Intipalka Valle Del Sol Tannat 2024| eWineAsia.com

The arrival of the vine in the New World was brought by the Spanish conquistadors in the 15th century. It was Hernán Cortés himself, governor of Mexico, who ordered each colonist to plant one thousand vines for every one hundred natives in his service. In reality, however, the first winemaking centre in the Americas was created in the Viceroyalty of Peru. The boom in the Andean country was such that even the Spanish wine trade felt threatened and began to impose trade barriers. This was compounded by natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods and droughts. As a result, interest was lost in wine, and other beverages, such as pisco, gained all the attention. However, in recent years, this long winemaking tradition has been recovering thanks to the hard work of winemakers who have put Peruvian wine back on the map. This is the case of the Queirolo family, a family of Italian origin that emigrated to Peru in 1877 and has since become one of the great references for wine in the country. Today, Santiago, Jorge and Francisco Queirolo, the third generation of the dynasty, are in charge of the company and are expanding the quality of Peruvian wine around the world.

Among the references found in this living institution of wine, we find Intipalka Tannat, a red wine made with the star variety of the country, the tannat, which is grown at the foot of the Andes, at 500 metres above sea level. The vineyards have a desert climate, with a wide temperature range, and the soils are loamy, deep and rich in magnesium. Considering that the Ica Valley in Peru is known as one of the driest places on the planet, irrigation is carried out with technology. The grapes are harvested by hand at the optimum moment of ripeness and the selection of the grapes is done directly in the vineyard, cutting each bunch and depositing it in 15 kg trays. Once in the cellar, the wine is vinified at controlled temperature in stainless steel tanks where the wine remains on its lees for 3 months to enhance its fruity freshness.

Under the name Intipalka, which means ‘valley of the sun’ in Quechua, that is, in the language of the Incas, the Queirolo family has created a line of single-varietal wines that show the personality and character of wines produced in one of the driest areas of the earth. Intipalka Tannat is a sample of this work.