Pedro Parra Monk Itata Valley Cinsault 2024
£33.95
The wine
Monk is one of Pedro Parra single-site Cinsaults from Itata, each bottled separately so the differences between granite parcels a few hundred metres apart are the point of the range.
Itata in southern Chile is the country oldest wine region, planted by the Spanish in the sixteenth century, and its old bush vines on decomposed granite were long sold off cheaply for bulk wine before their value was recognised. Cinsault here is dry-farmed on old bush vines, fermented whole bunch in concrete or old wood with no new oak, so the granite and the fruit read clearly. Pedro Parra is a terroir consultant with a doctorate in soil science who advises producers across South America and Europe, and in 2013 he began making his own wines in his native Itata.
The producer
Pedro Parra
View all Pedro Parra winesPedro Parra is the world foremost terroir consultant turned winemaker, a soil scientist obsessed with granite, schist and the ancient bush vines of Chile Itata Valley. His wines have redefined what Chilean red can be, prizing finesse and minerality over power.
Working with old, dry-farmed Cinsault and Pais planted on decomposed granite, Parra farms and vinifies with a light touch, whole-bunch ferments and old oak, letting the soil speak. Each single-parcel wine is a study in place.
From the joyful, perfumed Imaginador to the profound single-vineyard bottlings named for jazz legends, Monk, Hub, Trane, Miles and Sonny, the range is a masterclass in granitic Cinsault, all detail, tension and grace.
Ethereal, mineral and utterly distinctive, Pedro Parra makes some of South America most thrilling and original wines, terroir made liquid.
