Clos des Fous was a crazy idea, mainly because Francois and I were really tired to listen to people, mainly wine writers, importers and sommeliers, that Chilean wines ere boring, indutrial, green, overripe, etc….. and we were tired because, if we can accept that FOR MANY YEARS many chilean wines can be discribed like this, it is not true anymore : there is a Chilean “Dark side of the Moon” growers and producers, like Laberinto, Garage Wine Co, Zaranda, Luyt,William Fevre, and many others, doing beautifull, crazy, terroir wines. The main problem is that they are not well known for the moment, and they can not compite to find a space in the international wine world. Clos des Fous belong here.
We started on 2008, and our first comercial vintage was 2010. Clos des Fous is about terroir, is about extremes terroirs in Chile : altitude wines, coastal wines in front of the Pacific Ocean, or Southern Wines coming from Malleco, 700 km South Santiago, the “Chilean Oregon”.
We deeply believe in our native terroir : Bio Bio, Itata, Cauquenes. We were born there, in Concepcion, sourrounded by Schist and Granits, very much like Cote Rotie-Hermitage system. Nobady can tell us about those terroir because we have spend our lives there. That’s why we produce old Carignan from Cauquenes, another old Carignan from Itata, old Pais from Itata, a top 1914 Malbec from itata Secano.
We planted our Pinot noir Vineyard there, mostly with top clones from Burgundy. Most of our wines comes from old non irrigated terroir. Because we don;t want to control the vines, we want the vines to control themself, and the only way, went climate allow it, is without man irrigation.
pedroparrachile 