Viu Manent Winery Guide

Winery Overview

Established by a Catalan family over 75 years ago, this has been a consistently impressive producer of excellent, often outstanding cool climate reds and whites. Their Carmenère is one of the best in Chile, with its intense, gorgeous red berry fruit, spice, and velvety texture. Considering the wide variety of wines this sizeable property makes, the quality across the range is astonishing! While Viu Manent is quite a large producer, it has always been and always will be a family run estate. The winemaking philosophy of Viu Manent focuses on creating quality driven wines that reflect their terroir, attention to detail is paramount for this family!

Vui Manent’s story begins with the immigration of the Viu family from Spain to Chile in 1935. Miguel Viu Garcia and his two sons, Agustin and Miguel Viu Manent embarked on a better life in Santiago and founded Bodegas Viu outside the capital. Initially, the winery purchased wines made from local growers, aged them and marketed the wines under their own flag. This provided the foundation for the company to grow, biding them time until they could one-day realize their dream of producing wines themselves. After more than thirty years of waiting, Miguel Garcia’s son, Miguel Manent finally achieved what they had set out to do from the beginning, producing the highest quality wines from their own vineyards. They purchased a plot of vineyards and winery in the Colchagua region of Chile. The rest, as they say, is history.

The estate remains in family control, managed today by third generation José Miguel Viu Bottini. José is a true wine lover, a man who cares deeply for his vineyards and the quality of wines they produce. Their journey is an intensely personal one; the family have quietly increased their vineyard holdings and are constantly striving to push the boundaries of what they can achieve. From a small outfit based in Santiago, they have grown to a large and prosperous winery, exporting their wines across five continents. All the wines shine, but the Cabernet Sauvignon, in particular, is world class and offers more famous regions like Bordeaux some serious competition. But what impresses the most is the family spirit and friendliness of the estate, José is never too busy to welcome our visitors and will be delighted to share his wines with you on our private tours. And then there is the majestic beauty of the Colchagua Valley. Make no mistake, this property may have had a humble start, but Viu Manent is now firmly placed on the fine wine map!

Further Reading

Author

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James Lawrence

With a passion for food & drink that verges on the obsessive, wine writer James Lawrence has traveled the world in search of the perfect tipple. To date, nothing has surpassed the 1952 R. Lopez de Heredia Vina Tondonia Rioja Reserva, tasted in the cobweb-filled cellars with owner María José. Meanwhile, James has been writing for a wide variety of publications for over 12 years, including Telegraph, Decanter, Harpers, The Drinks Business, and Wine Business International. He lives in South Wales and returns to his former university city, Bilbao, as much as possible.

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