NEW Quartz Pinot Noir

Pairs with: Herb-crusted roast salmon, pan-seared duck breast with a tart cherry reduction, a warm goat cheese and roasted beet salad, wild mushroom risotto, or a fresh platter of tuna and salmon sashimi.

Good for: Converting fans of cool-climate Oregon or Burgundian Pinot Noir to coastal Chilean terroirs; keeping a lithe, fresh, and mineral-driven daily red fully stocked; or proving how maritime granite and quartz soils yield elegant red fruit without heavy oak intervention.

Grape: 100% Pinot Noir.

I am from: Casablanca Valley, Aconcagua, Chile (Sourced from high-density coastal mountain plots located just 14 miles from the Pacific Ocean).

The Story: Quartz (frequently bottled as Red Quartz) is a small-production, low-intervention passion project masterminded by winemaker Vicente Johnson. Having spent years crafting wine and studying in Sonoma, California, Johnson returned home to Chile struck by how closely the cool, fog-draped hills of the Casablanca Valley mirrored North America’s top ocean-influenced Pinot Noir terroirs. The wine takes its name directly from the vineyard's distinctive geology: ancient, weathered granite soils packed with a striking concentration of natural quartz crystals, lying beneath a layer of sand and iron-rich red clay (which naturally tints the quartz a unique reddish-orange hue).

Farmed sustainably just miles from the chilly Humboldt Current, the vines benefit from bright morning sunshine balanced by dense afternoon fog and ocean breezes that naturally extend the growing season. To preserve pure fruit energy and structural tension, the grapes are picked early in the harvest window. In the cellar, Johnson relies on gentle, non-extractive vinification before aging the wine for 6 months in neutral French oak barrels. Distributed through partners like Votto Vines, this minimalist approach shuns heavy-handed oak toast, allowing the grape's delicate floral aromatics and distinct mineral underpinnings to express themselves cleanly.

Why You'll Love Me: It is a delightfully bright, lithe, and high-toned red that trades heavy, jammy weight for pristine red-fruit transparency and athletic, maritime vitality. In the glass, it shines a vibrant, translucent garnet-ruby color. The nose is instantly aromatic and inviting, wafting out with a lifted bouquet of fresh wild strawberries, tart red cherries, and pomegranate, seamlessly framed by top notes of red rose petals, dried forest underbrush, and a crack of green peppercorn. On the palate, it delivers a wonderfully slick, weightless performance; a succulent core of crunchy berries is effortlessly lifted by fine, silky tannins and a driving beam of mouthwatering acidity. Clean and bone-dry, it glides across the tongue into a long, refreshing finish marked by a trailing note of ground clove, wild herbs, and a persistent, stone-dust mineral snap.