Macatho Chacha

Winemaker: Macarena del Río and Thomas Parayre

Appellation: Valle del Itata, Chile

Grape Variety: Chasselas, Chardonnay

ChaCha is from Chasselas (69-year-old vines) and Chardonnay (13-year-old vines) plantings in the organically farmed Cerro Negro vineyard, which is 70 meters above sea level and 60 km away from the Pacific. The soils are a mix of basalts with a loamy texture. The grapes are harvested by hand (the Chardonnay before the Chasselas). The grapes macerate gently on their skins (30 days for the Chardonnay, 20 days for the Chasselas) and ferment with indigenous yeasts in stainless steel tanks. The two varieties are blended and then bottled without fining, filtration, or sulfite addition.

A series of chance encounters is what let Macarena del Río and Thomas Parayre to find each other and to start their joint project, Macatho in 2016. Born in Chile to a French mother, Maca enrolled at the prestigious University of Bordeaux to study winemaking. While a student, she stumbled across a natural winebar in Southwest France that inspired her and changed her way of thinking about wine. After completing her studies, she worked harvest with several natural winemakers across France, including the famed Yvon Métras in Beaujolais. Born in France, Thomas arrived in Chile seeking adventure. He worked odd jobs all of the country before starting his own graphic design firm. Along the way, he moved in with a new roommate by the name of Louis-Antoine Luyt, who was then working in restaurants and beginning to learn about wine; his course was forever changed. Maca and Thomas, who met during a harvest with Luyt, are some of the the most talked-about newcomers to the wine scene in Chile. Based in Chillán, they currently work and farm old-vine parcels of land organically in Maule, BíoBío and Itata. In the cellar, the wine is made with minimal intervention and lots of love!