(Photo: Diario La Epoca, Santiago, Chile)

The Wines of Chile: Past and Present Dr. Jorge W Suazo Georgia Southern University Department of Foreign Languages Paper presented at: FLAIR & the Southeast Foreign Language Collaborative Augusta, Georgia, November 8-9, 1996

In an article that appeared in the March 4, 1996 issue of the U.S. News & World Report states: "Easy-drinking, everyday wines at great prices: No wonder Americans have become increasingly fond of Chilean wines."⁽¹⁾ Competitors watch out! The same article cited above also mentions that "Chile now lags only Italy and France in wine exports to the United States and is poised for still more growth as vineyard acreage rises."⁽²⁾ Clearly, the U.S. is the largest importer of Chilean wines, but besides the U.S., Chile also exports its wines to various Latin American and European countries as well as Asian countries.

Besides Chile, there are a number of other American Republics that produce wine. However, only Argentina, Perú, Brazil and Chile are of interest to the United States. The wines of Argentina, Perú, and Chile lie almost entirely in the Andean foothills which are rough, rocky, and in some cases ferruginous. Chile is a small country both in area and in population, but from the standpoint of great wines, this South American nation is quite big.

Chile is a long and narrow strip of land that borders in the north with Perú and it extends twenty-eight hundred miles south to Tierra del Fuego and the Strait of Magellan. To the east of Chile we find the imposing snow-covered Andes range, including the tallest peak of the Western Hemisphere, the Mount Aconcagua. On the Western rim, Chile limits with the Pacific Ocean. The unique geographical location of this nation accounts for the ideal climatic conditions that have had such a marked effect on all the fruits of the soil. Whether they are grapes, peaches, raspberries, pears, melons, lentils, unions or garlic, they are rich in perfume, flavor, and character. Chile's wines are no exception.

• Conquest

• Colony

Cultivation of the grape vine and wine production were pursued in a rather haphazard  manner for about three-hundred years. It wasn't until the year 1851, when a man named Silvestre Ochagavía contracted the services of M. Bertrand, a French viticulturer who brought with him the first cuttings of Cabernets, Pinots, and other grapes. His arrival launched the modernization and vast expansion of wine production in Chile. It also increased its consumption and appreciation for its wines. During the years that followed in the next century, M. Bertrand was succeeded by a long series of great French viticulturists and enologists such as Gaston Canau, Georges Guyot de Granmaison, Leopold Gamerre, O. Brard, and Paul Pacottet. Thus, Chilean viniculture has developed mainly along French lines.

Wine is produced in most of Chile, however, we can distinguish three main wine-producing regions in the country. The first includes the Huasco and Elqui regions in the north, in the provinces of Atacama and Coquimbo. There we find wines that are high in alcohol content and mainly sweet, fortified types. The central sector includes the regions of Aconcagua, Maipo, Cachapoal and Lontué in the Aconcagua to Talca provinces. It is in these provinces where the best table wines are produced. The third region is in the southern provinces, from Maule to Bío-Bío which also include the Itata and Cauquenes area. This is where the bulk wines of the country are produced. Overall, some wines are more reputable than others, and most people believe the best wines are produced in the region of Llano del Maipo, near Santiago, nonetheless, this is a matter of dispute and of personal opinion.

The secret is in the soil of the wine regions. The soil in these areas is volcanic in nature. Besides its ideal soil conditions, Chile has indeed been blessed with a delightful sunny climate, and, most importantly, its vineyards have been generally disease-free. The vines have never had a serious plague such as mildew or Phylloxera because of the country's terrain, climate, and location, as well as the great precautions taken by agricultural inspectors at the borders. If the grape vines in Chile have suffered any diseases, they are not very serious. Most grape growers will only worry about late spring or early summer hailstorms which can sometimes be quite devastating.

There exist about a ten thousand different varities of vitis vinifera around the world, but the most frequently used are only a few dozen of them. The principal viniferavarieties that are cultivated in Chile for wine production, as well as for table grapes and raisins, are the one considered classical: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc. Most of the original cuttings were brought from the various European wine regions, primarily of French origin, but in recent years, cuttings have been imported from California.

• For white wines the varieties most used are:

Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon, Pinot Blanc, Chardonnay, Trebbiano, Riesling, Traminer, and the Chilean native variety called Loca Blanca.

• For red wines producers use primarily:

Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, Petit Verdot, Merlot, and Pinot Noir.

• The table and raisin varieties tend to be:

the Muscut of Alexandria, Malvasia, Malaga, and seedless varieties such as the Corinth and Thompson. Thousands of boxes of these are exported to the American market annually.

Red and white table wines

Until a few years, the largest volume of wine sold in Chile had been the ones labeled Tinto or Blanco. These were sold in grocery stores in the typical Chilean wicker-covered demijohn of five to ten liters called a chuico. However, premium wines are abundantly offered in the traditional European bottles in fine grocery stores, clubs, restaurants, and hotels. These wines are labeled Cabernet, Borgoña (Burgundy), Pommard, Pinot, Riesling, Rhine, Chablis, Sauvignon, Sémillon, Sauterns, and others. The labels bear the name of the vineyard and one of the following phrases in order of quality: "Gran Vino para Banquetes," ("great wines for banquets"), "Gran Vino," or "Reservado."

In spite of the fact that wine production in Chile still uses the classical varieties, wine-producers, in the last few years, have begun to develop new proyects with new varieties imported mainly from France. Thus, near the year 2000 Chile should be able to offer new and more diverse labels. Currently, the main new varieties that chilean vinters are trying to cultivate are:

The Syrah (or Shiraz as it known in Australia and in other areas)

The Cabernet Franc

The Viognier variety

The Malbec variety

The Carmenere variety

The Sangiovese variety

As far as marketing and exportation of Chilean wines is concerned, it has been said that the five to seven dollar bottle of wine that has been the strength of Chile's export success is much better that it was ten or even five years ago.⁽³⁾ Chilean vinters are now been praised for longer-aging and more complex wines which at nine and sixteen dollars the bottle are still bargains compared with the twenty-five dollar California competition.

Chile's exportation of wines to the United States market dates back to the 1980s when they started with the exportation of red wines, mainly Cabernet Sauvignon. Although, Americans have been converging to the white varietals like the Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay from the Casablanca Valley. According to French-trained master sommelier Héctor Vergara, "the Chilean whites are becoming more vibrant and full-bodied."⁽⁴⁾ They also tend to be fruitier than California wines. In the past, the fruity taste had been overwhelmed by the oak casks used during the fermentation period. Mr. Vervara says that "now they're letting the fruit come through more."⁽⁵⁾

The Chilean wines that are presently available in the United States are three different cabernets and they represent their makers' best efforts. They are Concha y Toro's Don Melchor, Errázuriz's Don Maximiano and Montes's Alpha. The Don Melchor has made it into the ranks of Wine Spectator's "outstanding" wines for its 1988 vintage. Similarly rated French wines go for three times Don Melchor's fifteen dollar price. Other upscale Chilean wines have scored "very good," that is, only one step below outstanding, with fair regularity. Many of the seven to nine dollar wine offerings follow close behind.

Consequently, it comes as no surprize that Robert Mondavi, the man who revolutionized California with his way of making wine, has recently visited Chile to formalize a joint venture with Viña Caliterra, a branch of Viña Errázuriz. Mondavi, who is the living myth of the wine world in California, has plenty of credits to his favour: he made famous his top Opus One, has defeated the proud French, and he is an experienced businessman with inventive marketing tactics. No wonder Mondavi has caused a great impact among Chilean vinters. Undoubtedly, he is a great asset to Viña Errázuriz and to the Chilean market because when Mondavi signs a bottle, he does it without any mistakes. And this, among the exclusive world of wine, does not leave any room for doubt. He asserts that the French have had the Chileans believe that only they, the French, know and can produce the best wines in the world. This is exactly what he had been told several years ago about his California wines. He proved them wrong in the 1976 experts' wine-testing in Paris.

He states that the special character of the California climate makes it possible to produce better wines than France does, and he also thinks certain areas in Chile are even better than that of California's climate. It took him twenty years to convince the United States market to accept California wines and twenty more to sell them abroad. He believes that with all the knowledge he possesses now, and in the case of Chile, he and his Chilean partners can reduce the whole process to five years. The proyect is to produce a premium Chilean wine called Chile Uno to be sold between 35 to 60 dollars the bottle to join the best wines in the world, and he also plans on making another more popular type that will cost less but still more than what Caliterra cost now.

1. Linda Robinson, "Chill with Chilean wines," U.S. News & World Report March 4, 1996: 69. [Back to Text]
2. Robinson, U.S. News 69.[Back to Text]
3. Robinson U.S. News 69.[Back to Text]
4. Robinson U.S. News 69.[Back to Text]
5. Robinson U.S. News 69.[Back to Text]

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