Winemaker François Massoc turns an old winery into its atelier in Itata

Winemaker François Massoc talks about how they've reused an old winery and old equipment that they used to use in Chile and turned it into an atelier in Itata and how he's using old vats made from Chilean oak to ferment its Grand Pais wine.

François is passionate about Burgundy and considers Pais as the Chilean Pinot Noir. One of his most important goals is to prove that you can make a world-class wine from Pais from Itata. His Grand Pais is a fine, elegant, and age-worthy wine. Interview by Amanda Barnes, author of The South America Wine Guide.

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Transcript of the video:

François, we are in the new atelier of Massoc Frères but not very new really, new to the family but also you've reused an old winery and old equipment that they used to use in Chile. Can you tell me a bit about how you've come to refurbish the old winery equipment here in Southern Chile?

Its the atelier of Noelle and François Massoc becuase the real owner is my wife. We are not inventing anything, we are just giving a second life to old vats that we've cleaned very well and took everything out, cleaned, and assembled it again in those bases to make half of the work by gravity. They work very well, they are very old woods so we are happy to have this kind of material in the winery which normally is very expensive and hard to find.

You've worked as a cooper, you have a lot of experience working with barrels and this, in particular, is rauly, not oak, and it's a native Chilean oak...

It's a kind of Chilean oak. They are close to 100 years old and then you need to add the age of the tree. So I can say how accurate this oak really is. They work quite different from the French oak. They don't work in the same way and for the same purpose. This is very good for fermentation and in some cases, depending on how you design your vat, it can be used to age and has very little influence on the wine. For aging I still believe that the best wood is French oak but this work very well as well. And the shape you can get is very good for reds.

What we are tasting is your Pais, which I. believe does get fermented in here. Can you tell me what you do? Do you do food treading? What is the process for the Pais?

We put by gravity the grapes, full grapes, we don't crush the grapes. We take out the stems and we try to have a slow start to fermentation and a very slow ending. I crush the. grapes with my feet, while I'm adding the grapes to the vat, and then we let fermentation start. After that, we take out the free wine and take the grapes, we pressed them and if there is some residual sugar, we let it ferment a bit more in the tanks, and then we put everything by gravity in French oak barrels, of different sizes.

Talking about patience, not only are the vines 200 years old, incredibly old vines of Pais, but you also keep this wine in the bottle for a long time. Tell me about your approach to Pais? Because often we drink Pais very fresh, very young. Tell me about your process of making more age-worthy Pais.

Everyone who knows me knows that I'm passionate about Burgundy. I studied and worked there so it's like a second home for me. My first home is Chile. Even if I'm French, I feel Chilean, I was born here. For me, the Pais is like the Chilean Pinot Noir. If you love the grape and you work properly the vineyard you can have very fine and elegant wine with longevity. This is what I am trying to probe with this kind of wine. Taking the time so it ferments in three or four weeks, is left in French oak barrels for 18-24 months (depending on the year and the structure of the wine), and in the bottle for two years before releasing. Probe that you can make a world-class wine from Pais from Itata, is one of my most important goals.

I think you've certainly achieved it, it's delicious. Its got lots of nuanced aromas, a little bit of wild forest, and lovely earthy notes that I associate with the Pinot Noir as well. It is very interesting.

It keeps the typicity of the Pais, it's easy to recognize that it is a pure Pais. It's a single vineyard, we believe it's 200 years old although we don't have any certificate. It's on a slope of 60 degrees, we are harvesting 2022 now so its a great moment to talk about this wine.