REGION: Maule

Clos des Fous’ philosophy is to produce wines with tension, from grapes grown in extreme terroir, with minimal intervention in the winery. Clos des Fous is one of Chile’s most innovative, inspiring, and authentic wineries producing some of the most exciting wines in South America.

Longtime wine writer Patricio Tapia and his partner Lina Gomez love the old school, elegant Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon from the 1970’s and 1980’s. In that time, the style was restrained and wines were typically softer, less extracted, saw less time in oak and had lower alcohol by volume. Over the last twenty years, most Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon producers have emulated …

Currently in the vineyard about thirty thousand bottles are produced per year, production that comes mostly from four hectares of vineyards of almost two hundred years of País and other Creole strains. These ancestral vines are “pie franco” meaning no rootstock.

Dubbed Laberinto for the labyrinth-inspired row plantings in his 23 hectares under vine, Rafael Tirado established the winery in 1993 in the easternmost corner of the Maule Valley, nestled in the foothills of the Andes Mountains, after previously serving as winemaker for several larger Chilean wineries in the Maipo Valley. At a time when most wineries were focused on Chile’s warmer …