First time visitors to this year’s Wines of Chile annual tasting in London could be forgiven for thinking that this is a country in a permanent state of evolution, often operating at the fringes of established viticulture to drive a rolling agenda of innovation.
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Chile is in the midst of a dramatic revision of its viticultural assets. Andrew Catchpole asks three leading producers what part the larger companies are playing.
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Chilean producer Viña Santa Rita experienced a historically warm harvest, with the highest temperatures recorded in the last 70 years contributing to “unprecedented grape maturity”.
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Chilean Producer Morandé Wine Group has launched a new winery and secured new UK listings with Waitrose and Direct Wines.
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Tim Atkin MW, Harper's columnist and leading UK wine writer, has launched his 2023 Chile report.
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Eight years since the launch of Viña Concha y Toro's Centre for Research and Innovation, the first of its climate change ‘resistant’ vines have been planted
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Casa Real is a fitting poster child for the agrarian revolution sweeping across Chile today. The nation’s winegrowers, passionate and highly driven, continue to refine their knowledge of local soils, matching the vine variety to the place. “Casa Real represents an apex of terroir expression in the Maipo Valley. Since the wine’s inception in the 1980s, our journey has been a legacy of understanding the environment,” says Santa Rita winemaker Sebastián Labbé. “We are custodians of the soil – nothing less.”
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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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Chilean winery Viña Santa Rita has released its 2019 Casa Real vintage on the La Place de Bordeaux marketplace.
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Pioneering winemaker, Derek Mossman Knapp of Garage Wine Co, was in London this week for the UK launch of their Old-Vine Revival project. The initiative began in the Maule in Southern Chile during lockdown to revive small parcels of old vines of the ancient grape variety País.
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Les Grands Chais de France (GCF) is continuing its international expansion programme with the recent acquisition of Viña Las Niñas in the Apalta region of Chile.
In addition to GCF’s 68 properties in France, the business has already extended its footprint in Europe with the purchase of Castillo de Aresan in Spain and Danubiana in Hungary.
Now GCF has made its first major international acquisition with Las Niñas, becoming an influential player in the Chilean wine industry. This move is part of GCF’s new strategic direction to expand its focus to that of a global wine producer with estates in premium wine regions around the world
Cono Sur, one of Chile’s leading wineries, has launched a new Sauvignon Blanc Blush into its Bicicleta range.
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Having flown majorly under the radar in Chile since the nineties, when so-called ‘late-ripening’ Merlot was finally outed as Bordeaux varietal Carmenère, the grape has gone on a serious journey of self-discovery.
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With its menu populated by Central and South American delicacies, Paladar aptly defines itself as “the taste of Latin America in the heart of London SE1”. To match its geographical scope, the restaurant’s wine list consists of labels from Peru, Uruguay, Brazil, and Mexico. Chile and Argentina feature too, of course – South America-themed restaurants serve as their natural home. Elsewhere however, the continent’s two leading wine-producing countries tend to be relegated to the cheaper end of the wine list.
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The talk among Chile’s firmament of terroir-focused wineries is of site selection, with many smaller brands promoting sub-zones and regionality, emphasising the superior quality of cool-climate vineyards such as Lo Abarca in San Antonio or Los Morros in Maipo. Proponents of this approach have long argued that terroir creates added value, encouraging consumers to leap into premium styles.
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Casillero del Diablo, Concha y Toro’s (CyT) flagship brand, is looking to nab a greater share of the Sauvignon Blanc pie with the launch of a premium coastal wine from Colchagua’s Ucuquer vineyard.
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Buyers and critics alike share a snapshot of what currently excites them about South America with Sonya Hook.
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Both as wine producers and countries, Argentina and Chile offer very different profiles. The former has its hugely successful hero variety in Malbec, while the latter, having driven its reputation on affordable and accessible international varieties, is gaining ground as a producer of genuine interest and value in the mid-price range. Argentina too, with Malbec having secured a strong foothold at a more premium ‘entry’ price level, has been pushing its diversity, while climbing its flagship variety higher up the price ladder in independents and the on-trade.
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Santa Rita Estates (SRE) has published its mid-harvest report, and it’s good news for Chile, along with Santa Rita and Carmen.
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Viña Concha y Toro (CyT) has reached a ‘milestone’ in its sales career, with more than half of the company’s wine revenues stemming from higher-value products.
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