Matetic was founded in 1999 by the Croatian Matetic family. The family’s main staple is not the winery, but they are very concerned with leaving as little impact on the environment as possible. The vineyards were originally white grape varietals but have since switched to whites and reds of Syrah, Cabernet, Gwertz, Reisling, and Sauvignon Blanc. Matetic has been able to achieve one of the highest rated Syrah’s from a region so close to the ocean, a task that has not been able to be repeated by other wineries.

The winery is certified organic by the CVS of Germany, a feat not easily achieved. In order to maintain their organic certification, Matetic produces their own fertilizers and brings nothing onto the property that does not naturally exist there. By using the manure of animals on the property, having chickens graze through their vineyards, the vines are well fertilized with essential nutrients and insect control is never an issue. Having chickens on the property also allows Matetic to filter their red wines with the whites of the eggs, a natural way to achieve “clean” wines. The main goal of the winery is to prevent sickness, not to find a way to cure it.

Of the 15000 total hectares the property sits upon, the 170 hectares of vineyards produces approximately 14000 cases of wine. This is achieved through their gravity flow production facility, using no pumps or artificial flow. The building you first see upon the property is designed in a very unique way. This building is built into the ground, with a roof of native plants. This serves not only as a natural way to keep the facility cool, but also helps in their effort to achieve complete biodynamic production. The building is also designed to allow warm air to escape during the day, and the cool air can flow in at night. Being able to control the temperature of your aging room is essential to producing the kind of wine you want.

I was most impressed with the quality of not only the wine, but the production of the wine itself. At Matetic they have almost perfected organic growing and biodynamic production of fine wines. This is clearly evident in the wines, and I found their Winemakers Blend of 2007 to be their best wine. I would recommend everyone to go and see how a winery is achieving organic and biodynamic production of fine wines.

Here are some photos from the winery. Hope you enjoy them as much as i do.
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One of the more exciting parts about my trip was being able to meet with Patricio Tapia. He is the Associate editor for the Wine & Spirits Magazine and has his own publication in Chile. He is considered to be the foremost expert on Chilean Wines, comparable to Robert Parker. He travels all over Chile, tastes wines and writes reviews on their quality. If you wan tto know about wine, his blog is the one to follow. He also puts out his own magazine, combining the fine ascpects of food and wine pairing. From my meeting I was able to discern which regoins of Chile offer the best wines, in his opinion. This is especially enticing to me, a person who has not yet tried as many Chilean wines as i would like. I was able to vastly increase my knowledge about which regions offers the best varietal, and why that is. This of course is due to terroir, but having a person who has already done a lot of leg work tell you which wines to buy from which region is incredibly helpful.

I cannot wait to continue my trip, taste wonderful wines, and learn all that i can about this wonderful region of the world. I feel that we will soon be seeing a lot more Chilean wines in the United States and I could not be happier.