The Itata Valley is one of Chile's oldest wine-growing regions, home to some of the country's most ancient vines and one of its oldest coastal ranges. The cool Mediterranean climate, influenced by the Pacific Ocean, means vines are trained 'en cabeza' - kept low to the ground to stay warm against the coastal breeze. Dry-farmed and horse-ploughed once a year, this is farming the way it's been done here for centuries.
Orange wine is actually the traditional method in Itata - pressing technology never made it here, so winemakers kept white grapes on their skins the old way. What the rest of the world calls 'skin-contact' or 'amber wine,' they just call wine.
Orange wine, also known as amber wine, is made from white grapes left in contact with their skins for an extended period - resulting in a deep amber color, a weightier mouthfeel, and more complexity than a typical white. It's been made this way for centuries across Georgia, Italy, and Chile, long before it became a trend. The term 'orange wine' itself is relatively new, gaining popularity in the 21st century alongside the rise of natural winemaking.
And like everything we make, it's natural. We practice regenerative organic farming - no pesticides, no herbicides, no synthetic intervention in the vineyard or the cellar. The wine is fermented with native yeast that occurs naturally on the grapes, with minimal sulfites added. Wine that tastes like where it came from.