We produce natural wine, from nothing but the Earth.
TINTE is lovingly crafted orange wine from our dry farmed and very old Pais vines. The beauty captured in every bottle reflects our deep connection to the land and life cycles of the natural world. Nothing is added to the grapes from vineyard to bottle. Each year is a whole new wine and a whole new experience.
In a sense, this is why we call ourselves farmers, first and foremost as opposed to winemakers. The flavours, aromas and textures you’ll savour from each bottle are entirely dependent on the microbial life underfoot (the soil), the type of barrels used, the sun and rainfall. TINTE embraces the beauty and integrity of the land here at Vidacycle. Rich nutritious soils and salty sea air create an exciting flavourful wine.
As our País vines are dry farmed, we never water them. This means the two hectares of vines soak up the strong sun and Chilean elements, bringing out the unique and earthy flavours of the grapes. When the grapes have turned red we hand-harvest them, press them using a traditional unmechanised grape press and then store the juice in barrels. The unique pinky orange colour of our wine is formed at this point in the barrels because we don’t add back in the red skins for the fermentation. We use no sulphites (although some natural wines do), no filtration, no artificial yeasts, no pumping. The natural fermentation process takes over two years, relying on natural yeasts on the grapes and in the air. Here is a short photo story of the wine being made.
“The grapes are in charge.” Tom, head farmer.
Often people ask us what is the difference between TINTE and conventional wine. The way we see it is, conventional wine is made using an approach where humans feel the need to intervene with the vines growth and tamper with the winemaking aspect. Which is often driven by the need to control and standardise the flavour of each year’s wine and each bottle. This approach includes spraying chemicals on the grapes in the vineyard, that kills much of the life in the soil and weakens the natural yeasts that form on the skins of the grapes. As a result they need to use artificial yeasts instead to initiate the fermentation process, and they add sulphites into the wine to stop the live fermentation process and cap the flavour at that point. In fact some natural wine producers also add in sulphites at this stage to alter the fermentation process, which is why it’s always a good idea to look on the side of the bottle for percentage of sulphites (they have to state that). TINTE contains zero sulphites and is a true reflection of our ecological approach to farming.
When you shop Vidacycle, you support a positive farming future for the Earth and its people.
