OCTOBER 2020 572019 J. BOUCHON PAÍS
SALVAJE ($20)
This Beaujolais-like red, with its
wild strawberry and rose notes,
is delicious (especially chilled),
and it’s also fascinating—it’s
made from wild País vines, over
120 years old, that grow curled
around trunks and branches of
trees in a dry creek bed in Maule.2018 P.S. GARCIA BRAVADO
ITATA VALLEY ($20)
Felipe Garcia is at the forefront
of the new wave of Chilean wine-
makers (he cofounded MOVI,
Chile’s association of indepen-
dent vintners). This field blend
of Syrah and other varieties is
herbal and currant-y, dense with
flavor but not heavy at all.2018 VIÑA AQUITANIA SOL
DE SOL CHARDONNAY ($35)
One of the best Chilean Char-
donnays I’ve ever tasted, this
wine could give a good Puligny-
Montrachet a run for its money.
The aroma recalls toasted corn,
lemon blossoms, and hay, and
the flavor melds lees-y savori-
ness and citrus notes seamlessly.2016 ROBERTO HENRÍQUEZ
RIVERA DEL NOTRO TINTO
($29)
Bright cherry fruit and smoky
notes define this evocative red
from Roberto Henríquez. Low
alcohol, low intervention, and
200-year-old País vines (hon-
estly) in the Bío Bío Valley add up
to something truly special.2016 CONCHA Y TORO
MARQUES DE CASA CONCHA
MERLOT ($22)
Concha y Toro mostly makes
wines from the well-known
regions around Santiago, but this
Merlot from the Maule Valley is a
find: peppery and herbaceous up
front, with sweet red-fruit notes
and a touch of oak on the finish.2018 RAFAEL TIRADO
LABERINTO MAULE VALLEY
SAUVIGNON BLANC ($20)
Used to simple Sauvignon? Taste
this gorgeous wine from Rafael
Tirado. It has layers of guava and
candied grapefruit flavor, with
a lasting, stony, savory depth
(and yes, the vineyard is actually
planted like a circular labyrinth).Valle Visionary At Bichi, Noel Téllez brings afocus on terroir to Mexico’s Valle de Guadalupe.By Khushbu ShahBICHI, FOUNDED IN 2014 by Noel Téllez and his brother, chef Jair Téllez, and now run solely
by Noel, is one of the first natural wine labels to come out of Mexico’s Valle de Guadalupe.
Téllez is known for his rule-bending approach to wine, embracing unknown grape
varietals and choosing idiosyncratic labels featuring colorful—and naked—luchadores. As a
result, Bichi may be Mexico’s first wine with a cult following.F&W: What prompted you
to become a winemaker?
NT: I was practicing law in
my father’s firm in Tijuana
when he started making
wine in 2005. My brother
and I would help out. In
2011, I joined the winery.
But in 2014, my brother
Jair met Louis-Antoine
Luyt, a French winemaker
who produces low-
intervention wine in Chile;
that’s when we started
Bichi. It was out of excite-
ment for our first wine
done with that approach.F&W: Do you think that
one day Mexican wines
will be as well known as
French, Italian, or Califor-
nian wines?
NT: Normally I don’t like
to compare Italian, French,
Californian wines—they’re
different places, and eachWINES TO TRY2019 BICHI LA SANTA ($28)
“La Santa comes from a 100-year-old dry-
farmed vineyard in Tecate,” Noel Téllez says.
“It’s a challenge to make this wine each year.”
Made from Black Muscat, it’s a fresh, easy-
going vin de soif (literally “a wine of thirst,”
because that’s what it satisfies).2019 BICHI LISTAN ($28)
“I love this wine because it is made from Mis-
sion grapes from our oldest vineyard, which
is 100 years old,” Téllez says. Low in alcohol
(12.5%) and light ruby in hue, it’s floral and
gently peppery, full of tangy red-fruit flavors—
and great lightly chilled down.one has its own greatness.
We’re more focused on
how we can transfer ...
well, transfer is not the
word, but how can we put
what’s in the soil, the ter-
roir, into a glass of wine?
You could say that really
separates us from some
other wineries here.F&W: How so?
NT: Not all, but many win-
eries in the Valle are more
interested in varietals than
terroir. “Well, we want to
make the best Cabernet,”
and so on. They’re not
really interested in talking
about terroir. But Cab-
ernet from where? From
Guadalupe? From San
Vicente? From Tecate?F&W: It sounds as though
people aren’t thinking
about Mexican wine asregionally as they should.
NT: Yes, exactly. At Bichi,
we’re not crazy about
grape varieties—we’re
more crazy about the
place, the soil, the vine-
yards. We’re also very
lucky to work with very
old vines. In 2016, we
bought an old vineyard in
San Antonio de las Minas
and were told that it was
all Mission grapes. Turns
out, it had some Mission,
but most of it was some-
thing different, about four
varieties total. We can’t
say with certainty what
they are, but our Pet Mex,
for example, is a mix of
these grapes, and every
year, the wine changes. We
never know exactly what
that mix is going to be.F&W: What inspired your
labels?
NT: Bichi means “naked”
in a native language of
Sonora, where we come
from. We wanted a label
that was funny and whim-
sical. We also wanted it
to have a naked luchador
because luchadores are
so immediately associ-
ated with Mexican culture.F&W: What’s next?
NT: We’re always in
search of new projects. If
we come across a vine-
yard that fits our vision of
how to do things—espe-
cially if it’s old and has
interesting grapes—why
not make wine from it?PHOTOGRAPHY: MICHAEL SAGER