The latest effort from Luis Felipe Edwards in our quest to continually improve the quality of our wine is the acquisition of a new vineyard "Fundo el Retiro"

In 2010 we acquired this new 400 hectares vineyard site in the Maule Valley in the area of El Retiro. It is 30 kms as the crow flies from the Pacific Ocean and is also very close to the coastal  mountain range at a altitude of 120 meters above sea level.
 
The planting of vines will be completed this year, mainly with red varieties - Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah, Carmenere, Cabernet Franc, Malbec & Carignan and to a lesser extent with the white varieties - Pinot Gris, Roussanne and Marsanne.

We selected the varietal clones and rootstocks after a careful study of the different soils- (deep clays, volcanic soils, etc), we also undertook an in-depth climatic study of the area (temperature, degrees days, wind, solar radiation, rainfall, etc) in order to extract the maximum potential from the exceptional conditions of this location. This task was undertaken by our experienced viticulture team headed by Eugenio Cox in conjunction with a number of experts in the different areas such as soil science, viticulture, climatology, and winemaking.

All the vines will be completely drip irrigated to conserve water which is an important environmental consideration, annual precipitation typically reaches 950 mm per year but is concentrated mostly during the winter months where it is less likely to cause fungal problems for the vines.
We are now already working on the irrigation system, soil preparation, drainage and on generally improving the land. In the next few months we will be installing the pipes lines, planting the vines and erecting the trellis system.
 
By the year 2013 we hope  that we will be harvesting the first grapes from this project...