Metic is a project by winemakers Luca Hodgkinson and José Miguel Sotomayor, operating in the Colchagua Valley within Chile’s Central Valley wine region.

The term “Metic” refers to an outsider or cultural hybrid, reflecting the founders’ international backgrounds and non-traditional approach.

They source fruit from sustainably and in many cases organically farmed vineyards, favour natural and low-intervention winemaking techniques such as wild yeast fermentation, concrete ageing and minimal manipulation, emphasising terroir expression and purity.

Colchagua benefits from a Mediterranean climate with warm days and cool nights that help Carmenère ripen fully while preserving acidity and aromatic complexity.

Colchagua Valley is one of Chile’s most important wine regions, located south of Santiago within the larger Rapel Valley. Sheltered by the Andes to the east and cooled by Pacific breezes from the west, it benefits from a warm Mediterranean climate with strong diurnal temperature variation, allowing grapes to ripen fully while retaining freshness.

The region’s diverse soils — including granite, clay, alluvial and volcanic deposits — support a wide range of styles. Colchagua is particularly renowned for red wines, especially Carmenère, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah and Malbec, which show ripe fruit, structure and depth.

Over recent decades, a move towards coastal and higher-altitude sites has added finesse and balance. Colchagua combines old-vine heritage with modern, quality-focused viticulture, making it a cornerstone of Chile’s fine-wine identity.

Carmenère (often styled Carmenère) originated in Bordeaux, where it was once a staple of the Médoc and Graves before phylloxera and tricky ripening saw it largely disappear. Its modern renaissance began in Chile, where vines long assumed to be Merlot were identified in the 1990s as Carmenère. Today Chile is the global reference—especially sites such as Peumo in Cachapoal and parts of Colchagua and Maule—with smaller plantings in northern Italy, Argentina, the United States, China and Brazil.

Viticulturally, Carmenère is late-ripening and needs a long, warm, dry autumn to achieve full flavour maturity. It can suffer coulure and millerandage during a cool, windy flowering, and in humid zones it is vulnerable to mildew. Careful canopy management is essential: moderate yields and good sunlight exposure help reduce green pyrazine notes and build riper fruit characters, while well-drained, warm soils are preferred. Picked too early, it shows overt herbaceousness; harvested ripe, it delivers plush fruit with supple tannins.

Styles range from juicy, early-drinking reds to more structured, ageworthy examples. Typical flavours include dark plum, black cherry and blackberry layered with cocoa, coffee and sweet spice (often a paprika/pepper lift), plus a gentle herbal thread. Acidity is usually medium, tannins rounded and velvety, and sensitive oak use adds chocolate, tobacco and cedar without overwhelming the fruit. At its best, Carmenère combines generous, sable-textured richness with savoury complexity and a distinctive, Bordeaux-meets-Andean personality.