Planted in 1968, this is the oldest planting of Pinot Noir in Chile, and the grape was chosen for this area because, at the time, this was the coolest place for new plantings in the country, according to Ríos – reminding db that chillier coastal areas such as Casablanca, and later San Antonio and then Limarí represent relatively recent viticultural developments. However, he admitted that the early days of Pinot making weren’t producing wonderful results, commenting that the first examples tasted more like Merlot than the Burgundian red grape – “the tannins were dry and the fruit was overripe,” he recalled. Now part of Cono Sur’s Santa Elisa Estate, the Chimbarongo plot of old vines became the inspiration for the winery’s focus on the grape, and its launch in 1999 of ‘the Pinot project’, as it became known. These involved training the vines to make certain there was a broader distribution of the bunches for even ripening, while ensuring the leaves were protecting the berries from direct sunlight to avoid desiccation.

And by that I mean it has the delicacy of Pinot-based reds, along with their juicy red berry fruit, when inexpensive Pinots rarely have both – sometimes they have the fleshy fruit, but not the life-giving brightness, and other times, they are gentle, but without the juicy fruit, leaving one with a thin-tasting wine.En cuanto a maridaje, Bicicleta Pinot Noir es una excelente opción para sabores delicados, como carnes blancas, hongos, pescados y quesos suaves. De igual forma, no lo recomendamos para acompañar platos picantes. Además, vale la pena añadir que se trata de un vino para consumo inmediato, el cual debe disfrutarse -preferentemente- a una temperatura de 14°C. Now, what is the secret to the success of this wine? The way to cultivate the vines is part of it: the vines that give life to this Pinot Noir – besides being sustainable – enjoy abundant sunlight, hot days, cold nights and irrigation water from the snowmelt. Ríos had arrived at Cono Sur in 2003, and this was just after the winery had decided to appoint Burgundy winemaker Martín Prieur from Domaine Jacques Prieur, to help the Chilean operator perfect its Pinots. The Bicicleta wine was born in 2012 as a tribute to the estate workers, who travel daily through the vineyards in their bikes, as part of the eco-friendly and sustainability policies implemented by Cono Sur since its foundation in 1993. Next came changes to the irrigation regime, with the Pinot vines, unlike other red grapes, given water up until harvesting, as opposed to switching off the supply earlier in the growing season, as one might for varieties such as Cabernet to bring more concentration.

The starting point for Cono Sur’s Pinot journey was a plot of Pinot Noir in a place called Chimbarongo, which is within Chile’s Colchagua Valley – a wine region best known for the quality of its Carmenere-based reds. Continuing, he states, referring to the extended dry, warm conditions in Cono Sur’s Pinot plantations, “We have the natural conditions to be able to do this, we can choose exactly the moment of harvest.” It’s often said that it’s impossible to make inexpensive Pinot Noir that features the grape’s appealing combination of lightness and ripeness – but one producer has managed to do exactly this. Starting in 2001, Prieur was the first wine consultant to work in Chile, according to Ríos, and is still supporting Cono Sur today. Indeed, for Cono Sur’s pricier expressions, such as 20 Barrels and Ocio, everything is done by hand in the winery, with foot-crushing for the grapes, and manual punching down of the must in open top fermentors.As for the nature of Pinot Noir that Chile produces, in general terms Ríos describes the country’s style as one with intensity, but softness.