The Italian-Chilean, the Three Marías & the Maipo Hand
Stefano Gandolini is a Chilean winemaker born to Italian parents, fluent in Italian, Spanish, English, and French, with a CV that reads like a map of the world's greatest wine regions. He holds a degree in agronomy from the Universidad Católica in Chile, a Master's in oenology from Piacenza in Italy, and a degree in oenology from the University of Bordeaux. His work has taken him to Château Cos d'Estournel, Château Pavie, Louis Latour in Burgundy, and Robert Mondavi in California. Back in South America, he worked at Doña Paula in Argentina, Viña Vistamar, and Santa Rita in Chile. Today, he is co-owner of GVV Terroirs, partner and chief winemaker at Ventolera in Leyda, consultant winemaker at Von Siebenthal in Aconcagua, and founder of his own project: Viña Gandolini — a winery that focuses exclusively on Cabernet Sauvignon from the Maipo Andes. Founded in 2009 with backing from Vicente Izquierdo Menéndez — founder of Ventolera — and producing its first vintage in 2011, Gandolini is a love letter to one grape, one valley, and three women named María. The wine — Las 3 Marías Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon — is named after Stefano's grandmother, mother, and wife, all of whom share the name María. The label bears a silhouette of a naked woman with a bird on her left knee — an image as elegant and enigmatic as the wine itself. Made with indigenous yeasts and aged for 21 to 24 months in Taransaud French oak barrels from the forests of southern France, it is a wine of freshness, precision, structure, and balance — not the over-extracted, high-alcohol style that once dominated Chile, but a world-class Cabernet Sauvignon that reminds critics of Coonawarra.
The Italian Roots, the Bordeaux Degree & the Gandolini Hand
Stefano Gandolini was born in Chile in 1966 to Italian parents — a heritage that gave him not only a European palate but a European restlessness. He is fluent in four languages — Italian, Spanish, English, and French — and his education spans three countries: a degree in agronomy from the Universidad Católica in Chile, a Master's in oenology from Piacenza in Italy, and a degree in oenology from the University of Bordeaux. This trilingual, trinational education shaped a winemaker who sees wine not as a product but as a dialogue between soil, climate, and human intention.
His early career was a pilgrimage through the world's greatest wine addresses. He worked at Château Cos d'Estournel and Château Pavie in Bordeaux — two of the most prestigious estates in Saint-Estèphe and Saint-Émilion. He spent time at Louis Latour in Burgundy, learning the Burgundian obsession with terroir and parcel-specific winemaking. He crossed the Atlantic to work at Robert Mondavi in California, where he absorbed the New World's technical precision and canopy management. Back in South America, he made wine at Doña Paula in Argentina, then returned to Chile to work at Viña Vistamar and Santa Rita — two of the country's most established names. By the time he founded his own project, he had seen how Cabernet Sauvignon was made in Bordeaux, Burgundy, Napa, Mendoza, and Maipo — and he knew exactly what he wanted to do differently.
The Gandolini winery was founded in 2009 with the backing of Vicente Izquierdo Menéndez, the founder of Ventolera in Leyda — a man who believed in Stefano's vision enough to invest in it. The first vintage was 2011. From the beginning, the project was radical in its simplicity: one grape, one valley, three vineyards, and a refusal to compromise. While other Chilean wineries were diversifying into dozens of varieties and regions, Gandolini went deeper — not wider. He planted clonal and massale selections of Cabernet Sauvignon at 7,000 vines per hectare — a density far higher than the Chilean norm — and set out to prove that Maipo Andes could produce Cabernet Sauvignon as fine as any in the world. The name Las 3 Marías was not a marketing conceit; it was a family truth — a tribute to the three women who shaped his life, all named María, whose names appear on every bottle.
"He vinifies his wines with indigenous yeasts and seeks to express the terroir of Maipo with the greatest possible precision. An impeccable..."
— YouTube, How to Make a Great Wine in Chile — Gandolini Las 3 Marias
Maipo Andes, the Alluvial Terraces & the High-Density Hand
The Maipo Valley is the heart of Chilean wine — the country's most historic and prestigious wine region, stretching south and west of Santiago along the Maipo River. Within it, the Maipo Andes — the foothill zone closest to the Andes mountains — is widely considered the finest terroir for Cabernet Sauvignon in Chile. The altitude is higher, the temperatures are cooler, the diurnal range is more pronounced, and the soils are more complex than the flat alluvial plains near the river. It is here, in the towns of Alto Jahuel and Buin, that Stefano Gandolini planted his three vineyards — each one a distinct expression of the Maipo Andes, each one farmed with Burgundian precision and Bordeaux ambition.
The first vineyard — Las 3 Marías — was planted in 2001 in Alto Jahuel, on the fourth alluvial terrace of the Maipo River. It covers 24 hectares at a density of 7,000 vines per hectare — a figure that matches the best vineyards of Bordeaux and Burgundy, and far exceeds the typical Chilean density of 3,000-4,000 vines per hectare. The soil profile is a textbook of alluvial complexity: a 30-centimetre surface layer of franco — equal parts sand, silt, and clay — followed by 1.2 metres of medium-sized stones and gravel in a clay matrix with good water-holding capacity, and below that, sand and big boulders. This is not the simple alluvium of the valley floor; it is the complex, well-drained, mineral-rich soil of the Andean foothills — a terroir that forces vines to struggle, reduces yields, and concentrates flavour.
The second vineyard — Los Cerrillos — was planted in 2003 in Buin, at a slightly lower altitude of around 475 metres. It covers 23 hectares at the same 7,000 vines per hectare, but here the plantings are massale selections — a mix of Cabernet Sauvignon clones propagated from cuttings of the best-performing vines, rather than a single commercial clone. The soils are derived from the third and fourth alluvial terraces of the Maipo, with "fingers" of the best stony soil interspersed with more varied terrain. Buin is similar in style to Alto Jahuel but slightly warmer and softer — a vineyard that adds breadth and suppleness to the blend. The third vineyard is also in Alto Jahuel, completing a three-vineyard estate that gives Gandolini the raw material for a Cabernet Sauvignon of real complexity and depth. All three are dry-farmed with drip irrigation, hand-tended, and harvested with the patience of a man who has worked in Bordeaux and Burgundy and knows that great wine is made in the vineyard, not the cellar.
Alto Jahuel is one of the most prestigious subregions of the Maipo Valley — the place where Santa Rita's legendary Casa Real is made, and where some of Chile's finest Cabernet Sauvignon vineyards have been planted since the 1960s and 1970s. The altitude is around 550 metres, the soils are alluvial and colluvial with a complex mix of clay, sand, gravel, and stones, and the climate is tempered by the proximity of the Andes. For Gandolini, Alto Jahuel is not just a place to grow grapes; it is the proof of his thesis that Maipo Andes can produce world-class Cabernet. The Las 3 Marías vineyard here was planted in 2001 with clonal selections at 7,000 vines per hectare — a density that forces competition, reduces yields, and produces grapes of extraordinary concentration. The fourth terrace of the Maipo River provides a soil profile that is both well-drained and mineral-rich — a terroir that is challenging and rewarding in equal measure.
Buin is a town in the southern Maipo Valley, at a lower altitude of around 475 metres, where the soils are more varied but still contain "fingers" of the best stony soil derived from the third and fourth alluvial terraces of the Maipo River. It was here, in 2003, that Stefano planted Los Cerrillos — 23 hectares of massale-selected Cabernet Sauvignon at 7,000 vines per hectare. The massale selection is a Burgundian technique: instead of planting a single commercial clone, the vineyard is propagated from cuttings of the best-performing vines, creating a genetic diversity that adds complexity and resilience to the wine. Buin is similar in style to Alto Jahuel but slightly warmer and softer, adding breadth and suppleness to the final blend. For Gandolini, Los Cerrillos is the counterpoint to Las 3 Marías — the yin to the yang, the breadth to the tension.
The planting density at Gandolini — 7,000 vines per hectare — is one of the highest in Chile and matches the best vineyards of Bordeaux and Burgundy. Most Chilean vineyards are planted at 3,000-4,000 vines per hectare, a legacy of the country's history of flood irrigation and mechanised farming. But Gandolini's high density forces the vines to compete for water and nutrients, reducing yields and concentrating flavours in the grapes. The root systems must dig deeper into the alluvial soils, accessing layers of gravel and clay that would be unreachable in a low-density vineyard. The result is a Cabernet Sauvignon with greater concentration, finer tannins, and a more pronounced mineral character — a wine that carries the imprint of the Maipo Andes terroir with a clarity that is rare in Chile. For Stefano, the density is not a technical choice; it is a philosophical one — a statement that Chilean wine can achieve the same vineyard intensity as the Old World.
The soils at Gandolini are a complex mix of alluvial and colluvial deposits from the Maipo River and the Andean foothills. The surface layer is franco — a balanced mix of sand, silt, and clay that provides good water retention and root penetration. Below that, a layer of medium-sized stones and gravel in a clay matrix ensures excellent drainage while holding enough moisture to sustain the vines through the dry summer. Deeper still, sand and big boulders force the roots to work hard, accessing minerals and water that are unavailable in the upper layers. This is not the fertile alluvium of the valley floor; it is the rocky, demanding soil of the foothills — a terroir that stresses the vines, reduces yields, and imparts a signature mineral clarity to the wine. Together, the three vineyards create a soil mosaic that is the foundation of Gandolini's complexity: Las 3 Marías provides structure and tension, Los Cerrillos provides breadth and suppleness, and the third Alto Jahuel vineyard adds mid-palate depth and aromatic intensity.
The Indigenous Yeast, the Taransaud Barrel & the Precision Hand
Stefano Gandolini's winemaking is defined by a single, unwavering principle: express the terroir of Maipo with the greatest possible precision. He is not a natural winemaker in the zero-sulfite, unfiltered sense; he is a terroir winemaker — a man who believes that the best wine is the one that most accurately reflects the place it comes from, made with the techniques that best serve the grape rather than the ego of the winemaker. The grapes are hand-harvested from the three vineyards, sorted, and fermented with indigenous yeasts — no commercial inoculation, no enzymes, no artificial nutrients. The indigenous yeasts capture the microbial fingerprint of the Maipo Andes — the wild yeasts that live on the skins of Cabernet Sauvignon grown in the alluvial soils of the Andean foothills.
After fermentation, the wine is aged for 21 to 24 months in Taransaud French oak barrels — sourced from the forests of southern France, where the oak is air-dried for three years and crafted by coopers who have been making barrels since 1932. Taransaud is one of the most prestigious cooperages in the world, used by top Bordeaux châteaux and Burgundy domaines, and their barrels are prized for their fine grain, slow integration, and ability to enhance rather than mask the wine's natural character. The oak is not new — the percentage of new oak is carefully managed to ensure that the wood supports the fruit rather than dominating it. The goal is not vanilla, toast, or coconut; it is structure, micro-oxygenation, and the slow polymerisation of tannins that turns a young, aggressive wine into a silky, age-worthy masterpiece.
The result is a Cabernet Sauvignon that is fresh, precise, structured, and balanced — not the over-extracted, high-alcohol, sweetly oaked style that once defined Chilean Cabernet, but a wine that reminds critics of Coonawarra or a classically restrained Bordeaux. There is a hint of mint and cedar spice on the nose, restrained blackcurrant fruit, and a minerally, savoury core that speaks of the gravel and stones of the Maipo Andes. The hallmark is exceptional balance — concentration without heaviness, oak integration without masking, and a finish that is long, clean, and unmistakably Maipo. This is not winemaking as manipulation; it is winemaking as precision — the art of getting out of the way while still providing the structure that great Cabernet needs to age.
The Indigenous Yeast & Taransaud Covenant
The guiding principle of Gandolini's cellar is that the best wine is the one that most faithfully represents its terroir. The indigenous yeasts capture the microbial fingerprint of the Maipo Andes — the wild yeasts that live on the skins of high-density Cabernet Sauvignon, in the air of the Alto Jahuel and Buin vineyards, and in the alluvial soils of the Andean foothills. The absence of commercial inoculation means the fermentation proceeds at its own pace, preserving the delicate aromatics and natural acidity of the grape. The Taransaud barrels — fine-grained French oak from southern forests, air-dried for three years — provide slow, gentle micro-oxygenation that polymerises tannins, builds structure, and adds subtle spice without ever masking the fruit. The 21-24 months of ageing is not a formula; it is the time required for the wine to integrate, evolve, and find its voice. The result is a Cabernet Sauvignon that is not made by the winemaker but revealed by him — a wine of freshness, precision, and balance that carries the imprint of three vineyards, three women named María, and one man's lifelong devotion to the greatest red grape in the world.
Las 3 Marías Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon & the Maipo Hand
The Gandolini portfolio is radical in its simplicity: just one wine, from one grape, from three vineyards — a Cabernet Sauvignon that is the distilled essence of Stefano Gandolini's lifelong education, travel, and devotion. The Las 3 Marías Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon is the flagship and the only wine — a blend of grapes from the Las 3 Marías vineyard in Alto Jahuel (planted 2001, clonal selections), the Los Cerrillos vineyard in Buin (planted 2003, massale selections), and the third Alto Jahuel vineyard. Each vineyard contributes a different voice: structure and tension from Las 3 Marías, breadth and suppleness from Los Cerrillos, and mid-palate depth from the third vineyard. Together, they create a Cabernet Sauvignon that is greater than the sum of its parts — a wine that has been called one of Chile's top Cabernet Sauvignons, world-class, and a benchmark for the Maipo Andes.
The Three Marías, the One Grape & the Maipo Hand
Gandolini is not merely a winery; it is a manifesto in a bottle — the story of how a Chilean-Italian winemaker, after working at Cos d'Estournel, Pavie, Louis Latour, and Robert Mondovi, returned to the Maipo Valley and planted three high-density vineyards of Cabernet Sauvignon to prove that Chile could produce a world-class expression of the world's greatest red grape. In an era when Chilean wine was defined by diversification, volume, and the homogenisation of flavour, Stefano Gandolini demonstrated that the most profound wines sometimes come from radical simplicity: one grape, one valley, three vineyards, and a refusal to compromise. It is largely thanks to projects like Gandolini that the Maipo Andes, high-density viticulture, and terroir-focused Cabernet Sauvignon now have a place in the global fine wine conversation. The same valley that produced Chile's first great Cabernets has become, through his work, a source of some of the freshest, most precise, and most balanced wines in the country.
The legacy of Gandolini is the legacy of the focused hand in Chilean viticulture. Stefano is not a typical Chilean winery founder: he is a man who studied in Chile, Italy, and Bordeaux, who worked at five of the world's greatest estates, who co-owns GVV Terroirs, who is partner and chief winemaker at Ventolera in Leyda, who consults at Von Siebenthal in Aconcagua, and who believes that the best wine is the one that expresses its terroir with the greatest possible precision. He does not chase trends. He does not chase scores. He makes one wine — Las 3 Marías Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon — and he makes it with the same patience, rigour, and devotion that defined his years in Bordeaux and Burgundy. The Taransaud barrels are not a luxury; they are a tool — a means of building structure and elegance without masking the voice of the vineyard. The indigenous yeast is not a gimmick; it is a philosophical stance that allows the Maipo Andes to speak without a commercial mask.
The future of the project is tied to the future of terroir-focused Cabernet Sauvignon in the Maipo Andes — to the growing recognition that the best wines come not from the most varieties or the most regions but from the most committed guardians of one place, one grape, and one vision. As the Las 3 Marías vineyard continues to mature — now over two decades old — as the Los Cerrillos massale selections continue to evolve and deepen, and as the blend of three vineyards continues to produce a Cabernet Sauvignon that rivals the best of Bordeaux and Napa, Stefano Gandolini remains what he has always intended to be: a student who became a master — a man who trusted the alluvial soils of Alto Jahuel, the high-density vineyards of Buin, and the patient hand of time, and who built something enduring in the foothills of the Maipo Andes. The dream is not finished. It is just beginning to age.
"This reminds me of a really good Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon. There's just a hint of mint and cedar spice on the nose, as well as restrained, savoury-edged blackcurrant fruit. The palate is focused and fresh with great balance and concentration, lovely restrained blackcurrant fruit and a minerally, savoury core. The oak is well integrated and the hallmark of this wine is exceptional balance. For me, this has to be one of Chile's top Cabernet Sauvignons. It's world class, and I reckon it will age really well."
— Jamie Goode, Wine Anorak, 93/100