I remember first tasting the Dagaz wines with winemaker Marco Puyo in January 2019 in Santiago. I was writing a guide to Latin American wines with the Cata d’Or Wine Awards competition, of which I was the president. I was so impressed by the quality of the first releases of these wines (the 2016 vintage) that I subsequently tipped the Tierras de Pumanque to be one of my future South American Icon wines in an article for Decanter magazine. I am now thrilled to have introduced Condor to Marco and Dagaz and that these wines are now available in the UK.

Trained as a winemaker in Santiago, Marco cut his teeth at the Rothschild-owned Los Vascos estate in Colchagua. As a promising young head enologist based in Colchagua he forensically explored the region’s vineyards and gained an encyclopedic knowledge of the different terroirs. He then became Director of Winemaking at San Pedro, Chile’s second largest winery, where he crafted the impressive icon wines in their portfolio. Whilst at San Pedro he founded his personal project in Pumanque in 2005, planting approximately 40 hectares to Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot, Carmenere and Syrah.

The Pumanque vineyard is located 155 km south-west of Santiago and 34 km from the Pacific coastline. Planted on gentle granitic slopes, the climate is Mediterranean with a distinct oceanic influence and cool evenings. Marco started making small personal quantities from one or two barrels in 2009, and then officially created Dagaz with business partner Patricio Gómez-Barris in 2015.

It has been a lifetime ambition for Marco to have his own project and be his own boss. Since leaving San Pedro in 2018 he has been focussed full-time on Dagaz. The wines are quite extraordinary and are not entirely what you might expect from Colchagua. This is a warm region that tends to produce wines that are plush, sleek and opulent. Stylish wines that are true to their origin, in much the same way as wines of the Barossa Valley in Australia area. Yet at Dagaz I find something extra – a finesse and elegance that stands out. For me it is a combination of both vineyard work and Marco’s magic in the winery that allows this.

The soils in Pumanque are granitic and peppered with quartz and mica. This helps give the wine a graphite-tinged minerality, a freshness and coolness as well as real vitality. What really shines through for me in the wines is the superlative tannin management, achieved by gentle extraction and resulting in tannins that are textured, layered and chiselled. The oak regime is largely focussed on older oak with only 10% new oak used in the Tierras de Pumanque. The wines are approachable when young yet have clear capacity for extensive ageing in bottle. The 2018 Tierras de Pumanque is an excellent example of these characteristics, from a stellar vintage and is worth stocking up on as it will age incredibly well. I hope that you enjoy these wines as much as I do!

A savoury nose with some spiced grilled meat, cedar and attractive toasty oak notes, roasted coffee with a faint suggestion of pyrazine behind it. A rounded palate with lovely silky textured tannins, mocha and roasted coffee with a graphite pencil lead note. Still developing and integrating – will age really well but very enjoyable already.

A beautifully appealing nose with a wonderful subtle herbaceous note alongside blueberry, clove and pepper. The palate has a lovely streak of acidity with delicate sandy tannins and a blend of dark fruits, dark chocolate, violet, liquorice and a saline graphite-tinged finish. This is a superb Carmenere – showing real intensity and concentration of fruit but always with freshness and real drinkability.

The nose is evolving incredibly well, it shows soft red fruits, cassis, pencil shavings, peppery spice and that telltale graphite mineral streak present in all the Dagaz wines. The palate is still quite tight with chiselled tannins of elegance and structure. Such good freshness for Colchagua and dark fruit, toasty notes, cigar box and blue fruit lead to a long, lingering finish. This is ageing brilliantly, and whilst it can be enjoyed now it will age effortlessly and improve for a further decade.

If you’d like to find out more about any of our Chilean listings, click here.

Written by Alistair Cooper MW