Louis-Antoine Luyt

Pipeño Portezuelo 2019

Price: $25.95
Tasting notes

Portezuelo is the lightest and most approachable of all the Luyt Pipeños — crunchy red cherry and cranberry with a stony, granitic edge that keeps it from being simple. The 150-year-old, ungrafted País vines on granite add a texture and mineral cut you won't find in any commercial Chilean red at this price.

BodyFruitTanninAcidity
Taste profile
Red CherryCranberryEarthGranite Mineral
  • Style: Light-bodied, dry red; crunchy red cherry and cranberry; granitic mineral finish; 1-liter format
  • Grapes & Terroir: 95% País, 5% Cinsault (Cargadora); 150-year-old ungrafted vines; Portezuelo commune, Itata Valley; granitic soils; organic, dry-farmed
  • Winemaking: Hand-harvested; destemmed via zaranda; native yeast fermentation in open-top wooden lagares; small SO2 addition at bottling
  • Serving: Serve at 55-58°F; no decanting needed; open and pour
  • Pairing: Roast chicken, charcuterie, white bean stew, grilled pork, hard cheese
  • Similar To: For fans of Gamay Noir and carbonic-style Beaujolais who want South American terroir at table-wine prices

Pipeño Portezuelo is sourced from 150-year-old, dry-farmed vines tended by farmer Patricio Martinez in the Portezuelo commune of Chile's Itata Valley. The blend is 95% País and 5% Cinsault — known locally as Cargadora — grown on granitic soils that Louis-Antoine Luyt has likened to those of Morgon's Côte du Py in Beaujolais. Chile was never struck by phylloxera, so these vines grow on their original rootstock.

Grapes are hand-harvested and destemmed using a traditional zaranda, then fermented with native yeasts in open-top wooden lagares in the primeur style typical of how local huaso farmers have always made wine for their own tables. A small amount of sulfur is added at bottling. The wine is sold in one-liter bottles.

Of all the Luyt Pipeños, Portezuelo is consistently the lightest-bodied and least tannic. It drinks like a chilled Beaujolais cousin from the southern hemisphere: crunchy red cherry, a flicker of cranberry, and earthy, granitic lift on the finish. The 1-liter format and modest ABV make it a genuine everyday table wine.

Starting with the 2018 vintage, viticulture and winemaking were fully entrusted to the farmers Louis-Antoine has worked with for over a decade. His name is on the label; the farmer's name appears on the back. Luyt travels to Chile for harvest and early vinification each year.

This wine is made for food — pour it slightly chilled alongside roast chicken, charcuterie, or a simple bean stew. Its low tannin and bright acidity make it easy with fatty, salty, or acidic dishes. Think of it the way the farmers who make it do: something to open at the table and finish before the meal is over.

Wine details

Dry/Sweet:, Dry
Wine Type:, Red Wine
Wine Style:, Light Body
Grapes:, País, Cinsault
Farming:, Organic
Vintage:, 2019
Alcohol:, 12%
Country:, Chile
Region:, Itata Valley
Appellation:, Itata Valley DO
Bottle Size:, 1000ml
Sugar Level:, Zero Added Sugar

We will process and ship your order in 2-3 business days, you will receive a shipping confirmation email with tracking as soon as the Carrier scans the shipping label.

Ground shipping time depends on location, here's a breakdown:

West Coast: 1-2 business days
Midwest: 3-4 business days
East Coast: 5 business days

Process time is not shipping time. Shipping time starts from the days successive to the day of shipping, after the order has been processed.

See here our shipping policy.


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If you'd like to receive a refund for a package that was returned to us after FedEx made three delivery attempts, we can do that but we must keep a $20 refund fee; FedEx charges us a lot of money for returns, unfortunately, I can't stress this enough.


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Placed an order. What next?

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2. As soon as your order ships from the warehouse, usually within 2-3 business days, this applies to all shipping rates, you will receive a shipping confirmation email with your tracking information. 2DAY shipping refers to shipping time; we still need 2-3 business days to prepare an order. We need to pick and pack, QA, add printed collateral, and palletize the orders.

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If you are not satisfied with your purchase, please contact us at (424) 414-2040 or via e-mail at hello@primalwine.com between 9 am and 5 pm Pacific Standard Time, Monday through Sunday, we would like to understand and try to solve your concerns. We can offer refunds only as store credit.

Pipeño Portezuelo 2019
$25.95

Producer profile

Louis-Antoine Luyt

Louis-Antoine Luyt was born in Saint-Malo, Brittany. He first arrived in Chile in 1998 at age 22, initially planning a three-month trip. After working his way up from dishwasher to wine buyer at a Santiago restaurant, he was introduced to Hector Vergara, at the time the only Master of Wine in South America. Luyt returned to France to study viticulture and oenology in Beaune, where he befriended Mathieu Lapierre and completed five consecutive harvests at Domaine Marcel Lapierre in Villié-Morgon — his formative introduction to low-intervention winemaking. He returned to Chile and produced his first wines in 2006.

Luyt sources fruit from small family farmers who dry-farm organically and work their vineyards by horse plow. Chile's freedom from phylloxera means the oldest parcels he works with retain original ungrafted rootstock, with some vines exceeding 300 years of age. His insistence on dry farming and organic viticulture runs counter to the practices of Chile's dominant industrial wineries. Starting with the 2018 vintage, viticulture and winemaking have been fully entrusted to the individual farmers he has collaborated with for over a decade; Luyt travels to Chile at harvest and during early vinification.

All Pipeños are made in the same traditional manner: grapes are hand-harvested and destemmed over a zaranda, fermented with native yeasts in open-top wooden lagares, briefly macerated, then racked to stainless steel tanks before bottling. A small, standardized dose of sulfur is added at bottling; light filtration is used when deemed necessary. The wines are bottled in one-liter format and are meant for early drinking in the style of the farmer wines that inspired the project.

Wine region

Itata Valley, Chile

Portezuelo is a commune within the Itata Valley, located in Chile's Ñuble Region south of the Maule Valley, roughly 420 kilometers south of Santiago. The Itata Valley is one of the oldest wine-producing areas in Chile — the first vines are said to have arrived here in the 1550s, and the region's long viticulture history is documented through the Jesuit estates that operated along the Itata River from the 17th century onward. The Coastal Range, which moderates weather further north, diminishes as it approaches the port city of Concepción, leaving Itata relatively exposed to Pacific weather patterns — the result is higher rainfall and cooler conditions than Chile's Central Valley wine regions.

The valley floor soils are alluvial clay and sandy loam deposited by the Itata and Ñuble rivers, while hillside parcels like those in Portezuelo sit on decomposed granite — free-draining and low in fertility, ideal for old-vine dry farming. País and Muscat of Alexandria are the dominant heritage varieties. Chile was never struck by phylloxera, so many vines in Itata still grow on their original rootstock, some exceeding 150 years of age. The region spent much of the 20th century supplying bulk wine to the domestic market, but a new generation of producers has returned focus to its old-vine heritage varieties and granitic terroir.

Frequently asked question

We will process and ship your order in 2-3 business days, you will receive a shipping confirmation email with tracking as soon as the Carrier scans the shipping label.

Ground shipping time depends on location, here's a breakdown:

West Coast: 1-2 business days
Midwest: 3-4 business days
East Coast: 5 business days

Process time is not shipping time. Shipping time starts from the days successive to the day of shipping, after the order has been processed.

See here our shipping policy.

Signature on delivery is mandatory for wine deliveries. Please make sure someone is at the shipping address to sign for the package.

If applicable, please consider delivering the package to a business address to ensure someone is available to sign for the package.

We also have the option of delivering the package to a Carrier's store for pickup. Please reach out to us to coordinate.

Carrier will try to delivery a package up to three times before returning the package to us.

See here our shipping policy.

If you miss a delivery and a package gets returned to us we have two options:

1) Reship the package right away: due to the very high cost of shipping and returns, we must charge a re-shipping fee to be determined based on package size and shipping destination.

2) Consolidate the returned package with your next order: this option is free of charge and it's the most popular option.

See here our shipping policy.

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