About Us

AS IT BEGAN

VIGNO – Vignadores de Carignan began as a lunch club of winemakers making old vine Carignan in 2009.

Founders sign the legal Asociacion Gremial (Non profit Trade Organisation) into law.
2011

All for one

“What if we create a wine, a concept, a category that brings back the heritage of ancient vines from the drylands of the Maule region and this winemaking tradition that has lasted for over four centuries? What if we go even further and define a specific appellation for a wine based on Carignan, subject to strictly technical criteria like no other in Chile?” asked Andrés Sánchez, winemaker at Gillmore, and journalist Eduardo Brethauer.

The terroir and the wines were already there. All that was needed was to inspire Carignan producers to make this crazy dream of Maule their own. “Chile can no longer keep making the same old thing: mass-produced wines without identity. The time has come to create wines with character and world-class quality, reflecting the history and winemaking tradition of the drylands,” was the call to action and the starting point for a saga that is far from over.

The first meeting took place in Loncomilla, at the Toro Macho restaurant. A handful of producers discussed the idea, but the results were quite discouraging. Why would a Carignan from a successful winery, with a large investment in brand building and marketing, want to associate with other wineries? What benefits would it gain from joining forces with other producers who, in purely economic terms, represented direct competition?

However, the project moved forward. Supported by the Vinos de Chile 2020 Cluster, this group of producers managed to secure state funding from the Corporation for the Promotion of Production (CORFO) to bring an unprecedented collaborative project to life. Its anticipated impact on the region, which had been depressed for decades due to the low price of its rustic, small-scale grapes, convinced the authorities, and little by little, with great persistence and determination, the idea began to take shape.

The Birth of a Denomination of Origin (D.O.)

On Friday, August 7, 2009, at the Baco restaurant in Santiago, the first formal meeting of this budding association took place, which, in its early years, was called the Club del Carignan. Attendees arrived with their bottles under their arms, and the conversation flowed with remarkable ease, marked by the notes of sour cherries, molasses, and bitter chocolate from their wines. The decision was made. They just had to agree on the foundations and criteria that would frame this union.

Ideas came and went. The discussion heated up. Sometimes the differences seemed insurmountable. Disagreements arose over the winemaking criteria that should govern the wine, and, primarily, its varietal composition.

Led by Arnaud Hereu, some argued that the wine should be 100% Carignan from old vines.

Others, like Marcelo Retamal, then the winemaker at De Martino, believed that rather than focusing on a particular grape variety, such as Carignan, it was more important to preserve the viticultural heritage of the Maule drylands, respecting the origin without concessions and firmly rejecting any potential contributions from other valleys.

The viticulturist Renán Cancino, originally from Sauzal and an important figure in the foundation of the group, would always raise his voice in the meetings and, in his unique rural style, confront his partners: “It all sounds great to me, but specifically, what do the real owners of this thing get in return—the small producers who have been struggling for years?”

Dream come true

Thanks to the coordination of the Vinos de Chile 2020 Cluster team, the collaborative work, and the drive of a newly formed marketing committee made up of Pablo Morandé, Andrés Sánchez, Derek Mossman, Dean Hrabar, and Eduardo Brethauer, the Maule “workhorse” was on track. But something very important was still missing. The project didn’t have a name, a common image to introduce itself to the world.

Work sessions led by the agency Estímulo Creativo followed one after another. Perhaps the most emblematic of all took place at Odfjell. The partners were divided into several groups and, as if back in school, with colored paper, crayons, and no inhibitions, they created different proposals for names and logos. As is often the case in Chile, many names drew from the Mapuche ethnicity and some symbols of the Maule folklore.

But it was during a marketing committee meeting in Santiago, followed by a celebration at the Galindo restaurant, when Pablo Morandé uttered the magic word: “viñadores,” an old term for the person who cultivates the “vines.” Everyone felt it was a concept that was not only very musical but also poetic.

The idea immediately arose to replace the “ñ” with the Latin root “gn” from Carignan, and this wine, without a name or surname, transformed into a brand, into a symbol: Vigno, Vignadores de Carignan.

On Tuesday, October 18, 2011, at noon, the labels of Vigno, Vignadores de Carignan were unveiled. Representatives from Bravado Wines, De Martino, Garage Wine Co, Gillmore, Lomas de Cauquenes, Meli, Miguel Torres, Morandé, Odfjell, Undurraga, Valdivieso, and Viña Roja gathered to formalize their alliance and present their wines to the public.

The chosen location could not have been any other: Gillmore, located at the epicenter of this story of earthquakes, resilience, and tenacity.

Today, VIGNO has not only established itself as a renowned private collective brand but has also secured a privileged spot in the global wine landscape, supported by the active collaboration of 12 wineries working together towards a common goal.

The group worked together as equals in a kind of personal pet-project based around old vine Carignan and origin: in the dry-farmed section of Maule.

A New Chile

A decade has passed since the founding of VIGNO, Vignadores de Carignan. Some wineries have left the group or altered their ownership structure. Others have joined, bringing renewed energy and vibrant colors to the palette, such as Alcance, Bodegas RE, Bouchon, Casas Patronales, Carter Mollenhauer, Emiliana, Lapostolle, and P.S. García.

On the other hand, critics have awarded their wines the highest

ratings in Chile; the group has organized seminars on dryland viticulture and tastings with some of the most important opinion leaders in the wine world; and, together with the University of Talca, a study has been completed on the climatic, geological, and viticultural suitability characteristics of the various regions where the more than 70 small vineyards that contribute to their wines are spread across.