terroir pisco Archives

June 8, 2021 In PiscoLogía

Terroir of PiscoLogía Pisco- Tradition

Tradition is what makes PiscoLogía’s terroir truly exceptional. From spiritual rituals in the vineyard to labeling the bottles, everything Nati does ensures that her unrivaled craft that shows in every bottle.

In August, after hand-pruning every vine, Nati gives thanks to Pachamama, the Mother Earth of the Incas. This spiritual practice ensures harmony in the environment and a plentiful growth cycle.

The grapes receive individual care when they are hand-picked and hand selected, only the finest will be crushed and transformed into wine by fermentation by native yeasts.

Then in distillation, her insight and scientific knowledge tell her when to cut the heads from the tails, how to manage the calientavinos to save energy and how to care for the pisco during the resting phase. Her copper pot still is the device that allows her to express her skill, allowing all the factors that make our terroir shine through in every bottle of PiscoLogía.

The conversion of wine to pisco is much more than a scientific process; it’s a manifestation of Nati’s skill and intuition, resulting in the maximum expression of terroir in every bottle.

May 23, 2021 In PiscoLogía

Terroir of PiscoLogía Pisco- The Humboldt Current

Most of the world’s premium wine production takes place between the 30th and 50th parallels of the Southern and Northern Hemispheres, where temperate conditions are conducive to grape growing. Growing healthy grapes outside of those parallels can be extremely difficult.

So how are we able to produce healthy pisco grapes in Azpitia, located at 12° S in the Tropic of Capricorn? The answer lies in an oceanographic phenomenon called the Humboldt Current.

The Humboldt Current is a cold ocean current that flows north along the western coast of South America. When the Current brings frigid waters from the Southern Chile to Northern Peru, it cools the ocean & creates dry, chilled air. This is why the Peruvian coastline is so arid. Where a dense jungle would normally lie, sand dunes and cacti line the coasts, creating very favorable wine-making conditions.

Upwelling that occurs when the cool current meets tropical waters brings rich nutrients to the surface, creating an irresistible feast for Peruvian birds. In the 16th Century, people dedicated a portion of the coast to the abundant bird population by naming the area “Pisco”.

Because of this fascinating phenomenon, we can grow grapes in optimal conditions and produce the high-quality wine that we distill to make PiscoLogía.

May 21, 2021 In PiscoLogía

Terroir of PiscoLogía Pisco- The Pacific Ocean Breeze

PiscoLogía’s vineyards are located 4 miles from the Pacific Ocean at 200 meters above sea level. This proximity and altitude create a perfect storm in the evening, when the ocean breeze channels through the Mala River Valley to reach our vineyards, reducing the temperature surrounding our vines.

This cooling phenomenon provides us with grapes with higher acidity levels. Grapes with higher acidity create a more balanced wine, the wine we use to make PiscoLogía!

May 21, 2021 In PiscoLogía

Terroir of PiscoLogía Pisco- Salty Wine, Briny Pisco

Vineyards near the coast are exposed to the tiny particles leftover from evaporated ocean spray droplets. Air currents carry the particles from the sea, depositing them on grape skins and the soil.

They then blend into the batch during production. Because wine is distilled only one time to make pisco. many characteristics of the wine shine through in the final product. When Distilled one time, A briny, minerally wine will create a pisco with similar descriptors.

This brackish mist is just like the natural yeasts in our vineyards in Azpitia. They are floating in the air, forming the uniqueness that is our terroir.

July 23, 2019 In PiscoLogía

Can you drink pisco straight?

Can you drink pisco straight? Absolutely! In fact, we encourage you to drink pisco straight to appreciate it like a fine wine. To guide you, here are 4 questions you can ask yourself when tasting:

pisco tasting, can you drink pisco straight, piscologia, peruvian pisco

1) What descriptors and characteristics can I identify?

There are more than 300 descriptors for wine. When you distill wine to make pisco, you concentrate those flavors and aromas even more. See if you can pick out different nuances in the pisco. For example, our Quebranta tastes like toasted almonds, pecans and tart green apples. If you’re tasting an Acholado, distinguish the characteristics of each of the blended varieties.

2) How is the terroir of the vineyards expressed in the pisco?

We have discussed the terroir of our vineyards and how it differs from other regions and vineyards in Peru. For example, our pisco has been described as briny, which is due to salinity on the grapes from the Pacific Ocean. Our soils are sandy, which create very different conditions than vineyards in the Andes, where soils are predominantly limestone. Pisco is greatly influenced by terroir, so see if you can appreciate how the conditions of the vineyards influence the flavors and aromas of the brandy.

3) How does the pisco pair with food?

Like wine, the clear Peruvian brandy pairs beautifully with food. We have given you some pairing suggestions in this blog post: https://piscologia.com/pairing-your-favorite-peruvian-food-with-pisco/, but pisco pairings go way beyond Peruvian food. There are endless opportunities with any cuisine. For example, try an Italia pisco in a snifter with Thai curry. You can play around with different varieties and food flavors to see what you like best.

4) Are there certain aspects of this vintage that make it different than others?

Just like wine, the conditions of each harvest vary each year, making every vintage unique. For example, if a year is especially hot, the wine and pisco will have higher alcohol percentages because the grapes will have developed more sugar. Or, if rainy season arrives earlier than expected, the grapes must be harvested early to avoid diseases on the fruit such as botrytis. Sometimes this means that the grapes might not ripen enough, meaning they will have less aromas and flavors.

July 4, 2019 In PiscoLogía

Myth #5- The best pisco comes from Ica

This is the 5th post of a series of mythbusters to clarify misconceptions about Peruvian pisco.

It is not true that the best pisco comes from Ica. The other 4 regions all produce equally impressive, high-quality brandies.

We have heard the misconception that the best pisco comes from Ica, the largest Denomination of Origin in Peru. Many good piscos are produced in Ica, but we would like to tout the caliber of brandies from the other 4 regions: Lima, Arequipa, Moquegua and Tacna.

Pisco is a distilled wine. Just like wine, many factors will determine a pisco’s quality, including the viticulture practices used to raise the grapes, the skill of the producer and the terroir of the vineyard.

Peru’s unique terrain lends itself to diverse terroirs. For example, the highest vineyards with pisco grapes are found in the Caravelí Valley at 1,779 meters in the D.O. of Arequipa. Vineyards at this altitude in the Andes are endowed with limestone soils and cool nights, very different conditions than the coast, where nights are warmer, soils are sandy and ocean salinity affects the grapes. When you add in more variables like distillation techniques, one can see how Peruvian pisco displays such a broad gamut of aromas and flavors.

We would encourage people to train their palates to discover how different terroirs shine through in Peruvian pisco. Instead of associating quality with entire regions, we want to change the conversation and start evaluating how viticulture practices, the distiller’s techniques and terroir express themselves in the bottle. In the end, the consumer gets to decide which pisco is the best for him or her.

May 24, 2019 In PiscoLogía

A sommelier talks Peruvian Pisco: Part 3

This is part 3 of a series of interviews with Fernando Gonzales-Lattini, a sommelier specialized in pisco, vigneron and producer of premium wine in the Peruvian Andes.

You are interested in terroir and how it affects a wine. What can you say about the terroir at Azpitia?

“Azpitia is interesting because it has sandy soils that can be extremely challenging for viticulture. Nati does an excellent job of working with the conditions there to grow high quality grapes. PiscoLogía’s vineyards in the Mala Valley are at a higher altitude and they are strategically located to allow them to be cooled by the Pacific Ocean breeze. This effect gives the grapes more concentrated flavors and better acidity. Higher quality grapes make a better quality wine, which in turn, makes a better pisco.

I also appreciate Azpitia because it is a very small production region. There are maybe 100 hectares maximum of small farms. That small size, in addition to its unique terroir, makes the pisco crafted there even more rare and special.”

You have observed Nati during production and you have tasted her pisco. What can you say about Nati as a professional?

“I admire Nati for many reasons. First, she is so meticulous in her viticulture practices. In the winemaking world, everyone knows that to make a good wine, you must start in the vineyards. Only high-quality grapes can make a good wine. In the case of pisco, distillation is just one step further in the process. That means the way you care for your grapes translates directly into your pisco. Many pisco producers in Peru buy grapes, but PiscoLogía is made from 100% estate-grown grapes. That allows for Nati to have strict quality control throughout the entire process.

I also like how Nati adheres to tradition and she strictly follows the Denomination of Origin. By demanding a high quality product and never compromising her standards, she is setting the bar for other producers in all of Peru.

Finally, Nati and her team hand select every grape that goes into every bottle of pisco. They also use selective pressing techniques to maximize each grape, but without adding bitterness from the seeds. Nothing is arbitrary in her process. The methodical steps she takes really shine through in the final result- a pisco of Premier Grand Cru quality.”