Marcelo Castro Vera returned from working in hotels in the United States and opened El Nidal, a shipping container hotel in the mountains of Central Mexico. From that base came a distillery, a brewery, a communal eatery, and finally a winery: Octagono. The winery is run mostly by women and directed by winemaker Celia Morales. Fermentations and aging are in buried amphoras (made by local artisans), grapes are pressed by hand and trod by foot, and there’s no use of sulfur or other additives.
The Wines
Pét-Nat: 100% Salvador, a hybrid red-fleshed grape variety mostly grown in Mexico. From a parcel of 15-year-old vines planted on silty clay-loam soils at 2000m above sea level. Grapes were destemmed, foot trodden, and fermented with native yeasts and skins in buried clay amphoras for 15 days, then bottled before fermentation finishes. Fermentation finishes in bottle, and wine is aged for 1 year. No added SO2.
Blanco: 100% Macabeo from a parcel of 15-year-old vines planted on silty clay-loam soils at 2000m above sea level. Grapes were destemmed, foot trodden, and fermented and macerated on the skins for one month, before racking off the skins to rest for 6 months on the lees in the same amphoras before bottling. No added SO2.
Naranja: 100% Semillon from a parcel of 15-year-old vines planted on silty clay-loam soils at 2000m above sea level. Grapes were destemmed, foot trodden, and fermented and macerated on the skins for 8 months before racking off the skins to rest for 6 months on the lees in the same amphoras before bottling. No added SO2.
Rosado: 100% Rosa del Perú from a parcel of 15-year-old vines planted on silty clay-loam soils at 2000m above sea level. Grapes were destemmed, foot trodden, and fermented and macerated on the skins for about a week before racking off the skins to rest for 6 months on the lees in the same amphoras before bottling. No added SO2.
Piquette: Made from the pressed skins and musts of Salvador grapes used for Octagono’s Pét-Nat. Spring water was added to the skins and must to start a second, shorter fermentation in amphora. Once fermentation finished, the wines was bottled and aged in bottle for one year. 6% alcohol by volume. No added SO2.
Sidra: Made with local apples, pressed with a tahona (a massive stone wheel). The macerated juices and skins fermented in buried clay amphoras for two months, before racking off the skins into the amphoras to age for another two months. 5% alcohol by volume. Bottled without added SO2.
