Pisco Especial

Name: Alto del Carmen - Pisco Especial
Brand: Alto del Carmen
Price: 270.0 DKK
Availability: OutOfStock

Alto del Carmen

809,00 kr

(269,66 kr / bottle)

A Chilean Muscat pisco rested in American oak, floral, fruity and supple.

Chile

35%

100% Muscat

700ml · Sold Out
Set of 3 bottles (70cl)

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Let's talk little, let's talk wine

Alto del Carmen takes its name from a village in the Huasco Valley, at the heart of the pisco appellation area of northern Chile, which stretches from the Atacama to the Coquimbo regions. The house makes its piscos near Vicuña, in the Elqui Valley. Under a desert climate, very sunny and dry, softened by the cool Andean nights, the Muscats develop great aromatic richness.

This pisco is made exclusively from Muscat grapes, Moscatel Rosada and Muscat of Alexandria, harvested by hand. The resulting wines are distilled in copper pot stills, then the spirit rests for a few months in American oak barrels, which give it its amber hue and vanilla nuances before it is reduced to 35 degrees.

This pisco reveals notes of orange blossom, rose, Muscat grape, peach, apricot, candied citrus, vanilla and sweet spices. The nose, intense and complex, is dominated by the floral and fruity notes of the Muscat, which the oak underlines with touches of vanilla and spice. The palate is supple and elegant, medium-bodied, with pronounced fruit, a hint of oak and a long, clean finish.

Where are we traveling?

Elqui Valley

It lies in northern Chile, some 470 kilometres north of Santiago, in the Coquimbo region, where the Atacama Desert begins to give way to the Andean foothills. The vineyard unfolds in a narrow, steep-sided valley carved by the Elqui River, between 500 and 2,000 metres above sea level, in a lunar landscape of arid mountains, cacti and skies of absolute clarity — the region is also home to some of the most important astronomical observatories in the world. Its winemaking history is closely tied to Pisco, Chile's national spirit, of which Elqui has been the historic cradle since the 16th century, with its vast plantings of Muscat. For centuries, no one imagined producing anything else here, until bold winemakers such as Marcelo Retamal of De Martino and the Carabantes family of Viña Falernia dared, in the late 1990s, to plant noble grape varieties at altitude, convinced that this extreme terroir offered conditions unique in Chile. The climate is desert-like and arid, with more than 300 days of sunshine a year and almost no rainfall, but the temperature swings between day and night are spectacular — sometimes more than 20 degrees — and the dry air descending from the Andes gives the grapes slow ripening and intense aromatic concentration, without the slightest pressure from fungal diseases. Elqui Valley has emerged as one of the most exciting frontiers of Chilean winemaking thanks to its vibrant, peppery Syrahs of unexpected freshness, its crisp, mineral high-altitude Sauvignon Blancs, its delicate Pinot Noirs from the highest plots, and its Muscats, heirs to the Pisco tradition, testament to a pioneering valley that is pushing the limits of what Chilean wine can offer.

The little history of the country

Chile

It was Hernán Cortés who ordered the cultivation of vines upon the conquest of Mexico in 1524. It gradually spread from Mexico southward, reaching Chile in 1555. During the first three centuries of colonization, only país, a characterless and very productive black grape variety, was cultivated in Chile. It was not until the mid-19th century that noble varieties were introduced: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah, Sauvignon Blanc, and Chardonnay, mainly. Twenty years later, winemaking was modernized under the impetus of wealthy landowners and French experts who had been forced out of work by phylloxera in Europe. Chile stretches 4,300 kilometers from north to south. It is sandwiched between the Pacific Ocean to the west, the Andes Mountains to the east, the Atacama Desert to the north, and the Patagonian plains and glaciers to the south. These natural barriers prevented phylloxera from entering the country. Although the country is only 160 kilometers wide, it enjoys ideal conditions for growing grape varieties from warm, intermediate, and cool regions, so much so that it is often described as a vineyard paradise. With nearly 300 estates producing bottled wines, Chile ranks between 6th and 8th in the world.

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