Álvaro Espinoza is one of the finest winemakers in South America and also one of the foremost biodynamic winemakers in the world. His celebrated wine, Antiyal, is often referred to as Chile’s first “garage wine.” Antiyal produces fewer than 400 cases of wine a year in the sleepy Maipo Valley town of Alta Jahuel. Antiyal—a Mapuche word that means “sons of the sun,” is a homegrown project. It’s so homegrown that the one-acre vineyard around Espinoza’s house supplies most of the wine’s biodynamic grapes. This small plot of land produces the Cabernet Sauvignon in the plummy, smoky, herb-accented Antiyal blend; the Syrah and Carmenère come from two other Maipo vineyards, owned by his family.
The talented Espinoza also produces Kuyen, which he refers to as his “baby Antiyal.” Kuyen, which means “moon” in the Chilean native language Mapuche, is made by Espinoza and his wife Marina on their small estate in the Maipo Valley. It is a wine made to honor “the ancient traditions and cosmic vision of the people of the earth.”
