Ep 387: Veramonte's Sofia Araya -- Organic, terroir-driven wine in Chile

<p><img style= "display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src= "https://assets.libsyn.com/secure/show/45638/sofia-1024x682.png" alt="" width="370" height="246" /></p> <p style="text-align: center;"><span style= "font-size: 8pt;"><em>Sofía Araya  - head winemaker of <a href="https://www.veramonte.cl/home" target="_blank" rel= "noopener">Veramonte, Ritual, Primus, and Neyen</a></em></span></p> <p>Sofía Araya was born and raised in Chile and she has made wine in nearly every high quality valley of the country since she graduated from la Universidad de Chile. After years of working on conventional farms for some big names, she moved to <a href= "https://www.veramonte.cl/home" target="_blank" rel= "noopener">Veramonte</a>. She helped transition the over 500 ha/1,235 acres to 100% ECOCERT certified organic vineyards. Veramonte represents 15% of all organic vineyards in Chile.</p> <p> </p> <p>Sofía is now the head winemaker and oversees the organic Veramonte and Ritual and the organic and biodynamic properties of Neyen and Primus.  All are under the umbrella of Sherry-based Gonzalez Byass.</p> <p> </p> <p>Although this may seem like a mega-brand because of its excellent distribution, it actually turns out that <a href= "https://www.veramonte.cl/home" target="_blank" rel= "noopener">Veramonte</a> and its sister brands – <a href= "https://www.ritualwines.cl/" target="_blank" rel= "noopener">Ritual</a>, <a href="https://primuswines.cl/en/" target= "_blank" rel="noopener">Primus</a>, and <a href= "https://www.neyen.cl/en/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Neyen</a> – make just 200,000 cases of wine a year (2.4 million bottles) combined. That’s the size of a medium brand at a big hulking winery!</p> <p> </p> <p>Two things that are important:</p> <p>1. Sofía and I jump right in on the geography. It may be helpful to follow along with the WFNP map or to <a href= "https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/winefornormalpeople/70Ep070_Chile.mp3" target="_blank" rel="noopener">listen to this podcast</a> we did on Chile before