2017 Wildmakers 'Sabatico'

Country: Chile
Region: All the Places
Style: Hair Raising Reds

In what turned out to be one of many twists and turns in life, José Miguel Sotomayor and Luca Hodgkinson came to be the best of friends. Just two experienced winemakers whose love for the noble vine led them to the Maule Valley in Chile to make wines from grapes typically used in the Rhone Valley.  One morning, not long after establishing their winery, they discovered that their winemaking facility was almost completely destroyed with the only clue to what happened being a series of giant, humanoid footprints scattered throughout the vineyard. Local legend has it that a Sasquatch-like creature called El Ucumar roams the valley, randomly scuttling buildings encroaching its territory. With this in mind, José and Luca rethought their approach to winemaking and are now making some spectacular natural wines without drawing the attention of this savage man-beast.