Wines from the world’s driest desert: Ventisquero’s Tara project

Find out how three Chilean winemakers are producing premium wines in Atacama – the most arid desert in the world – and see Decanter's expert tasting notes and scores, available exclusively to Premium members.

Viña Ventisquero’s Tara project – which sees three of the company’s winemakers producing wines in Chile’s remote Atacama desert – continued to impress at an exclusive tasting in London for the Decanter team.

Ventisquero’s winemaker, Felipe Tosso, presented recent vintages of Tara Red 1 (Pinot Noir), Tara Red 2 (85% Syrah, 15% Merlot), Tara White 1 (Chardonnay) and a Viognier that is not yet commercially released. 

The two Tara vineyards are located 400km north of Limarí, 15-20km from the coast. When the project started, there was just a single hectare planted – challenging enough given the extreme conditions. Some weather stations in the Atacama desert have never recorded a single drop of rain, earning it the title of the ‘driest place on earth’. 

Scroll down to see Tara project wine tasting notes

Now there are 13ha, but this is the equivalent of half that in terms of wine produced, explained Tosso, given the very low density plantings.

The water rights cost Ventisquero more than the land, Tosso continued, detailing the lessons learned concerning irrigation.

The stony, riverbed soils have a high salt content, and after much experimentation, the company has found the best way to irrigate – 40mm over two days, every two to three weeks, minimising the effect of rainfall, but using water that contains a lower level of salt than rain to help wash the salt away.

This is a labour of love – the wines are produced in tiny quantities, from hand-picked grapes that are transported 800km overnight, after harvest, to the company winery in Maipo.

The philosophy is to produce these wines with minimal intervention. Foot pressing for all wines produces very fine lees, and wines are not racked, giving some a cloudy appearance. 

These wines sing of their place of origin, with a chalkiness, minerality and purity that is as far away – like the Atacama desert – from Chile’s mass-produced consumer bottlings as you can get. 

Tasting notes: Five Tara project wines

 Note: Tara 1 Pinot Noir 2014 and Tara 1 Chardonnay 2013 have been included from a previous tasting.

Read articles from Decanter magazine’s June 2018 issue online

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