Pedro Parra y Familia Pais "Vinista" '23

Pedro Parra has become one of the most important voices in the modern Chilean wine scene, not by chasing power or polish, but by looking beneath the surface. Known around the world as a leading terroir consultant, Parra has spent decades studying the relationship between soil, rock, and flavor, working with top estates across Europe, South America, and California. With his own project, Pedro Parra y Familia, based in Chile’s Itata Valley, he turns that knowledge toward some of the country’s oldest and most historic vineyard material.

“Vinista” is made from 100% País, sourced from dry-farmed old bush vines in Itata, including vineyards around Guarilihue Alto and Ñipas. These are not the irrigated, high-yielding vineyards many people still associate with Chile, but ancient, own-rooted sites planted on granite and dark volcanic soils, farmed with a light hand and shaped by wind, drought, and time. The grapes are hand-harvested, fermented with indigenous yeasts, and aged in concrete and large oak casks, keeping the focus squarely on fruit, texture, and soil expression.

País has long been treated as Chile’s humble workhorse grape, but in the right hands, and from the right old vines, it can be vivid, savory, and beautifully transparent. Parra’s 2023 “Vinista” is exactly that kind of wine, bright red-fruited, gently earthy, and lifted by notes of wild herbs, pepper, and stony minerality. País is a great summer red, light on its feet, but with plenty of complexity. Fire up the grill, and uncork a bottle to pair with BBQ chicken or salmon.