Pérez Cruz, a specialist in classical Cabernet Sauvignon from Alto Maipo, produce a wide range of labels totaling slightly over one million bottles per year, all from their estate vineyards…They are focusing on Cabernet Sauvignon as their flagship wine. Nicely crafted wines, on the subtle and elegant side…” Luis Gutierrez, Wine Advocate, #222
A Cabernet Sauvignon specialist from the Andes portion of the Maipo Valley of Chile, Vina Perez Cruz is a family-owned winery specialized exclusively in the production of red wines from mostly Bordeaux varieties that are bottled on site and reflect the character and identity of the Maipo Alto Valley.
The Pérez Cruz family’s primary objective is to express their estate’s personality through wines with character and identity. The wines are 100% single-estate origin, which affords the winery total control of the outstanding fruit which arrives at full maturity and with uniform ripeness. French-trained winemaker German Lyon, assisted by the occasional consult from Álvaro Espinoza, one of the leading biodynamic experts in the country, takes a gentle and diligent approach to handling the fruit, which flows through the multi-level gravity-fed winery without pumps.
Here in the rolling foothills of the Andes Mountains, soils are deep, stony, and poor in nutrients. The Mediterranean-like climate offers dry and very sunny summers with vast swings between daytime and nighttime temperatures—the ideal combination for producing high-quality wines with ripe fruit and driving acidity. Rocky soils and a temperate microclimate create exceptional growing conditions. The cooling influence of the Andes mountain air mingles with mild Pacific Ocean breezes to create the conditions for slow ripening and long hang times, which lead to fresh, vibrant fruit flavors married to local aromatic herbs, mouthwatering natural acidity and polished tannins.
The crown-jewel of the estate, the Liguai vineyard is nestled directly against the mountain foothills at just under 1,700 feet elevation. Here a mixture of alluvial and colluvial can be found, which give incredible complexity to a Red Blend and a 100% Cabernet Sauvignon that are fermented on indigenous yeasts in a delicate mix of wood barrels both new and used. Their “Chaski” Petit Verdot is a fascinating wine: a uniquely balanced and harmonious bottling of an often temperamental grape, grown on exclusively alluvial soils with a higher than usual percentage of clay. The word “Chaski” refers to the ancient Inca for “messenger,” and in fact celebrates an actual Incan “chaski” trail, marked by stone-lined paths as can be seen on the label, that is found on the family property. Yet, the most impressive wine of the line-up might just be the entry-level Cabernet Sauvignon, a wine with an outstanding amount of personality, balance and elegance at a shockingly affordable price that Luis Gutierrez described in the Wine Advocate as “…really open, expressive and aromatic, with bright red fruit and a balsamic, minty and pungent note that makes it very attractive and distinctively Maipo in the nose. The palate is silky and soft, polished and sleek.”
The winery was built of native types of wood with two barrel-shaped central naves, exterior arches that evoke the passing of wind through trees, and stone foundations that recall the structures the Incas left behind in the area. Its sustainable design incorporates a gravity-flow process and has a three-million-liter capacity. By taking advantage of the conditions below ground, temperature and humidity are controlled naturally in the barrel cellar, which has a capacity for 5,000 barrels.
