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28 September 2018

An Adventure with Morandé Wines


Founded in 1996, Morande wines is a 20 year old name that make part of Belén Group, a group of winemakers from five related winery's — Morande, Vistamar, Mancura, Zorzal and Fray Leon that produces their own wines.     

They pride themselves as pioneers in creating and planting vineyards in Casablanca and used old, traditional Mediterranean varieties as well as unpopular grapes like the Cinsault, Carignan and Paí grapes, among others. They were also the first winery to produce late harvest wines (sweet dessert wines) in Chile and the first to be recognised as 100% sustainable.


Apart from that, they were among the first to adopt the usage of concrete ‘eggs’ (as opposed to conventional fermentation tanks, which is said to contribute to the wine's complexity and mouthfeel while softening its tannins) and using the traditional-large oak foudres (large wooden vat that allows for slow oxygenation of the wines, contributing to the development of the wine's tannic qualities) for producing their wines.


Their Adventure label is what you think it is - a playground for the winemakers to experiment and produce daring wines that breaks the traditional rules of wine-making.

I was invited to try 9 Morandé Adventure wines paired with 9 dishes from 9 different restaurants (Interlude, Sao Nam, Goa by Hubba, Joloko, Sorrok, Meatology, Tatto, Two Sons Bistro, Spitalfield's Gastrobar) in one venue at the Truffles Restaurant in Taylor's Lakeside University for a sumptuous finale that marked the end Morande's  “The Adventure’s Wine & Dine” programme that ran across these 9 restaurants from July to August. We even had the pleasure of  one of the Adventure's Winemaker, Mr Jorge Martinez, with us that night.

We tasted the following wines:



Morandé Adventure Aterciopelado 
- velvety smooth pais & malbec mix.

Morandé Adventure Vigno 
- dark fruits, dry blend of (mostly) Carignan with syrah and chardonnay.

Morandé Adventure Creole
- red fruits blend of 85% Cinsault / 15% País.

Morandé Adventure Despechado 
- a light pinot noir

Morandé Adventure El Padre 
- dark spicy vanilla from the Cabernet Franc grape, also known as the patriarch of the Cabernet Sauvignon.


Morandé Addventure Gran Petit 
- a fruity deep bold blend of Petite Sirah and Petit Verdot

Morandé Adventure Malmau 
- a tannic, berry malbec

Morandé Adventure Mediterraneo 
- a fresh blend of red and white Mediterranean grapes featuring red fruits and spices

Morandé Adventure Tirazis
- a spicy, acidic, tannic syrah

Morande Reserva Gewurztraminer (bonus!)
- a fruity, flower white wine


Cave & Cellar Sdn Bhd the official distributor of the Adventure wines series can be contacted here for more information of their product and future tasting events. For more details & queries: https://www.facebook.com/cavecellar

If you can do read the intriguing story of Morande Wines on their website: http://www.morande.cl/web/english/

- Jon

All images: Morande