Notes: Conceived and/or fathered by a trio  a Distiller (Carlos Romero), a Sommelier (Walter Moore) and a Bartender (Duggan McDonnell) “Made by bartenders for bartenders” this Pisco is one of the new wave of Pisco that are finally and thankfully reaching our shores. Prior to this Pisco renaissance (starting say 5-10 years ago) Pisco and the consumption of Pisco was grim – most of the fw products out there tasted like bad grappas or lighter fluid and virtually no one had ever heard of Pisco Sours unless you were a cocktail geek of some kind, never mind any other Pisco libations like Pisco Punch. Pisco had been relegated to the stuff people brought back from the airport duty-free shops and put on shelves as souvenirs. No one really drank that headache inducing lighter fluid. It was down there with Tic Tac (An El Salvadoran spirit that sold for about 25 cents a bottle and came with its own plastic table-cloth that double as a rain cover when you were sleeping it off in a ditch somewhere) in terms of taste and respectability among drinkers in North America.

Distilled only once with no water added ( bottled at the proof it comes off the still) from old vines at the Atalaya Vineyard in Ica, Peru  in a cognac style alembic copper pot still. This is a classic quebranta (red grape called many different names Pais, Mission, Palomino Negro) Pisco made from many different lots and cuvees of quebranta all from a single vineyard. As such it is considered a puro pisco – a pisco made from just one grape variety and nothing else. We have also reviewed the Encanto Acholado Pisco here

Appearance: Brilliantly clear, on swirling leaves a very thin coat o the glass with some legs then droplets forming

First Impression: Minty apricot, blueberries,lemon grass, oily nuts,

Taste: Lemony,pineapple, mint, slightly woody and sappy, very bright clean tasting if a touch spirity (which given the tradition of putting the heads back in a distillate for extra flavor is certainly understandable and not a fault).

Drinks: Pisco sours of course and we also tried it in our Pisco recipes The Encanto Quebranta worked well in all of them and gave a nice single varietal twist to the cocktails which was easy to distinguish from the Acholado (blend) Pisco

Bottle:Where to begin… A very complex but attractive package starting with the good quality standard cylindrical clear glass bottle. Packed with a lot of graphics using multiple ornate colors to simulate engraving on a grape red-brown field with a print of a photo from an old San Francisco bar on the reverse side through the pisco.Smaller label on the back with some info and required warnings. Bottle is topped by an attractive red and gold neck foil with a band designating the type,lot and date bottled.Cork is tan composite – what it looks in visual appeal it more than makes up for in sealing integrity. Well done,attractive package,easy to spot on a store or bar shelf.

Other: Grapevines grown in Franco-Arenoso soil, Mineral-Rich from the Andes, Denominacion de Origen Contralada, Valle de Ica, Perú . Sustainably harvested Campo de Encanto means “Field of Enchantment” in Spanish

Final Thoughts: A very smooth Pisco with a delicate balance between smoothness and enough bite, flavor, and backbone to make a great cocktail.

Website: http://www.encantopisco.com/

A fairly minimal website with some information,but not a lot.