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Chile · People, vineyards & the wine they make
El Principal — Pirque, People & the Wine
A Saint-Émilion connection began the project; Pirque gives it a Chilean home. Follow El Principal through changing ownership, separate vineyard parcels and bottles that tell different grape stories.
Jorge Fontaine and Jean Paul Valette begin the story.
El Principal dates its foundation to 1993, when estate owner Jorge Fontaine Aldunate and French winemaker Jean Paul Valette became partners. Valette’s earlier connection with Château Pavie in Saint-Émilion brought a Bordeaux thread to a vineyard project in Chile. Cabernet Sauvignon and Carménère were the early planting choices described in the producer’s history.
The ownership story moved on. The estate records Jochen Döhle’s purchase in 2005, the Said Handal family taking a half share in 2013, and its acquisition of the remaining operations at the end of 2018. The founding partnership and later ownership belong to different chapters; they should not be presented as one unchanged team.
Pirque is the place to find first.
The vineyard sits in Pirque on the Andean side of Maipo Valley →. El Principal describes older plantings on alluvial ground and later hillside plantings on colluvial soils. Altitude, exposure and individual parcels give the team different components to work with.
Alluvial material was carried and deposited by flowing water. Colluvial material accumulated downslope. Those terms explain how a soil developed; they do not prescribe the flavour of every wine grown in it. Follow the site into the producer’s decisions rather than turning geology into a guaranteed tasting note.
The estate name does not tell you the whole blend.
The producer’s general portfolio calls El Principal a Cabernet-led assemblage. Its dated El Principal 2020 technical sheet is more specific: 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, aged 24 months in French oak, with Marco Puyo credited as winemaker. For that bottle, the dated sheet gives the clearest composition.
| Follow this clue | What it tells us |
|---|---|
| El Principal 2020 | 100% Cabernet Sauvignon. A single-varietal example within an estate often discussed through its blends. |
| Memorias 2023 | 72% Cabernet Sauvignon · 15% Petit Verdot · 13% Cabernet Franc. The sheet records 22 months in French barrels. |
| Kiñe 2023 | 100% Verdejo. A white-grape connection that takes us beyond the estate’s better-known red wines. |
These are different wines and vintages. A list of varieties grown on the estate is not a list of ingredients in every bottle. The 2020 and 2023 sheets credit Marco Puyo; that dated attribution should not be stretched into a claim about every earlier or future vintage.
Keep the parcels separate before bringing them together.
El Principal’s cellar account describes hand harvesting, bunch selection and gravity-assisted filling of stainless steel tanks. Working in smaller lots preserves choices before the final wine is assembled. Its red-wine sequence distinguishes cold pre-fermentation maceration, fermentation and a later period of skin contact.
The estate also describes an underground barrel room and French oak maturation. Those are broad cellar practices; the precise duration for El Principal 2020 or Memorias 2023 comes from its own vintage sheet. Fermentation vessel, maturation vessel and grape composition answer separate questions.
The cellar photograph shows practical handling of wine. It invites a question about what stage is taking place, rather than permission to identify an unnamed worker or assign the image to an undocumented vintage.
A white wine opens another door.
Kiñe introduces Verdejo, a Spanish grape associated with Rueda, into this Pirque conversation. Its 2023 sheet states 100% Verdejo. The producer dates the wine’s launch to 2014. This is a useful bridge from a winery story toward grape identity and the single-varietal wines collection.
Verdejo and Portugal’s Verdelho are different grapes despite the similar names. Before comparing wines, check the spelling and the producer’s actual identification. For Kiñe, the grape is Verdejo.
A small Cork Dork discovery.
Let the maker’s account join your tasting.
Compare El Principal 2020 with Memorias 2023 on paper first. Put the grape composition on one line and the ageing vessel and duration on another. Add Kiñe 2023 as a white-wine contrast. Which questions are answered by the estate name, and which require the exact wine and vintage?
Follow Kiñe’s grape into another landscape.
Meet Verdejo, the grape · Compare Verdejo wines from Chile and Spain · Discover Rueda and its plateau vineyards.
Where shall we wander next?
Behind this introduction.
Editorial sources checked 26 October 2026. Historical events and individual wines are dated where relevant. Producer descriptions explain their own practice; they are not universal rules or independent rankings.