Journal

News from Harvest 2019 4032 3024 vidacycle

News from Harvest 2019

This year’s Summer at the Vidacycle farm has been so exciting – it’s brought us our first grape harvest since the devastating fire we had in 2017. We’re completely in…

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History of the País grape 559 364 vidacycle

History of the País grape

País is a red wine grape grown in Chile, sometimes known as Negra Peruana. Ampelographers (grapevine identifiers) think that along with Argentina’s Criolla Grande grape, and California’s Mission grape, País…

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What is natural wine? 559 397 vidacycle

What is natural wine?

Whether you are a wine-lover, or not, natural wine is a whole new experience. Most of us only ever go through life tasting chemical wine: mass-produced red, white or sparkling…

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Plateau – a natural wine wonderland in Brighton 559 397 vidacycle

Plateau – a natural wine wonderland in Brighton

By Natalie Valenzuela, Natural wine lover based in Pucon, Chile Friends, Thierry & Vincent, arrived in the UK in 2001, 17 years ago (thanks for the photo @RestaurantsBrighton)! After working…

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From London to Peru——meet TINTE lover Dasha 2560 1709 vidacycle

From London to Peru——meet TINTE lover Dasha

Dasha developed her love for TINTE while living in London and shares her story—— “I lived in London for 4 years where I worked as an architect. I found your…

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Sustainable Summer Drinks at Ducksoup Soho, London: The Dry Ginger Cocktail 559 397 vidacycle

Sustainable Summer Drinks at Ducksoup Soho, London: The Dry Ginger Cocktail

by Natalie Valenzuela woman of the world, natural wine lover, currently residing in Pucon, Chile. Sometimes the most unpredictable ingredients when mixed together make mouth-watering flavours, like sea salt, peanuts,…

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The future of farming 559 397 vidacycle

The future of farming

This is a repost of an article Abby wrote here Almost 12 years ago, my family started farming in Chile. Our time there has been full of ups and downs.…

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Making TINTE: photo story 559 397 vidacycle

Making TINTE: photo story

Get the low-down on the grapes and sunshine (and love) that go into making TINTE through this short photo-story

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The full story 559 397 vidacycle

The full story

About ten years ago, we heard about a opportunity to become part of the farming community in the Loncomilla Valley, Chile. Friends of ours informed us that their neighbours, the…

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The devastating inferno: thoughts from the farm after the fire. 559 397 vidacycle

The devastating inferno: thoughts from the farm after the fire.

I (Abby) wrote this post in January 2017 straight after the massive forest fires passed through the Loncomilla Valley where we live, I was feeling pretty disturbed by the fact that…

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learning from our weeds 559 397 vidacycle

learning from our weeds

We have learnt that a great way to learn more about the land is to understand what grows naturally on it. Weeds are an important part of this – so we…

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agraz harvest 2016 559 397 vidacycle

agraz harvest 2016

It’s El Niño year and so weather has been quite unusual. All the flowers and fruits are about two weeks later so the grapes really didn’t have much juice in them until…

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Gillmore Winery 559 397 vidacycle

Gillmore Winery

Just over 20 years ago Daniella Gillmore started out on a long journey, to create a family boutique winery with fruitful vineyards in the Loncomilla Valley, Maule. A place where…

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Vidacycle Taster Dinner part 2 559 397 vidacycle

Vidacycle Taster Dinner part 2

This follows on from part 1. Jeremy and Joy were the chefs, first up was Joy’s blanched chard and rhubarb toast, with olive oil and agraz dressing, along with the…

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Vidacycle Taster Dinner part 1 559 397 vidacycle

Vidacycle Taster Dinner part 1

One of the interesting things about creating products that are either particularly unique or not well-known by people is that they there is no language set out to describe them.…

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Why does TINTE taste like that? 1417 1890 vidacycle

Why does TINTE taste like that?

TINTE (natural wine) We have found TINTE is best drunk chilled before or after dinner. It can also be a nice accompaniment with salads or spicy food…but everyone’s tastes are different…

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verjus, vinegar and lemon juice 559 397 vidacycle

verjus, vinegar and lemon juice

When I was thinking about what to make for the tasting dinner I was drawn to look at Alice Water’s book ‘The Art to Simple Food II’, after flicking through…

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Farmers Chile – Truffles 559 397 vidacycle

Farmers Chile – Truffles

Our neighbour Ander has worked closely with his uncle to start importing Chilean Truffle mushrooms into North America. In fact his company Farmers Chile are the first people to ever…

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flavours of changing seasons 559 397 vidacycle

flavours of changing seasons

We shared our olive oil, agraz and the Tinte wine with our friend Jeremy, a young chef who has done stints at Noma and Dinner both 2 Michelin Star destinations, and is…

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Farmer’s Friend 559 397 vidacycle

Farmer’s Friend

Farmer’s Friend is an export company that champions the farmer, started by our neighbours Ander and his mom Helena. They recognise that the farmer should be respected and paid a…

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outdoor terrace 559 397 vidacycle

outdoor terrace

Here is a sneak peak of the outdoor terrace through the olive groves. The outdoor terrace was designed by Lloyd, a great urban landscape architect, his initial concept drawing is…

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late bloomers 559 397 vidacycle

late bloomers

We wanted to record a unique* Chilean lifecycle. The healthy green growth so full of life now, in Winter, suddenly dies back in late Spring and looks completely brown withered and dead but then in…

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first olive oil 430 396 vidacycle

first olive oil

This year was the first year we made enough oil to make a small quantity of taster bottles to share with friends and family. Here is a bit of the…

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raw agraz 559 397 vidacycle

raw agraz

This is our third bottling of Agraz – it still has the same tangy flavours and adds that extra zing to many drinks and dishes. Our agraz, or verjus, is lovingly crafted…

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first wine 559 397 vidacycle

first wine

Finally our first wine is bottled and ready to be drunk!  TINTE is a natural wine* lovingly crafted from our dry farmed and very old Pais vines. We give you the…

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TINTE bottling 559 397 vidacycle

TINTE bottling

We just bottled some of the 2014 TINTE wine. It’s a natural wine with a delicious and distinctive flavour lovingly crafted from our dry farmed and very old Pais vines. We…

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tea 559 397 vidacycle

tea

We experimented using the leaves around the farm to make some teas. We used olive, mint, rosemary, eucalyptus, stevia and Meyer Lemon leaves plus some lavender buds as well. Heidi made…

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moon rise 559 397 vidacycle

moon rise

The majestic moon gleams as dusk descends. Everything is incredibly still.

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beet burgers 150 150 vidacycle

beet burgers

Every Summer we are overwhelmed with beets, so we have started to try different ways of preparing them. Nothing beats these beet burgers cooked in the outdoor oven. Plus they…

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almonds 559 397 vidacycle

almonds

This year the almond tree treated us to a whole bucket of almonds – we picked them in early February because most of the outer green pods had split open…

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