Once stagnant wine producer comes into its own
Six days isn’t a very long time to explore a nation as vast and diverse as Chile but it was long enough for me to realize that everything I thought I knew about the country was completely wrong.
I had always regarded Chile as a land of corporate giants churning out vast quantities of cheap wines to garner market share without even a passing thought to quality. While this perception may have had some truth in the past it certainly doesn’t do justice to the Chile I recently got to know. Driving the length of this puzzling and deeply misunderstood country I discovered a complex and vibrant place that is currently in the midst of a massive quality revolution — the race to uncover the most precious terroirs is now fiercely underway.
In the 1990s the wine industry strategy in Chile was to plant what the world wanted to drink. Winemakers promptly populated their most reliable regions such as Maipo and Colchagua with Cabernet and Merlot confident that their unwavering sun would easily ripen the fruit. The recipe was simple and so were the wines.
Chile doesn’t have much of a wine culture — although that’s certainly changing as the country’s middle class emerges — so it has always taken its cue from the outside world. The country exports over 95 per cent of its wine production so it’s easy to understand why the industry cares so much about what the rest of the world thinks. But slowly winemakers have come to realize that the search for what they can do best is a better path to success than pandering to world markets and chasing trends.
This has led a throng of young winemakers to venture into fresh territory armed with new varieties many never seen before on Chilean soil. Gone is the mindset of planting predictable grapes in only the warmest regions. Today these winemakers are busy searching out Chile’s most extreme climates and new varietals are finding unlikely homes: seductive Pinot Noirs from the deep south of Bio-Bio; perfumed Syrahs planted high in the isolated hills of Elqui; and penetrating Sauvignon Blanc’s from the cool oceanside vineyards of San Antonio.
When you compare Chile to the rest of the world it is impossible not to see her potential. So many of the country’s top regions have only recently unveiled products and incredible results have emerged from impossibly young vineyards. Also of note is the move from traditional farming to a more organic approach a trend now evident in nearly every region.
The amount of experimentation currently underway is astounding — people seem willing to try anything here and there have definitely been more successes than failures. Trudging as much of the country as I could in just a few short days I tasted everything from Cinsault fermented in 200-year-old clay pots to vibrant Rieslings grown in the foothills of the Andes to pale rosés that could stand alongside the very best of Provence.
New initiatives such as MOVI (Movement of Independent Vintners) have been formed to help small independent growers flourish in what has traditionally been a realm of larger corporate entities. Their members are committed to a credo that dictates they remain small and quality-oriented that they craft wine personally on a human scale and that it reflects a particular vision beyond origin and terroir. They are not allowed promotional or marketing people at their tastings — just owners and winemakers who are intimately involved in production. All in all they have outlined what every successful wine region already knows: Passion is the key to great wine; when you have it marketing is unnecessary — the people will find you.
Why not discover your own evidence of Chile’s wine revolution and taste one of these beautiful offerings?
• 2008 Falernia Syrah Elqui Valley — Aromas of smoked bison and violet followed by a mouthful of smouldering blueberries. $20.
• 2007 De Martino El Leon Single Vineyard Carignane — From recently rediscovered 80-year-old vines comes this dense but generous wine brimming with plum and Christmas cake spice. $38.
