I had the opportunity to visit Copey (co-pay) Estate Winery in Copey de Dota Mountains of Costa Rica. (website) I got this opportunity as some friends have a house in Manuel Antonio in the Puntarenas Province, near Quepos, Costa Rica. When they said, come visit, I said – why not?
Then I checked into if Costa Rica had any wineries. I turns out that Copey Vinacola is Costa Rica’s first commercial winery. You can see the amazing pictures at the end.
Many thanks to my friend Michael who drove the three hours, starting at 4 am, through the mountains in and out of clouds to get me to the winery. Originally, I had just a tour scheduled for the four of us, but Copey called and let me know they had a morning tour that would include helping with harvest. Having never helped with harvest, how could I resist? Hence the early morning start to get there by 8 am.
Copey Estate Winery sits at about 7500 feet above sea level (2,300 meters). They have 15 hectares (37 acres), with a little more than 35,000 vines.
It’s part of the 3 Corners Wine project. The 3 Corners Wine project has extreme wineries in the Negev Desert in Israel, in the volcanic rocks of Moon Mountain in California and in the Copey Mountains of Dota in Costa Rica. Together, these three regions give the project its name: 3 Corners Wine.
One of the things to know about Costa Rica is that it really only has two seasons – wet and dry. So, how then do you grow grapes? Well, as we found out – you manipulate the vines. After several years of failed attempts to get grapes to grow naturally with the Costa Rican seasons, the vineyard decided to try something different.
Vines are planted in “greenhouses” that keep out the birds, filter what little sunlight comes through the clouds and the water is rationed to determine the season.
As you can see in the photo, there are two such rows of greenhouses. The one on the left was just experiencing bud break (where the grapes are just starting to form), while the one on the right is where I got to help harvest Syrah.
As the guide said, it’s hard not to eat the grapes off the vine as they are so sweet. It was amazing to see how in the same span of acreage they had grapes in every season… this means they are in constant production and harvest four times a year.
Since it’s greenhouses, it’s hand harvested, and lovingly trucked down the slopes to be processed. I got to help sort grapes (you can see the one green one in the midst of the ripe ones below, and I had Andrés Serrano, the winemaker, fuss at me about my sorting). While the crew finished sorting and started destemming and crushing, we headed to a tasting. I didn’t take a notebook, so my notes are short – but hopefully they give you an idea of the wines.
This was not your typical wine tasting. We got to taste a Syrah from all three wineries. The wineries are: 3 Corners in the Moon Mountains, California, NANA in Neguev Desert, Israel and Copey in Copey de Data, Costa Rica.
We started with the 2022 NANA Chardonnay paired with smoked trout.
This had a bit more minerality (read salt) than a typical California Chardonnay, but still enjoyable.
As you can see in the picture it’s a very light yellow.
Then we tried the 2021 Copey Syrah that was very young but had cassis, black pepper and black fruit flavors.
It was paired with the Manchego and Swiss cheeses.
As you can see, the wine has a great color to it. Smells even better.
We moved to the 2021 NANA Syrah paired with a stuffed fig.
This had deeper black cherry with some pepper and other spices.
Its aged in mostly new French oak barrels for 16 months.
We ended the wine section of the tasting with the 2017 3 Corners Syrah paired with salami.
Flavors of black cherry and relatively soft tannins.
A fairly typical California Syrah.
While on the tour we also got see the golden berry farm used to make the Golden Rush liquor. In the US we call them Gooseberries.
Since the weather is relatively constant, they have several harvest a year to make the liquor – which is sweet but tart and fairly thick on the tongue.
Personally, I like it mixed with a little bit of lemon vodka and soda. Very refreshing.
One of the nice things about the Golden Rush is that it is providing a way for more local farmers to make money by farming the crop exclusively for Golden Rush. The winery is very focused on sustainability and enhancing the local economy. Agritourism is not a big business in Costa Rica like it is in other regions, but they are hoping that the winery will help to spark more agritourism in Costa Rica. Most people go for the wildlife or the beaches, but the food is amazing.
After the tasting we got to enjoy the charcuterie board and smoked trout board that was part of our afternoon tour with a bottle of Tierra (Syrah).
I came home with two bottles of Tierra and two bottles of Pinot Noir, and one bottle of Golden Rush. (I was almost over my luggage weight limit.) I’ll do a more detailed set of tasting notes when I open a bottle. In the meantime, enjoy the photos, and if you get the chance to visit Costa Rica, try and sneak in a visit to the winery.
