Travelling through the hills of Itata, dotted with vineyards amidst pine plantations, I came across some parcels with their characteristic low, head-pruned vines that resemble small rose bushes but with grapes almost touching the ground. There I encountered and was presented to don Agustín Pañailillo, a small local wine producer who was ploughing the soil with a horse. It was the year 2013 and we wanted to get to know and produce Cinsault from Itata. His three-hectare vineyard, located in the village of El Quilo in Ranquil, seemed perfect. So we shook hands and thus sealed the buying of his grapes for the 2014 harvest.
A few months later, and to my big surprise, the winery’s driver, who had gone to fetch the grapes, called me on the phone. The fruit was already harvested and loaded on the truck, but he was still in El Quilo and would spend the night there, invited by don Agustín. We wouldn’t be allowed to transport the grapes unless we paid him in cold, hard cash!
Having no other alternative, I left the following day at dawn on a five-hour journey to Itata. I stopped by a bank in Talca to withdraw a few million pesos, put them in my pants’ pockets and continued the trip to “liberate” the grapes and the driver.
As soon as I arrived, my worries started to vanish when I saw the merry group of harvesters –including the driver and the Peñailillo family– having lunch, very well served by doña Sonia who, with a big smile, made room for me and invited me to join them at the table set in the open-air. There would be enough time for business once we finished eating, since now was the time to do justice to the cow that had been slaughtered for this harvest
