Pedro Parra, “Dr. Terroir” to some, is a highly regarded soil specialist who has spent time consulting with many of the world’s most famous estates. He has been described as the leading figure of the “New Chile” movement, in part because of his constant efforts to bring a new vision to the Chilean wine industry, searching for quality terroirs and developing new plantings throughout the country.
A former forest engineer from just outside Concepción, Parra holds postgraduate and doctoral degrees from the Institut Agronomique National in Montpellier and Paris. After 15 years of international consulting, he founded his family estate in 2013 in the Bío Bío region. The area, essentially previously devoid of viticultural “innovation,” has been a blessing when it comes to farming extremely old-vine Cinsault and Pais. His plots are mostly old vines planted on sand with quartz. His winery is one simple room—airplane hangar–like, with a decent stereo playing jazz and strikingly little equipment. Ironically, the face of new Chile is farming and making wine with a lack of intervention not seen in Chilean viticulture in two generations.
