pots molded by local San Felipe and Dolores Hidalgo artisans. Sourcing locally brought about the revival of ancestral methods of making pottery - a tradition almost lost in time as sourcing went to China. In forming the amphoras they tried to recreate the classic Georgian kvevri form and ended up with a hybrid that has a particular Mexican imprint. It is their hope that as natural winemaking gradually picks up in Mexico, more winemakers turn to local artisans to source their amphoras, instead of turning to foreign experts, thereby boosting local economies and breathing new life into this millenarian art form
- The grapes they work with come from farmers that work with their land and plants with the same “natural” approach – farming is organic and done without irrigation.
- They don’t shy away from experimenting with table grapes, like Red Globe, which has delivered a surprise with its unexpected joyous temperament.
Tasting Notes and Drinking Window:
This wine, like all of the wines Octagono makes is as fresh, striking and radical as any wine you’re likely to find. Those looking for the most pure expression of place in wines made by natural methods with zero intervention have found what they are looking for here. Octagono is the only winery in Mexico using exclusively buried (locally made) clay amphoras for fermentation and aging, and along with a commitment to a completely natural approach use no electricity or even the most basic machines in the harvest or winemaking process. While they are difficult to put into words, Octagono’s wines are perhaps best described as imbued with the electric energy characteristic of something that is in the process of becoming – something whose principle attribute is that feeling of exhilaration associated with deep exploration or a formative journey. Deeply expressive and wild, these wines are the essence of exploration itself.
