Cono Sur Ocio Vertical tasting with Matías Ríos
Cono Sur, founded in 1993, has quickly become a global leader in environmental commitment and accountability. Their winemaker Matías Ríos, was in Dublin recently for a vertical tasting of their premium Pinot Noir. The Ocio vintages we tasted included 2013, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020 and the very special Ocio Pinot Noir 30th Anniversary blend.
The first Pinot Noir was planted in Chile in 1968 using a Burgundy clone that arrived in Chile via Davis University in California. The vines were initially grown on their original root stock, no grafting, remember Chile is the only wine country in the world never to have been infected by phylloxera.
Cono Sur were the first Chilean producer to plant Pinot Noir and they the first began to export it in 1996, with their 20 Barrells Pinot Noir which gained a significant following.
The Ocio project began 1999 and the aim was to create a world class, premium Pinot Noir from Chile. The first Ocio vintage was produced in 2002 and the production techniques are specifically tailored. Special bunch selection, followed by foot crushing in an open tank with cold maceration and manual pigeage. The wines are aged in 100% French wood, using small barrels made from Burgundian oak.
The grapes for Ocio come from two of Chile’s coastal wine regions, Casablanca, and San Antonio. Casablanca Valley to the lee of the coastal mountain range has granite soil with red clay in the higher vineyards, ideal for growing Pinot Noir. Closer to the ocean San Antonio has same soil structure but with the added benefit of the coastal influence. Matías took us through six vintages of Ocio and each were very different. Cono Sur’s mission is to become the best-known producer of premium Pinot Noir from Chile and the new world leader for Pinot Noir.
The stand out wine for me, was the 2016 Ocio Pinot Noir, a relatively cold vintage with a yield 20% lower than normal years. 80% was aged in barrel and 20% in fudre. This was a beautifully complex wine, elegant aromas of dark fruit, it was velvety smooth in the mouth with beautifully integrated tannin and a surprising amount of acidity that added to the wine’s remarkable freshness. It was very concentrated and still showing a lot of youth and intensity, given time this will evolve beautifully.
I was also taken with the 2018 Ocio Pinot Noir, another cool year, there were vegetal herbaceous notes on the nose, lighter mouth feels than the 2016 with more summer fruit character. 60% aged in barrel and 40% in French oak fudre for 14 months, the lightness of the style and the balance between the fruit and the oak really appealed.
The Ocio Pinot Noir 30th Anniversary wine is a multi-vintage blend only made from fruit grown in San Antonio. With a total production of 200 cases, I enjoyed tasting this rare vintage with the man who produced it.
Cono Sur Ocio Pinot Noir 2020 RRP: €60.00
Stockists: Michell & Son, Glasthule, IFSC, Avoca Kilmacanogue, Avoca Dunboyne; Next Door Off Licences, (Nationwide); Bradley’s Off Licence, North Main Street, Cork; Fallon & Byrne, Exchequer Street, D2; Neighbourhood Wine, Churchtown, Dun Laoghaire & Arnott’s; Whelehan Wines, Silver Tassie, Loughlinstown, Co Dublin and https://wineonline.ie/
2020 is the current vintage of Ocio available in Ireland but snap it up for your collection if you can because this is going all the way. 70% barrel aged in 30% French oak fudre, the emphasis of the style lies in the ageing process. Ocio is all about how they age the wine, the structure of the Ocio style revolves around this. Made from fruit grown on older vines, the Casablanca Valley accounts for 100% of the fruit used in this vintage. The 2020 was quite fruit forward and had plenty of fresh acidity, there was a noticeable complexity attributed to the older vines. I would welcome the opportunity to taste this in a few years to see how it has evolved.
