Paula Chodin Param and Arnaldo Batista are Vitivinícola Chodin Param, a new winemaking project in the Itata and Bío Bío valleys. Paula and Arnaldo collaborate with local winegrowers who own small centenarian plots of País and Cinsault. The emphasis is on fair trade and mutual benefit: Paula assists growers in transitioning towards organic agriculture and buys their grapes at fair prices. Rather than purchasing vineyards or planting their own, they hope to have a positive effect on the local region by assisting long-time growers, accompanying them in the vineyards, and contributing to the local area’s self-sustaining economy.
Paula trained as an agronomist and viticulturalist in Australia, then worked with different winemakers in Australia and California before returning to her native Chile. There she and her husband Arnaldo (who was born in Cuba and is also a chef and musician) worked with celebrated natural winemaker Roberto Henríquez in Bío Bío and began making their own wines. Currently, they make wine in a cellar belonging to a friend, but their goal is to increase their production and build their own bodega. They hope to cultivate more relationships with the area’s small grape farmers, to invest in the local economy, and to encourage organic agricultural practices.
In the cellar, Paula and Arnaldo follow a minimal-intervention approach. All fermentations are with native yeasts, they use almost no temperature control, and sulfur is used sparingly and only at the end of malolactic fermentation.
Chodin Param's eye-catching labels are by Ignacia Martínez, a local illustrator and designer. Paula provided some additional information about the labels:
Parra Libre (Free Vine): Illustrated as an old but strong, powerful vine with the marks of time and tattoos, imposing, like the Itata vines. They are free because they have resisted fires, the passage of time, animals, man, droughts, etc. and they have remained stoic for 200 or more years – and now they continue to survive without an owner. They are also free of pesticides and chemicals. They are head trained bush vines, but they have developed in the way that time and that they have decided. We wanted to represent what these beautiful daughters of nature (that's why the name and the vine are feminine) are for us, that they make us feel so small and insignificant, that no matter how much we want to direct or control them, they are the ones who have the power. Hence, the Mapuche pin on her chest, which is the highest symbol of power, and which generally belongs to the Toque - highest leader of the Mapuche. Also hidden is a tattoo of the island of Cuba, to represent Arnaldo's side of this project.
Buscame Adentro (Find Me Inside): The name represents the hidden vineyards, hidden even from the Bío Bío valley itself. This loom on the label is, in fact, an illustration of a real loom that my mom made me as a gift. Ignacia based her depiction of the loom on what Arnaldo and I told her about the Bio Bio vineyards. What amazed us about the valley and the vineyards is that it is indomitable: you must go into the valley, between hills and ravines, to find the vineyards. The eucalyptus and pine forests* cover them and at the foot of the forests are the vines trying to survive. Vineyards are reclaiming their land and vintners are working to re-establish abandoned vineyards. In the drawing there are a couple of hidden pines, annoyed by the prominence of the vines! The Cuban touch of this label is that this name comes from a song of the same name by a troubadour cousin of Arnaldo that talks about finding love among the green of the forest and inspired us.
*In 1974 the Chilean government began backing the creation of an extensive forestry and paper industry in Itata and Bío Bío. In the nearly 50 years since, many of the area's ancient vineyards have been replanted to non-native, fast growing Eucalyptus and Pine trees.
The Wines
Buscame Adentro is 100% País from several blocks of organically farmed vines in the coastal range of the Bío Bío Valley that are being recuperated. The vines are nearly 200 years old, dry-farmed, planted on granitic soils, and yields are very low (~2 tons/Ha). The grapes were harvested by hand and destemmed, then fermented in open-top plastic bins with their skins. The skins are left to macerate in the finished wine for one week after fermentation, then the wine is racked to rest in old oak barrels. Bottled without fining or filtering and with only a small addition of sulfur.
Parra Libre País is 100% País from an organically farmed single parcel of dry-farmed centenarian vines at the base of a hill in the area of Coelemu in the Itata Valley. The soils are granitic, and the parcel is close to the Pacific Ocean. The grapes were harvested by hand and destemmed, then fermented in open-top plastic bins with their skins. The skins are left to macerate in the finished wine for one week after fermentation, then the wine is racked to rest in stainless steel tank. Bottled without fining or filtering and with only a small addition of sulfur.
Parra Libre Cinsault is 100% Cinsault from an organically farmed single parcel of dry-farmed centenarian vines at the base of a hill in the area of Coelemu in the Itata Valley. The soils are granitic, and the parcel is close to the Pacific Ocean. The grapes were harvested by hand and destemmed, then fermented in open-top plastic bins with their skins. The skins are left to macerate in the finished wine for one week after fermentation, then the wine is racked to rest in stainless steel tank. Bottled without fining or filtering and with only a small addition of sulfur.
