When it comes to organic farming, Chile is a natural. Chile’s pristine environment offers exceptional growing conditions in which to nurture world-class organic wines. Flanked by the Andes to the east and the Pacific to the west, this long, narrow, remote land enjoys a geography and climate uniquely well suited to organic farming.
Located in Chile’s main wine valleys, Emiliana is characterized by producing only organic and biodynamic wines, so that helps to preserve the natural life balance, human beings and the environment. Founded in 1986 by Chile’s Guilisasti family, Emiliana Vineyards is a privately owned initiative, in 2003 vintage Gê marked the release of South America’s first ever certified biodynamic wine.
The Guilisastis are not newcomers to winemaking and can point to a long and proud tradition of winemaking through their involvement in the management of the world-renowned Concha y Toro label. Fittingly, the current generation has named its latest enterprise in honor of 19th-century matriarch, Doña Emiliana Subercasseaux de Concha y Toro (wife of Concha y Toro’s esteemed founder, Don Melchor). Emiliana is, however, separate and apart from Concha y Toro, with its own vineyards, wineries, winemakers and distinctive winemaking philosophy.
The progressive conversion of Emiliana’s estate vineyards began in the mid-1990s. Today, Emiliana has a total of 1.256,75 hectares (922,4 company owned and 334,35 comes from growers) of vineyards in the Limarí, Casablanca, Maipo, Cachapoal, Colchagua, and Bio-Bio Valleys. Collectively, Emiliana constitutes the single largest source of estate-grown organic wines in the world.
To underscore their commitment to making world-class organic wines, the Guilisasti family recruited consulting enologist Alvaro Espinoza to oversee the project. A visionary who is regarded as one of the world’s premier authorities on organic, biodynamic and eco-balanced wines, Espinoza works closely with Emiliana’s resident winemaker, Noelia Orts since 2011, on Emiliana’s entire range of award-winning labels. Emiliana’s three winemaking facilities are located in Los Robles and Palmeras in the Colchagua and in the Maipo Valley.
