The Carignan vines that produce this wine have a backstory worthy of Pablo Neruda, who was born an hour to the southeast. After the 1939 Chillán earthquake devastated central Chile, the government needed to jumpstart agriculture fast. They planted Carignan throughout Maule to beef up the anemic local Pais (AKA Mission in California and Listán Prieto in the Canary Islands). The plan worked—until it didn't.

As Chile's wine industry modernized, the wine business moved away. The Maule became a kind of backwater that locals fled for the more prosperous north. The Carignan vines were abandoned, left to survive on their own.

Here's where it gets interesting. At 35.72° S, these vineyards sit at roughly the same latitude as Paso Robles in California. But thanks to the cold Humboldt Current, the Maule stays cooler and gets more rain—just enough for these abandoned vines to survive without irrigation. For 50 years, they grew wild, their roots plunging deeper and deeper into the granite and clay soils of La Aguada vineyard in Sauzal.

When De Martino's team rediscovered these vines, they found something sophisticated, balanced, yet still wild at heart.

This isn't just De Martino's discovery—it's a movement. VIGNO is Chile's answer to Corpinnat in Spain or something like the Crus Bourgeois in Bordeaux, a trade association of 17 producers dedicated to showcasing what old-vine Maule Carignan can do. The rules are monastery-strict: minimum 65% Carignan from vines over 30 years old, dry-farmed, hand-harvested (horses are the only machinery allowed), aged minimum two years before release.

De Martino's 2021 thrilled our tasting panel. It’s a lively, juicy discovery we can’t recommend more highly. It's 85% Carignan co-planted with 15% Malbec, Cinsault, and Cabernet Sauvignon—a field blend where the vines have grown together for six decades. 

WHY YOU'LL LOVE IT

• A Top Scorer: This wine, from grapes farmed 3 hours south of Chile’s epicenter of fine wine, the Maipo Valley, was one of The Wine Advocate’s top Chilean wines of 2021.
  

• True Rarity: 314 cases produced, with even less imported. It’s the furthest thing from green, industrial Chilean red.
  

• Undiscovered nobility: Here's a wine that offers equal complexity from vines twice as old as most American reds, at less than half the price of an average Napa Valley Cabernet.
  

• Built to Age: This 2021 has the structure to evolve for 15+ years. Buy a case, drink one bottle a year, and watch it transform.

HOW TO SERVE IT

• Pop and pour, or decant for an hour—your choice. This wine shows differently at every stage of air exposure, from the initial hit of black cherry and wild herbs to the deeper meaty, earthy notes that emerge with time.

• Serve at 58-62°F. This isn't a cocktail wine; it demands food. Think grilled lamb kabobs with chimichurri, beef empanadas, or a proper asado.
  

• Drink now through 2038. These abandoned vines that learned to survive on their own made a wine that knows how to age.