(AndesWines) - In 1953, Maria Margarita Mancilla Sánchez left her small village on Lake Puelo (Northern Patagonia, Chile) with her eight young children to establish a rudimentary house in the El Salto Valley, where they lived a secluded life until 1994. This valley was later transformed into a private nature park called Tagua Tagua, property of the the Chilean boutique winery Villaseñor Wines from Curico Valley (Maule, central Chile). Villaseñor Wines also became owners of the luxurious Mítico Puelo Lodge that was built in 1991 across the lake.

In 2007, Sergio Subiabre, head of sales at Villaseñor Wines, was visiting Mítico Puelo Lodge when he heard about an old vine growing up a tree in the middle of the forest on the trail to Señora Sánchez old house. This 8-meters tall, isolated vine was said to be 70 years old. DNA profiling carried out by Patricio Hinrichsen at INIA (Instituto de Investigaciones Agropecuarias) in Santiago identified the vine as Bonarda. However, Bonarda is a name given to several distinct varieties and I wanted to fully clarify its true identity.