Just 10 years ago Chile was still talking about emerging regions in its push to communicate diversity and move on from its somewhat ‘safe and reliable’ image. This has fast changed, with a steady drip feed of generic-backed tastings focusing on ancestral and alternative varieties, from resurgent País to a host of contenders as varied as Semillon and Cinsault, Moscatel, Mourvèdre and Riesling, plus much else besides.
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Chile is emerging as a hugely exciting and innovative wine-producing country, while also being the only top five wine catgeory expected to grow it's UK market share between now and 2021 (IWSR Trends Report figiures).
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When I was younger, fitter and considerably trimmer than I am now, I took part (twice) in a wine trade version of The Full Monty for charity. The name of our group of buffed-up writers, sommeliers and importers was The Semillons (geddit?). So, when I received an invitation to an event called The Semillon Sessions recently, part of me hoped that a new group of amateur strippers would be strutting their moves on a stage somewhere.
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“Ahh, so you’re the one who hates Bordeaux…” said the late, great Denis Dubourdieu when we were introduced. Bordeaux’s pre-eminent authority on white wines, Dubourdieu was a man used to having his reputation precede him. Me? Less so. As I told the master winemaker, though, I don’t hate Bordeaux. We were drinking white Haut-Brion at the time, after all. But, as I also told him – and put into print as often as I could get away with at Decanter – I do hate its arrogance, its prices, and the nauseating esteem in which it is held by those old enough to know better.
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