All about Tabali Talinay vineyard for Pai Pinot Noir - top Chilean Pinot Noir with Felipe Müller

Felipe Müller, winemaker at Viña Tabalí, talks about their Talinay vineyard and specifically the special Pai wine. Learn why the limestone marine soils of Tabali Talinay vineyard are becoming a mecca for Pinot Noir in Chile. Interview by Amanda Barnes, author of The South America Wine Guide.

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Transcript of the video:

We're in what I think is the mecca for Pinot Noir here in Chile. Tell me all about the soils which make this place in Talinay so special and unique.

I think the main difference that Talinay compared to other regions in Chile near the coast is the soil. This is a rarity in Chile. This kind of limestone is something out of the box. We were very lucky to be kindly invited to buy the grapes from this vineyard. Since my first visit, I saw this chalky white soil back in 2008 when I was first here and I dreamt of having it on my own because it's so special. Prior to joining Tabalí, at my previous job I was seeking for limestone soil. I know what limestone means for Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Franc, and other grapes. 

Geologically speaking, this is a very unique soil because it is in the middle of the coastal range which is 99.9% granitic and here we have some granitic profile but this white chalky soil is an old marine terrace that was at the bottom of the ocean for millions of years and then, because of the earthquakes, it was brought up in the surface and then the rock started weathering. We can see it is an easy-to-break rock. It is fantastic for the roots to be able to explore the rock and get all the minerality in the grapes and the bottle of wine. Limestone gives you a completely different profile from what you can get in Chile or the New World which is a fruity profile. This is more chalky. The soil also has a different chemical balance, lower pH, and higher acidity. You can feel that salty character in the wines. 

The vineyard is right here. What is also interesting is not just what is below the soil but also the grapes. It is very interesting what you've done with the vineyard. Tell us about where you got the clonal material.

This is a very steep hillside. Here we have 30 degrees of inclination which is a lot. Everything is done walking and by hand. We decided to do a high-density plantation, we have 12.500 vines per hectare. My intention was for Pinot Noir to have very low yields but not affect the total yield. So here we work with 500/600 grams per plant so the production per plant is quite profitable. When we were seeking the material for planting, we went to the nursery and the person said this is a field selection of Vosne Romanee and Gevrey-Chambertin. So we bought all this material and we planted it on this beautiful slope which is very open to the ocean and this amazing limestone soil. We planted in 2013 and the first vintage was 2018, which we are very happy about because we got extraordinary good reviews among the wine critics. 

Not only Limarí has helped put Chilean Pinot Noir on a new level but the Talinay vineyard in particular and your Pai Pinot Noir is exquisite.

Limari is different, Talinay is different from Limari and Pai, which is our top wine, is even more different. I'm very lucky to be the winemaker making this wine.