Terroir & Vineyards

The terroir

Over a five year period, the Altamana team carefully mapped the historic Malbec vineyards throughout the Maule wine growing region.  Located in between the Pacific Ocean and Andes Mountains, Altamana’s vineyards are protected from excessive heat and benefit from particularly cool nights.  This climate favors the development of excellent fruit character along with soft and elegant tannins.  Vines of 60 years or older provide low yields of superb quality fruit.

The Viticulture

All viticulture is overseen by the highly qualified Altamana technical team.  The vines are carefully pruned in June to limit production and encourage quality.  In October, canopy thinning begins to eliminate double or weak shoots as well as poorly positioned buds.  A second shoot removal is performed in December.  Finally, cluster thinning in January leaves one cluster per shoot on the vines for the Single Vineyard wine and two clusters on the vines that yield the Grand Reserve.  All clusters that are green, crowded, late to ripen or sparse are eliminated. The old roots are encouraged to seek soil moisture, rather than receiving irrigation.