“Pachamama,” said Orlando Condri, the guide. He tilted his glass and poured incandescent coloured wine onto the dry sand.
“si, Rapacha Mama!” he did the same and said everyone else.
They looked at me.
“Pachamama!” I said as I poured half of my drink onto the earth. I didn't know what I was doing or why I was doing it, but I didn't know what I did.
That was a shame. I was enjoying the rosé. Again, that wasn't the worst idea – I was a lighthead. I was very careful and had to sit down.
“It's not wine,” said Niki Burley Breleven, conservation ambassador for Prometa, an environmental organization focused on sustainability and community resilience. “That's the altitude.” We were 3,500 meters, or about 11,000 feet.
We were at a table set in a plateau overlooking the Biological Refuge of Cordillera de Sama in southern Bolivia. We were in the high desert, with bright sun above our heads, and we had all the views. From the perch we could see the spread of the Cordillera de Sama Mountains in the Sama Mountains. Between us and what appears to be the edge of the earth: a sparse, empty, dusty land, a glittering lagoon with flamingo ornateness, and a neck crane to find its edge.
The reserve is located in Taliya, an agricultural area hidden on the corner of Bolivia, adjacent to Paraguay and Argentina. Taliya, which is also the name of a city in the state, isn't too big, just 14,000 square miles, clicks more than Maryland. But its topography is surprisingly diverse: forests, deserts, lakes, mountains, sun, rain, snow. There are puma, alpaca, llama, and three other types of flamingo. This is a Bolivian wine country. This is a collection of half a dozen of the world's least known wineries surrounded by vast, untouched wilderness. It hosts a 5-star resort and celebrity wedding, and Taliya could become Tuscany.
On the magic side.
“We are very spiritual in Bolivia,” said Dr Burberry, who holds a doctorate in social policy. “We are rooted in various indigenous traditions that go back centuries. Andean Cosmovision says you walk towards your past – it's known and therefore before you. Your future is behind you, because it's something you can't see.”
That Cosmovision explains the pouring of wine. “Pachamama” is a word that provides gratitude for the Quechua and Aymara language that emerged alongside the Andean indigenous peoples.
“That's a way to thank Mother Earth,” Dr. Burberry loaded gear behind the pickup to return to the town of Taliya on the two-hour drive, walking slowly to avoid rushing the head.
Wine production at advanced levels
My friend Lisa and I came to explore Taliya's wine country with Dr. Burberry and her friend Julie. If you know what you're doing, altitude is an important part of winemaking. “Advanced wines are now popular,” said Jurgen Kohlberg, owner of Bodega Teina, a biodynamic vineyard just outside the city of Taliya. The star of Kohlberg's vineyard is Pinot Noir, one of the highest altitude Pinot Noirs in the world.
We were 2,100 meters, almost 7,000 feet, but that wasn't the only challenge.
“There's no soil,” he said. We walked through his vineyard. In fact, the ground was made up of small rocks known as “Rajas.”
Kohlberg, a small man with a white beard, has high ambitions. “My goal is to make the best Pinot Noir in the world,” he says, and he says, “We only harvest in full silence and at night. It's so magical, isn't it?”
Considering Mr. Kohlberg and his quiet magical harvest, we returned to Casa Tinto, Mini Hacienda, on the other side of town. Naturally, he earns around 2,000 bottles a year.
The next morning, after a breakfast of Takei and a black Bolivian coffee called avocado toast, we walked through town and picked up some handmade items to take home. It was then time to visit Campos de Solana, the area's boldest vineyard. A well-maintained route, lavender bushes and a 20-foot-high main entrance – Campos de Solana could threaten the most delicious Tuscan wineries.
“There should not be any grape cultivation here. Patagonia, New Zealand, South Africa, is in the southern belt at about 33 degrees,” general manager Louis Pablo Granier notes the latitudes in which those countries were discovered. “Spain, France and Italy are the northern belt. We're 21 degrees in Talija, so wine doesn't make sense.” In other words, this latitude is usually too hot for winemaking. “But because of the altitude we can produce even if we shouldn't be able to.”
Like most wineries in Bolivia, Campos de Solana vineyards also produce liquor called Singani (in that case under the Casa Real label). Because it is distilled from wine, Singani is often compared to cognac and pisco, but with a true follower, but is in its class itself.
“It felt like I was stumbling over this gem that no one knew,” said filmmaker Stephen Soderbergh when he spoke on Zoom. In 2007, Soderbergh partially shot the film “Che” in Bolivia. “When I was first given the Casa Real Singani, I had three stages of experience. It was very floral and I'm not used to the spirit of having such a nose. Then you tasted it, it's very complicated. And when you swallowed it, there was no burns. It just vanished. “I have to call vodka and say I met someone.” “Its de nomination de Origen or by doing so, the singani must be made from Muscat, the Alexandria grapes, and can be produced over 1,600 meters in certain areas of Bolivia.
“When Spain colonized Bolivia, they brought wine,” explained later Franz Molina of Bodega Courmann Winery. “But when they arrived on the shore, it was ruined and they had to distill the wine. It became a Shingani. It was a way to preserve the wine.”
Soderbergh swallowed the drink, so in 2008 he partnered with Casa Real to create Singani 63 (born in 1963).
“I think there are incredibly inaccurate beliefs on the part of people who have never been to Bolivia. “There's an incredibly vibrant food and drink culture. You get there and realize they have everything.”
Wine, Gastronomy, Neil Armstrong
A few days after our trip we started to have everything.
Lunch at Atmósfera, a restaurant in Kohlberg Winery, was an outdoor event. We sat at a table under a mulberry tree branch overlooking an acre of lush green vineyards. In the distance, birds chirping.
Our group has grown to 10 people. He is a member of the Kohlberg family, friends, cousins and wine executives. You may be allowed to think that every Bolivian knows who are friends with cousins and neighbors. It's a small place.
We started with homemade bread with wine butter.
“We use everything, respecting the planet,” said the chef at Pablo Casab, who was walking to show us his food. “Nothing is wasted. When you peel off the carrots, it drys the skin and turns it into carrot powder.”
“The Bolivian gastronomic route passes through La Paz,” he said. “But as people learn about wine, they start to learn about food. That leads to Taliya.”
Next, the next course: grilled artichokes, fried broccoli florets of crunchy onion placed on top of white bean puree. After a while, new wine: stelar: oldest grape white wine in vineyard made from grapes of the oldest grapes. Stelar comes with its own party trick. The label changes color depending on the temperature.
As the sunlight got dark, the air got heavier and the bacchanal was over. We're back on the track as the fat has reduced.
It was surprisingly chilly as we headed to the town of Taliya to stop at Tajara and headed to a small shop that wasn't much larger than a walk-in closet filled with hand-knit sweaters. We wrapped up some alpaca shawls and llamas and later walked to Diabla, a high-end girls' boutique with Inca-inspired necklaces, cocktail dresses, woven bracelets and a small studio with each outfit made.
At yet another lunch, we were told stories that are often repeated in Bolivia. American astronaut Neil Armstrong is said to have seen the world's largest 4,000 square miles of Uyuni Salt Flat from the Moon. (He later did it with his family.)
Like Armstrong before me, I was amazed at Bolivia. Much of the culture seemed unlikely. There are grapes that should not grow. Gastronomy is comparable to the best in South America, but it is not well known. Rocky, punishing terrain supporting robust agriculture. The pockets of this land, home to llamas, flamingos and history, are close to heaven and deeply connected to its roots.
