Decoding Colchagua: How Los Vascos Is Rethinking Site, Soil, and Style

(L to R) Valerine Ocampo; (Brandabout Wines), Maximiliano Correa, Francis Riquort, Diego Marquez De La Plata, Los Vascos, Ajit Balgi

There are few places in Chile where the influence of Bordeaux is as evident as at Los Vascos, yet there is also a growing sense that this is no longer simply a French interpretation of Chilean wine.
Located in Peralillo in the Colchagua Valley, Los Vascos became part of the Domaines Barons de Rothschild (Lafite) story in 1988, one of the first major French investments in Chilean viticulture. The estate today combines Chilean terroir and traditions with the precision and winemaking philosophy of DBR Lafite. The result is a fascinating wine estate where Cabernet Sauvignon remains central, but where vineyards, soils and increasingly distinct cuvées are beginning to speak more loudly. 
The  vineyard:
Los Vascos sits between the Andes and the Coastal Mountain Range, around 200 km south of Santiago. The property covers approximately 3,600 hectares, of which about 640 hectares are planted with vines. It sits around 150 metres above sea level and approximately 40 km from the Pacific Ocean. The geography creates a significant diurnal range, with hot, dry days and considerably cooler nights. The temperature difference can reach as much as 30°C, conditions that favour slow ripening and the retention of freshness, particularly in Cabernet Sauvignon.
The soils are equally varied. The estate has weathered granite, clay and shale, with alluvial sand and clay and a hard volcanic-ash-derived soil known as tosca in the valley floor. Higher up, the granite soils of El Mirador and Santa Lucia are particularly important for the more complex and age-worthy wines.
The vineyard itself is a mixture of generations. Some plots average around 15 years, others are 40–50 years old, while the oldest vines of the vineyard are around 60 years old. Cabernet Sauvignon dominates the estate, accounting for approximately 68% of plantings, followed by Carmenère and Syrah.

The Lafite influence
The French influence here is not simply a marketing association with Château Lafite Rothschild.
Los Vascos explicitly describes its wines as combining Chilean traditions with DBR Lafite's expertise, with an emphasis on elegance, precision and freshness. Cabernet Sauvignon is naturally central: it is both exceptionally well suited to the estate and the emblematic variety of Château Lafite Rothschild. The winemaking philosophy follows Bordeaux traditions, but the objective isn't to make a Chilean wine taste French. It is to use French experience to express what the Chilean vineyard can deliver. That distinction becomes increasingly interesting as you move up the portfolio.
Le Dix: the Lafite connection at its most classical
Le Dix is the estate's flagship wine and was first produced with the 1996 vintage, marking ten years of DBR Lafite's presence in Chile. Its name—French for ten—is therefore literal history.
The wine is built around fruit from some of Los Vascos' oldest and most prized vineyards. Cabernet Sauvignon comes from El Fraile, the historic vineyard planted more than half a century ago on sand and silt. The Syrah comes principally from El Mirador, the first vineyard planted on the estate's hillsides. The blend is selected from the best grapes of the vintage and is aged for 18 months in Bordeaux oak barrels. For a sommelier, Le Dix is perhaps the most obvious place to examine the relationship between Chilean fruit and Bordeaux methodology: concentration without sacrificing freshness, structure without excessive extraction, and oak used as part of the architecture rather than as the headline.
Cromas: looking at the hills differently
If Le Dix represents the classical side of Los Vascos, Cromas shows how the estate has evolved.
The name comes from the Greek word for colour, and the range emerged from detailed exploration of the estate's hillsides and soils. The team identified areas of ochre-coloured granite with shallow soils and good exposure. These slopes produce naturally balanced vines and fruit with greater precision and definition. The Cromas wines are aged for 12 months in barrel, and the range includes Cabernet Sauvignon, Carmenère, Syrah and Cabernet Franc. The Cabernet Sauvignon comes from the Santa Lucia foothills, where strong day-night temperature contrasts allow slow ripening. Both Carmenère and Syrah comes from the gentle granite slopes in the Coastal Mountain Range.

Old vines at El Fraile Vineyard

Chagual: organic, and distinctly Chilean
The estate's organic range is Los Vascos Chagual. Named after Puya chilensis, a native Chilean plant important to the coastal ecosystem, Chagual represents Los Vascos' approach to organic viticulture and biodiversity.
The Chagual Cabernet Sauvignon comes from certified organic plots in Peralillo. The Chagual Sauvignon Blanc comes from the coastal San Antonio area, where granite soils and strong Pacific influence encourage slow ripening and preserve acidity and varietal character.
The broader estate philosophy is equally interesting. Los Vascos maintains sheep, beehives, native vegetation, orchards, forests, ponds and other elements of biodiversity. Plant waste is composted, wastewater is treated through a BioFiltro system and solar thermal and photovoltaic installations contribute to its energy strategy.
The estate is certified under the Wines of Chile Sustainability Code and joined the B Corp community in 2023. This is important because the organic wines aren't being produced in isolation. They form part of a much larger attempt to treat the vineyard as an ecosystem.
Cañetén: a new chapter
Perhaps the most intriguing development is Cañetén. The Cañetén Valley sits about 40 km from the Pacific in a climatic transition zone between Colchagua Entre-Cordillera and Colchagua Costa. Mount Cañetén, rising to around 914 metres, helps intercept moisture from the Pacific, creating morning fog and low clouds before the valley warms and strong south-westerly winds arrive.
The new Cañetén wine is a premium red blend designed to express this particular mesoclimate. Grapes are hand-harvested, individual vineyard sections are vinified separately in small concrete or stainless-steel tanks, and ageing is primarily in 4,000-litre foudres to minimise the aromatic influence of oak. That is a notable departure from the more overtly Bordeaux-inspired model associated with Los Vascos. The focus is increasingly on place, freshness and texture.

At the Caneten Vineyard

Meeting the winemakers
That evolution becomes easier to understand when talking with the people working with the vineyards. During my visit, enologists Diego Marquez De La Plata and Maximiiano Correa were particularly useful in explaining how the wines are being shaped by increasingly detailed vineyard work rather than simply by cellar technique. What came through was a philosophy that should resonate with sommeliers: the objective isn't to impose a preconceived style on every vineyard. It is to understand the site first and then decide how much intervention is required.
That might mean concrete rather than oak, foudre rather than small barrels, separate vinification of vineyard parcels or simply allowing the natural freshness of the fruit to remain visible.
A Chilean identity emerging from a French foundation
Los Vascos began with an unmistakable French connection.  But after decades in Chile, the more interesting question is no longer how French the wines are. It is how the Lafite philosophy has helped reveal what is uniquely Chilean about this particular estate. Le Dix remains the classic expression of the partnership between old vines, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah and Bordeaux craftsmanship. Cromas moves towards a more detailed interpretation of the hillsides. Chagual explores organic viticulture and biodiversity. And Cañetén pushes further into site expression, with a wine designed around the valley's distinctive climate rather than simply around a Bordeaux template. It is Chile through the lens of Lafite—and increasingly, Chile on its own term