Top 100 red wines of Ecuador
Discover the top 100 best red wines of Ecuador as well as the best winemakers in the region. Explore the varietals of the red wines that are popular of Ecuador and the best vintages to taste in this region.
Discovering the wine region of Ecuador
Ecuador is a country located on the Pacific coast of northern South America. There are only a few hundred hectares of Vineyards and rum and beer are produced in much larger quantities.
It is remarkable, however, that Ecuador has wine production: the equator, which gave the country its name, runs through its northern third. If an exception to the theory of the wine belt (the latitudes between which winemaking can be effectively practiced) was needed, Ecuador provides it.
Only the Andean topography of Ecuador's interior makes quality viticulture possible. Over the millennia, the peaks of the northern Andes have risen to altitudes well over 4,500 meters (15,000 feet), taking with them many hectares of what were once low-lying coastal plains. It is in these cooler, mid-altitude areas that Ecuadorian wine is produced, primarily from members of the robust and prolific Muscat family.
The annual climatic cycle of the Ecuadorian highlands is such that the vines experience a period of dormancy during what is considered winter on the equator.
Without this, the plants do not have the opportunity to recover from their fruiting periods, their wood does not harden and, as a result, the fruit they produce is of lesser quality for wine making.
In the coastal plains below, where humidity is high and sunshine is extreme in intensity and duration, the vines produce up to three harvests per year. A similar situation occurs on the other side of the Pacific in Vietnam, where the difference between the wines of the highlands and the lowlands is striking.
Pruning and other vine management techniques can be used to control fruiting in these sweltering conditions, resulting in a single harvest per year, but the quality is rarely high.
News from the vineyard of Ecuador
Andrew Jefford: ‘The gifts of Bacchus hold our gaze like a procession’
Do growers make wine – or do markets? Growers, of course. Yet markets define the scope of the grower’s creative efforts by what they reward or sanction. When markets are neglectful and unresponsive, there’s little the grower can do but conform. It’s a problem the world over. Here’s an example. The river Moselle/Mosel rises to the wet west of the Vosges mountains, then curves in a long green arc heading north through Epinal, Metz and (along the left bank) Luxembourg’s Grand Duchy, turning east at ...
Adapting vineyards to a changing climate: Torres look to the future
In the face of rising temperatures and more frequent droughts, what can wine producers do to adapt their viticultural practices? Catalan producer Torres, which has emerged during the past decade as one of the global wine sector’s leading pioneers in tackling climate change, is experimenting with a range of creative ideas. Planting vines at higher altitudes is one option. The company is investing in cooler vineyards high in the mountains of the region. They have planted vines in Tremp at 950m in ...
The Rully appellation seen by Felix Debavelaere
Felix Debavelaere, from Domaine Rois Mages mentions the different personnalities of the Rully appellation. It is not easy to put it in a single box, not only because it can be produced in red and white but also because the wines can show different characters according to where the vines are planted. This video is taken from the “Rendez-vous avec les vins de Bourgogne” program (February 2021). Our social media: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BourgogneWines Twitter: https://twitter.com/Bourgo ...