Rogue Vine
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Country of Origin: Chile
Location: Itata Valley
People: Leo Erazo & Justin Decker, Owners & Winemakers
Viticulture: Practicing Organic
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Rogue Vine is a project led by Leo Erazo Lynch and Justin Decker. They make wines from two different subregions of the Itata Valley, in southern Chile. All the vineyards in this area are composed of hillside, dry-farmed bush vines that are a minimum of 60 years old; some are older than 300 years. The soils are primarily composed of granite with a mix of clay and quartz. The Itata Valley’s viticulture is primarily practiced through traditional methods such as horse plowing and hand picking, as so many of the vines are planted to steep hillsides that make using machines impossible.
Rogue Vine's winemaking is simple and employs native yeast, old barrels or concrete tanks, no corrections, and minimal sulfites prior to bottling.
Rogue Vine’s ethos is to promote the rich history of this long neglected and local farming community by working with local vinegrowers, paying fair prices for the grapes, and trying to elevate the wines of this region.
Itata Terroir & History
The Itata Valley was once a very famous wine region. The first vineyards in Itata were planted around the 1500s near the bay of Concepción, which was at one time the busiest port in Chile. However, once Santiago was established as the capital, the winemaking hub of Chile moved further north to the areas surrounding Santiago, and for a long time the Itata Valley, being out of the way, was forgotten.
The Spanish originally planted in this region because the granite soil allowed the vines to survive without irrigation and the valley is still mainly composed of dry-farmed bush vines. The viticulture of Itata lost its fame around the 1800s. In Chile's more central regions, the viticulture modernized to vertical shoot positioning, long rows, irrigation, vineyards planted in plane soils which were easier to mechanize and manage, new varieties, less evident vintage effect and closer proximity to the center of consumption. All of this led to the Itata Valley's vineyards to being left behind, with farmers earning less and less for their grapes. The farms in Itata became smaller and smaller. The division of the land between families created many vineyards between 3 and 5 ha, and larger wineries felt it was too inconvenient to deal with so many separate suppliers. Today the amount of land planted to vineyards in Itata is constantly decreasing due to an increasing pressure to plant pine trees and eucalyptus trees - non-native cash crops that deplete the soil and leave the area prone to wildfires.
Despite all of these obstacles, what keeps viticulture alive in Itata is the relationship between the people and their vineyards and their respect for the terroir. And the fact that the vines in Itata can live 60-100-200 years and produce complex, unique wines has become a point of national pride.