Clos des Fous Pinot Noir Subsollum 2020

Region: Itata, Chile

Grape Variety: Pinot Noir

The Clos de Fous project is four friends in Chile, all wine rockstars, who are passionate exploring the diverse terroirs of their home country. Their focus is producing wines from very unique soils or from very old vines, eschewing the commercial style and low price examples that traditional producers of Chile championed for decades. This has pushed them to extreme areas and grape varieties that are not well know, but a tasting of their wines is a thrill ride for anyone interested in wines that are typically lower in alcohol, with minimal inputs, that let variety and place shine. A great example is this Pinot Noir, which is produced in the cool Aconcagua Coast region nearly 60 miles north of Santiago.

It is worth mentioning that one of the four partners is Pedro Parra, aka Dr. Soil, who along with his partners found one of the few places in Chile where limestone soils are dominant. Combine that with the cool, dry climate that lies at the edge of one of the driest places on earth, the obvious choice are the Burgundy varieties; Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. The winemakers of the group, Paco Leyton and Felipe Cartes, include 20% stems, use native yeasts and ferment and age in concrete tanks to preserve the terroir and fruit character. The result is a wine that you will think is a top level Bourgogne or Côte Chalonnaise example of Pinot Noir but at a fraction of the cost.

Decant this beauty for a few minutes and the bouquet evolves into a thought provoking mix of underripe strawberry, fresh raspberry, iodine, wet clay and oolong tea. The palate feel is restrained with a fantastic intensity of fruit framed by moderate tannins. This will not be everyone’s cup of tea but for fans of old world Pinot Noir you definitely should stop in for a taste. Serve this with duck confit, gnocchi with wild mushrooms or a tuna poke bowl.