The Goofy Name, the Serious-ish Wine & the Potable Hand
Vino Potable is the project of Laura Sinisterra — Colombian by birth and Chilean by rite of winemaking — a négociant operation devoted to fresh, nuanced, low-intervention wines made from gorgeous historic grapes in the Itata Valley. Founded in 2023, Vino Potable is a goofy name with serious-ish wines: wild-fermented, vibe-fermented, and made from own-rooted, head-trained, dry-farmed centenarian vines in manually worked vineyards where no tractors or machinery ever tread. Laura sources her grapes from small family vineyards passed down over centuries, working to ensure that the families who tend them can survive and thrive while respecting the land and, in turn, the wine. Her goal is singular: elevating Itata, its wines, and its people, all the while contributing to the future of its environment. With only 6,000 bottles produced annually, this is micro-scale natural winemaking with macro-scale heart. And yes — it is safe to drink.
The Colombian, the Rite of Winemaking & the Sinisterra Hand
Laura Sinisterra was born in Colombia — a country with no wine tradition to speak of, where the Andes rise steeply from tropical valleys and the closest vineyard is a flight away. Her journey to winemaking was not inherited; it was earned. She arrived in Chile by choice, drawn to the Itata Valley — one of the oldest wine regions in the Americas, where vines have been tended for five centuries and where the culture of wine is not an industry but a way of life passed down through generations. For Laura, becoming a winemaker in Itata was a rite of passage — a commitment to a place, a people, and a set of vines that have outlived empires.
She founded Vino Potable in 2023 with a deliberately goofy name and a serious intention. The name is a wink — "potable" means "drinkable" in English, and in Chilean Spanish it carries the same casual, everyday connotation. But beneath the humour is a radical proposition: that wine should be safe to drink, honest to taste, and joyful to share. Laura is not a landowner; she is a négociant — she buys grapes from small family farmers who have preserved their ancestral vines against all economic logic, and she vinifies them with the lightest possible touch. Her first vintage was complex, seductive, and fruit-forward — a declaration of intent from a winemaker who believes that the best wines are the ones you can trust.
The project is built on relationships. Laura works with growers like Eliana Sanhueza and Don Omar — families whose vineyards have been passed down for centuries, whose vines are own-rooted, head-trained, and dry-farmed, and whose farming is done entirely by hand and by horse. She pays fair prices. She visits regularly. And she makes wine not to impress critics but to elevate Itata — its wines, its people, and its environment. For Laura, Vino Potable is not a brand; it is a bridge between the past and the future of Chilean natural wine.
"Wine you can trust. Wine you can drink."
— Vino Potable
Itata, the Centenarian Vines & the Manual Hand
The Itata Valley is one of the oldest and most historically significant wine regions in the Western Hemisphere — a valley in the Ñuble Region of Southern Chile where Spanish missionaries planted the first vines in the 16th century. For five centuries, small families have tended dry-farmed, head-trained (gobelet), own-rooted vines on granitic soils — a viticultural heritage that is globally unique in its ability to produce healthy, natural wine without irrigation, chemicals, or modern machinery. The climate is cool and Mediterranean, tempered by Pacific winds that blow through the coastal range, creating long, slow growing seasons that preserve acidity and build complexity.
Laura's grapes come from small family vineyards passed down over centuries — plots that have never seen a tractor, where all work is done by hand and by horse. The vines are centenarian or older — some well over 100 years — and because phylloxera never reached Chile, they are ungrafted, rooted directly in their native granitic soil. The soils are rocky, steep, and buffeted by the Pacific's cooling winds, fostering a long, slow development of complexity that no irrigation or fertiliser could replicate. These are not vineyards; they are living archives.
Laura works with two primary growers: Eliana Sanhueza, whose extremely steep, rocky vineyards sit exposed at the top of the Itata coastal range — constantly buffeted by Pacific winds — and Don Omar, whose north-facing vineyards in Pellines, Itata sit at 161 metres above sea level on granitic soils, co-planted with País, Muscat of Alexandria, Torrontel, and Semillón. All vineyard management is manual. All farming is organic by default — no herbicides, no synthetic chemicals, no tillage. The goal is not certification but preservation: keeping these ancient vines alive, keeping the families who tend them thriving, and keeping the land healthy for the next five centuries.
Itata is not a wine region in the modern sense; it is a garden of wine — a place where five centuries of family-tended vineyards have yielded vines that are globally unique in their ability to produce healthy natural wine. The valley is located in the Ñuble Region of Southern Chile, between the Andes and the Pacific, with a cool Mediterranean climate and granitic soils. For Laura, Itata is not just a source of grapes; it is the cultural and viticultural soul of her project. The wines of Itata are shaped by granite soils, Pacific breezes, and traditional head-trained vines — resulting in freshness, balance, and a true sense of place.
Eliana Sanhueza's vineyards are among the most dramatic in Itata — extremely steep, rocky plots sitting exposed at the top of the coastal range, constantly buffeted by the Pacific's cooling winds. Her 60+ year old Pink Muscat of Alexandria vines are own-rooted, head-trained, and dry-farmed in a no-till organic vineyard. The long, slow development fostered by the wind and the altitude gives the grapes extraordinary aromatic complexity and natural acidity. For Laura, these vineyards represent the pinnacle of Itata's coastal potential — a place where the vine and the ocean are in constant conversation.
Don Omar's vineyard in Pellines, Itata, is a north-facing parcel at 161 metres above sea level on granitic soils — co-planted with País, Muscat of Alexandria, Torrontel, and a bit of Semillón. All vineyard management is manual, by hand and by horse. The País here is co-planted with San Francisco — locally known as "la uva manzana" (the apple grape) because of its size and crunch. As with all vineyards in Itata, massale selection is alive and well, meaning no vineyard is truly monovarietal. For Laura, Don Omar's parcel is the source of her most joyful, most drinkable wine — a field blend in spirit if not in name.
All of Laura's vineyards are worked entirely by hand and by horse — no tractors, no machinery, no synthetic chemicals. The vines are own-rooted, head-trained, and dry-farmed, with deep root systems that access water reserves in the granitic subsoil. The absence of tillage preserves soil structure and microbial life. The absence of herbicides allows native plants to grow between the vines, creating biodiversity and natural pest control. This is not biodynamics as a trendy philosophy; it is the original Itata way — viticulture as family heirloom, passed from father to son, from mother to daughter, for five centuries.
Vibe-Fermented, the Cold Hand & the Low-Intervention Covenant
Laura Sinisterra's winemaking philosophy is distilled in a single idea: "vibe-fermented" — wine made not by recipe but by intuition, patience, and respect for the raw material. She is not interested in manipulating the grape; she is interested in preserving it. Her wines are wild-fermented at extremely low temperatures — a technique that extracts only tiny, soft tannins and preserves the delicate aromatics of the ancient varieties she works with. Sulphur is minimal — only 20 PPM added at bottling — and nothing else is added or taken away.
The cellar work is deliberately simple. Grapes are hand-harvested and destemmed, then placed in open vessels for skin maceration — 15 days for the Pink Muscat, 20 days for the País. Fermentation is driven entirely by indigenous yeasts present on the grape skins, and the extremely low temperatures mean that fermentation proceeds at an achingly slow rate, preserving an insanely juicy feel and capturing the microbial soul of each vineyard. The wines are unfiltered — carrying their natural sediment and living character as proof of their authenticity.
What distinguishes Vino Potable from many natural wine projects is Laura's rejection of funk for funk's sake. Her goal is not to make weird wine; it is to make honest wine — wines that are fresh, nuanced, and deeply drinkable. The Pink Muscat is acid-driven and aromatic, with none of the overbearing soapy floral notes associated with its parent plant. The País is intensely cherried and strawberried, rich in Pacific garrigue, and thirst-inducing in its balance of fresh and savoury. These are wines made for oysters, grilled octopus, baba ghanouj, and summer barbeques — wines that disappear quickly and leave you reaching for another glass.
Vibe-Fermented & the Cold Covenant
The guiding principle of Laura's cellar is that the best fermentation is the one that happens slowly, naturally, and at the coldest possible temperature. The indigenous yeasts on the ancient grape skins drive fermentation without commercial inoculation. The extremely low temperatures — achieved by ambient conditions in the Itata Valley — extract only tiny, soft tannins and preserve the delicate aromatics of Pink Muscat and País. The 15-20 day skin maceration gives colour, texture, and phenolic complexity without bitterness. The 20 PPM of sulphur at bottling provides just enough stability for the journey from vineyard to table. And the unfiltered bottling keeps the living yeast, the texture, and the ancestral memory intact. The cellar is not a laboratory but a cool, quiet space where a Colombian winemaker lets five centuries of Itata viticulture speak for itself.
Amor y Perreo, País Más País & the Potable Hand
The Vino Potable portfolio is deliberately tiny — just two wines, produced in quantities of roughly 6,000 bottles total — each one a portrait of a specific grower, a specific vineyard, and a specific moment of cold, slow fermentation. The wines are named with humour and intention: "Vino del Amor y Perreo" (Wine of Love and Perreo) is the Pink Muscat orange wine — a wine for dancing and romance. "País Más País" (País Plus País) is the País red — a wine so good that Laura decided to add more. Both are wild-fermented, low-intervention, unfiltered, and bottled with only 20 PPM sulphur. Both are designed to be chilled, shared, and enjoyed without pretension.
The Goofy Name, the Négociant & the Elevating Hand
Vino Potable is not merely a winery; it is a statement — the story of how a Colombian woman walked into one of the oldest wine valleys in the Americas and decided to make wine that is honest, drinkable, and a little bit goofy. In an era when Chilean wine was defined by industrial scale, corporate consolidation, and the erasure of smallholder farming, Laura Sinisterra demonstrated that the most profound wines sometimes come from a 60-year-old Pink Muscat vine on a steep, rocky hillside buffeted by Pacific winds, wild-fermented at extremely low temperatures for 15 days, and bottled with a label that says "100% Amor y Perreo". It is largely thanks to projects like Vino Potable that Itata, Ñuble, and the heritage varieties of Southern Chile now have a place in the global natural wine conversation. The same vineyards that industrial Chile tried to forget have become, through her work, sources of some of the most fresh, nuanced, and deeply drinkable wines in the country.
The legacy of Vino Potable is the legacy of the négociant as community builder. Laura is not a typical Chilean winemaker: she is a Colombian who chose Itata, who buys grapes from small families rather than owning land, who pays fair prices so that growers can survive and thrive, and who believes that elevating a region means elevating its people first. She does not chase scores. She does not build her brand on supermarket placement. She makes 6,000 bottles a year of two wines — one orange, one red — and she names them with humour and heart. The goofy name is the point: wine should not be intimidating. It should be potable.
The future of the project is tied to the future of smallholder viticulture and natural wine in the Itata Valley — to the growing recognition that the best wines come not from the most famous appellations but from the most committed guardians of ancient, dry-farmed vines. As Vino del Amor y Perreo continues to introduce the world to Pink Muscat of Alexandria as an orange wine of extraordinary precision, as País Más País proves that País can be the ultimate vin-de-soif — fresh, juicy, and perfect with oysters — and as Laura continues to build relationships with the families who have tended these vines for centuries, Vino Potable remains what it has always intended to be: a goofy name with serious-ish wines. A bridge between Colombia and Chile. A bridge between the past and the future. And a reminder that the best wine is the one you can trust, the one you can drink, and the one that makes you smile.
"Goofy name, serious-ish wines. Infinite enjoyment."
— Vino Potable