Cono Sur "wonder boy" and his team visited Stockholm

British wine magazine Decanter named him "wonder boy" and he is known for being as nice as he is skilled in the art of wine making. Vinoschilenos.eu had the opportunity to meet Adolfo Hurtado during his visit in Stockholm last November.

Adolfo Hurtado, Chief Winemaker & General Manager of Cono Sur and his team made a short visit to Stockholm to host a wine tasting. Spendrups, that represent Cono Sur in Sweden, had the kindness to invite us to the tasting and gave us the opportunity to have a chat with the very nice and likeable Adolfo Hurtado.

Clic the pictures to see a bigger version.

Foto: Stefan Franzén-Hartzell

Inger Häggström presents the agenda of the day	Adolfo Hurtado, Chief Winemaker & General Manager of Cono Sur	Participants from the trade.

Inger Häggström from Spendrups presented Adolfo Hurtado, who shortly told us about Cono Sur and his duty and aim in the company. After that the tasting begun with a rosé wine made of carmenére, with hints of ripe red fruits and berries and an enjoyable taste of summer, especially during such a grey day in November. Adolfo told us about the technique used to obtain that fresh sweetness and the hints of blackberries and licorice in the grapes by eliminating the leaves to facilitate the grapes to receive more sunlight.

Adolfo Hurtado guided the tasting.	Participants tasting.	A total of 11 wines were presented and tasted.

After the delicious rosé it was time for five white wines; two sauvignon blanc, one chardonnay, one riesling and one gewürtztraminer. All of which were much in the liking and enjoyed by the team of Vinoschilenos!

The white wines were followed by five reds; three pinot noir, one syrah and one cabernet sauvignon.
Of these wines there was one totally outstanding wine that blow our team away: Ocio 2008, that might very well be one of the best pinot noir ever produced in Chile.
- We sought for the best pinot noir grapes that could be found, Adolfo told us while we tasted Ocio. 70% of the grapes are from Casablanca and 30% from San Antonio. They were harvested by hand and transported in small basquets to maintain the right temperature and also decrease it. After that they were crushed in the traditional way, by feet, and once fermented the wine was stored for 15 meses in barrels of French oak.

Smell, taste, spit out.	Adolfo Hurtado chatting with participants after the tasting.	Adolfo Hurtado and Editor in Chief Amalia González.

The name of the wine, Ocio, caught our attention since its meaning can be interpreted in a negative way in Spanish and we asked Adolfo why they chose to give the wine that name.
- We wanted to use the original meaning of the word, ocio as free time to enjoy and reflect. That's why we named the wine Ocio, was the answer.

Want to know more about Cono Sur and the wines presented at te tasting? Visit us tomorrow to read more about it!