Matetic Vineyards

The Free Bacchus Story

Most Chilean wine is grown inland, in the Central Valley. Matetic’s vineyards are on the coastal side, in the Rosario Valley between Casablanca and San Antonio, thirteen to nineteen kilometres from the Pacific. Cool nights, morning fog and an afternoon sea breeze slow the ripening, which the estate credits for the fresh acidity in its wines.

Matetic planted its first vines here in 1999, and the critic Patricio Tapia names it as the pioneer when Syrah first went in beside the sea in San Antonio at the end of the 1990s. The four vineyards come to about 140 planted hectares on granitic soils, certified organic through Ecocert and biodynamic through Demeter.

The family’s first generation in Chile, Jorge Matetic Cetinja, reached Punta Arenas in 1892 from Fiume, now Rijeka in Croatia. In Patagonia the family farmed sheep and dairy cattle, among other businesses, for about a century before there was any wine.

The EQ range takes its name from equilibrio, Spanish for balance. The estate’s top wine is a Syrah sold simply as Matetic Syrah, which drew 95 points from Wine Advocate for the 2014 vintage. The EQ Coastal Sauvignon Blanc comes from the Casablanca side of the estate and is crisp and concentrated, with a hint of salinity.

There is a broader suggestion here about where Chilean wine goes next: less competing on established Cabernet ground, more in the coastal valleys where the climate and the farming philosophy happen to reward each other.