Cono Sur Ocio Pinot Noir

When Burgundy consultant Martin Prieur of Domaine Jacques Prieur was brought to Chile — a first for any New World producer — the brief was to build a Pinot Noir program capable of competing at the highest international level. Ocio is the result of that ambition, sourced from Fundo El Triángulo in Casablanca Valley, where old vines planted in 1989 grow in red clay and granitic soils cooled by Humboldt Current fog and morning marine breezes that slow ripening and preserve natural acidity.

Vinification follows a Burgundian discipline rare at this scale: cold maceration for colour and aromatic extraction, followed by foot-treading and manual pigeage in small open-top tanks — human energy deliberately chosen over mechanical extraction to protect the grape's delicate cell structure. The wine then ages 14 months in French oak, 70% new barrique, a regime that builds textural density without masking the site's cool-climate transparency.

What separates Ocio from its New World peers is the combination of Burgundian grand cru methodology applied to vines now over 35 years old in a valley that was still considered experimental Pinot Noir territory when they were planted. The 2018 vintage in Casablanca delivered measured ripeness with sustained acidity, producing a wine that is already expressive but carries the structural architecture for continued development through 2028–2032.