Maule is the engine room of Chile’s wine industry. With over 37,000 hectares of vines, it is by far the country’s largest wine region, churning out a quarter of the nation’s production. Although it has a long history, first planted in the 16th century, its modern reputation is for providing cheap fruit to bulk out the blends that have become synonymous with Chile’s supermarket standard-bearers. But a quiet revolution is underway, with a small group of producers championing the old-vine heritage of this region. And now Francisco Baettig is adding his name to the list, shining a light on the region.
Baettig – the man who built his reputation crafting the iconic wines of Errázuriz, Seña and Chadwick – started Vinos Baettig with his business partner Carlos de Carlos back in 2012, laying down literal roots in the little-known, cool-climate Traiguén district of Malleco, on the same latitude as Patagonia. They made their first commercial vintage of chiselled Chardonnay and vibrant Pinot Noir in 2018, but that was just the beginning for the duo.
They had, Baettig tells me, always planned to make Cabernet Sauvignon. And that’s no surprise given Baettig’s background, having studied in Bordeaux and made his name crafting Cabernet Sauvignon blends that rival those of the Médoc. They decided, however, to start with Chardonnay and Pinot Noir in the south, where they already had family ties and land was more affordable, while they hunted down the right site for their Cabernet project.
For Baettig, working their own vineyards is integral to Vinos Baettig, as is dry-farming – and, for Cabernet Sauvignon, Baettig was particularly keen to have old vines, and that, he shrugs sadly, is not so easy to find. As well as being resilient enough to be dry-farmed, older Cabernet Sauvignon vines generally produce lower pyrazine levels (compounds which are responsible for a green character in wine), as well as lower sugar levels at phenolic and flavour ripeness – allowing him to produce wines with more moderate alcohol levels.
He had previously worked with a parcel of Cabernet Sauvignon in Maule and loved the fruit from these low-yielding vines, which retained acidity and offered great aromatics, colour and gravelly tannins that are, in his view, almost Saint-Estèphe in style. It was he felt, “Cabernet with a special personality.” And so, they looked to Maule, but avoiding the warmer areas that can produce bigger, riper styles – instead they headed south of Cauquenes, towards the Cordillera de la Costa, or coastal range.
It took them over a year, but eventually they found an old País vineyard – planted 120 years ago – where two hectares had been grafted over to Cabernet Sauvignon. The grower was charging only 15 cents per kilo for the fruit – but the Cabernet was being harvested alongside the Pais, chucked in together and sold for a pittance. Baettig asked if he could quadruple the price and get it harvested separately. The grower couldn’t believe his luck.
Baettig and Carlos found another few vineyards that showed promise, which together formed the basis for the first vintage of Los Compadres Cabernet Sauvignon. This is one of their Vinos de Viñedo, or village-equivalent wines, with the name “Los Compadres” (close friends) a tribute to the growers with which they’re working. Alongside their “village” wine, however, Baettig always crafts a single-site bottling, a Selección de Parcelas (parcel selection, literally) – and that only ever comes from vines they own.
Fortunately, perhaps, the grower behind the 120-year-old País vineyard was looking to sell, faced with its economic unsustainability and developers queuing up for the land. The duo managed to purchase five hectares, including the two that had already been grafted to Cabernet Sauvignon, saving the centenarian vines from being ripped out of the ground. They grafted over the three remaining hectares to Cabernet Sauvignon in 2023 (with the fruit set to be used from the 2025 vintage). This site is now the source for their single-parcel Los Padrinos (meaning “the godparents”).
There are swathes of ancient vines like this, all at risk of being torn out for more profitable options. And it’s easy to see why, these old bush vines are beautiful – but yield tiny volumes. Baettig gets a mere two tons per hectare – “in a good year”, he’s quick to clarify. They’re dry-farmed – something that is rare in Chile’s dry climate, but made feasible by the high average rainfall in the Maule (between 500 and 700mm per year, although 2023 brought 1,000mm – welcome sustenance for Baettig’s just-grafted plantings). There’s no way of mechanising such old vines so all the work has to be done by hand – and Baettig’s plots see little more than sulphur and other organic treatments. If like most growers in the area, you’re only able to sell your fruit to the local co-op for cheap box wine, it’s easy to see why such efforts simply don’t make financial sense.
Alongside these parcels of old vines, there are vast, younger vineyards belonging to the likes of Concha y Toro and Santa Rita, yielding up to seven times as much fruit as their gnarly neighbours. Land here remains significantly cheaper than the more famous Maipo, Aconcagua or Colchagua (hence its appeal to the country’s biggest players) – but it’s the region’s distinct style of Cabernet that drew the Baettig team here.
For Baettig, towards the coastal range you find a totally different microclimate, producing wines of impressive tension and bright acidity. With the old País roots, the vines reach deep into the soil and produce limited yields of concentrated berries. The tannins have a particular imprint, less polished than those of Maipo, and given the fruit’s natural concentration and structure, it’s important to manage extraction carefully – with cooler temperatures, shorter maceration times and reduced pump-overs. Quite simply, Baettig says, they are “wines that you can age”. Fresh and verging on austere in youth, it’s easy to see the potential – and Baettig suggests the Compadres should age a good decade, while Los Padrinos will continue evolving far beyond that.
Baettig has already made waves with its Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, and – given the nature of these special vineyards – their Cabernet Sauvignon is guaranteed to do the same. But it’s not just the quality here that will make a difference. These sprawling plants, knotted, thick-trunked and twisted, have survived in spite of the economics. Having such a prestigious name invest in the Maule and its wealth of centenarian bush vines will help guarantee that this viticultural heritage isn’t lost for good.
Explore the full range from Baettig, including the first vintages of their Cabernet Sauvignon
