At 1,779 meters above sea level, the moscatel grapes enjoy a generous soil that allows them to open up in all senses of the Word. There are Piscos and wines that are more than 400 years old
that you will only find in this valley in Arequipa. The sun rises in Caraveli when Don Pedro Ramirez’s melancholy violin changes the mood and gives a festive mystical essence to this colonial tradition in the Chirisco Estate. In the stone winery, under the eunich eyes of the music, the group of eight men stands ready for the first notes with which to begin, with enviable choreography, the traditional stomping of the grapes in the Caraveli valley. Dona Rosa Montoya, patron of the stomping of the grapes and of the Chirisco Bodega, is required by the musical duo (Luis Montoya on guitar) to choose the captain of the stomping. Leoncio Huamani is chosen with three moderate slaps on his backside with grape vines. He has participated for more than twenty years in the folklore of the wine and Pisco and he learned to stomp, he confesses from his father when he was a boy.
that you will only find in this valley in Arequipa. The sun rises in Caraveli when Don Pedro Ramirez’s melancholy violin changes the mood and gives a festive mystical essence to this colonial tradition in the Chirisco Estate. In the stone winery, under the eunich eyes of the music, the group of eight men stands ready for the first notes with which to begin, with enviable choreography, the traditional stomping of the grapes in the Caraveli valley. Dona Rosa Montoya, patron of the stomping of the grapes and of the Chirisco Bodega, is required by the musical duo (Luis Montoya on guitar) to choose the captain of the stomping. Leoncio Huamani is chosen with three moderate slaps on his backside with grape vines. He has participated for more than twenty years in the folklore of the wine and Pisco and he learned to stomp, he confesses from his father when he was a boy.
“Women are the devil/related to the scorpion/when the poor man comes/they stick out their tails and they go”
Leoncio is a living reminder of this colonial practice that today, because of the modern de-stemming machines and the presses, is practically extinct. But in Caraveli, this tradition is still living.
Leoncio is a living reminder of this colonial practice that today, because of the modern de-stemming machines and the presses, is practically extinct. But in Caraveli, this tradition is still living.
The town surrounds the winery’s tank. The captain takes the Moscatel grape vines that he has attached to his belt in order to choose the cave. This charismatic whiskered man at the same time chooses the second captain, who in due time, will do the same to choose the Second Cave, which repeats until the famous and awaited fifth cave is chosen. This person, of prodigious movement, is who is in charge of the “stompers,” and the public assistant always have a glass of “cachina” or wine in their hands to satiate their thirst.
The dance of the stomping of the grapes is started by the Captain with a rough voice and clear shouts. And “Ay!” to he who would dare to break the harmony of the steps. He is thrown to the edge of the tank and to the beat of the violin of Don Pedro Ramirez, is whipped with the damp grape vines. It is a harsh punishment that the assistants applaud, with their cheeks reddened from so much wine. This also happens for the Fifth Cave.
The task begins at four in the morning with the harvest in the fields and is extended—depending on thirst—until the wee hours of the morning. In the afternoon, when the grape pulp fades into the tank, it is once again sprinkled with the must extracted from the grapes in order to obtain this unique flavor that is still present in the pulp, argues Marcos Montoya, son of Dona Rosa. This time, in order to give the hardworking group a break, rocks do the crushing work.
The assistants also put together a party. They sing, dance and drink up the cachina that has been resting in the ancient earthenware pots of the Chirisco Bodega (the majority date back to the 1700s). To the innocent foreigners, like this author, they set a trap and make them participate in the game of the Fox. “Don’t drink the fox,” they say. They extract the delicate eardrums from a guinea pig and they put them in a glass of wine. “You have to drink everything, but don’t swallow the fox,” they warn. “If you do, you have to repeat it all over again.”
In my first attempt, the “fox” stayed stuck on the bottom of the glass. The second, third and even the fourth attempt the blessed fox never moved. It was only then that I realized, when my sight lost all coherent sense of direction, that this was the game—that the fox would never become unstuck as it had a certain type of natural glue. The idea was that whoever falls victim to the game would fall, exhausted from so much wine. Lucky for me, a local woman warned me in time.
This party takes place in the majority of bodegas in Carveli.
Translated by Katrina Heimark
Pisco bilingual magazine
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