Then, in the early 1600s, problems with the Spanish crown led to a decree from King Felipe III of Spain prohibiting the shipment of Peruvian wine via Panama, Guatemala and Mexico. This de facto ban on wine exports led Peruvian winemakers to focus instead on distillation - Pisco. In 1600, the eruption of the Huayaputina volcano - the biggest volcanic eruption in modern times in South America - devastated southern regions of Peru. Peru's winemaking history actually pre-dates Pisco - it was well established by the mid-1500s. He makes natural wine using criolla grape varieties - grapes like my right-beloved país (in Peru: negra criolla) which were brought over to the Americas by the Spanish from the 1500s and have since evolved, effectively, into 'new' varieties with their own particular characteristics. Pepe Moquillaza is doing something different, and to me something far more interesting. There are a dozen or so commercial wineries, but almost all of them are industrial behemoths making supermarket wine from international grape varieties. These days, Peru is Pisco country, and most of the grapes cultivated here are used to produce Pisco, or to sell as table grapes. The first thing people tend to say when I tell them I'm making wine in Peru is: 'Do they make wine in Peru?' That's Pepe in the bell tower below.ĭon Pepe in the tower of Bodega Tacama - site of the oldest vineyard in Peru This time I'm working alongside Pepe Moquillaza - Don Pepe - producer of one of the finest Pisco in Peru, and more recently a pioneering natural winemaker. Warmest how dos from Peru, where, by the grace of pachamama, I'm currently stationed to make my tenth TFWATH wine: Quebranta 2023.
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