A chardonnay from Australia and another from northern California might be made from the same grapes, but they taste very different. Why? What wine geeks call terroir: The land where the grapes are grown—its soil, its climate, its altitude, even the length of its days and nights—is incredibly important to the flavor of the finished wine when it goes in the bottle.
What’s true of grapes is also true of fish. A salmon caught in the Atlantic might be the same species as another caught in the Pacific, but they taste very different. Why? Some call it merroir: The water where fish grow—its temperature, its salinity, its nutrient content, even how fast it’s moving—is incredibly important to the flavor of the meat once it hits your plate.
At Verlasso, our location, our merroir, is what makes our salmon the chef’s choice.
Let’s start with Patagonia, the region we call home. A triangle of land at the very southern tip of South America, Patagonia includes parts of both Chile and Argentina. There is a cool, dry climate here, with rugged and rocky land that’s not very good for farming. Its unspoiled natural beauty makes Patagonia popular with tourists, while its sparse population and relative lack of industry keep the waters offshore clean and pure.
In those waters, just off the west coast of Patagonia in the Pacific, is where you will find Verlasso’s salmon farms. They sit in the flow of the Humboldt Current, a massive flow of cold water that runs from Antarctica all the way up the west coast of South America, along the entire coast of Chile and as far as Peru. Driven by global wind patterns and the rotation of the Earth, the Humboldt Current brings nutrient-rich water from the bottom of the ocean up to the surface, where it feeds one of the world’s most productive ecosystems. Microplankton and algae grow on the nutrients, then they feed small fish, which feed bigger fish, and so on, all the way up to whales and seals - and people. The nutrient-rich waters feed our salmon naturally, so they can grow large with less added feed. And the unspoiled purity of the region prevents disease and parasites.
Everything about the place we raise salmon makes for great meat. Salmon live in cold water, and the fast-moving cold water of the Humboldt Current ensures that our fish are constantly working to swim against it, giving their flesh the fat marbling and firm texture that’s the signature of Verlasso Salmon.
Our Chilean merroir is what makes Verlasso salmon the best in the world.