Chile: A Final Look
Our time in Chile has drawn to an end. These 10 weeks have been a great eye opener. I have discovered the Chile I was hoping to find. Not only are the well known value wines here, but so too are an increasing number of higher end quality wines that the world needs to know more about.
By far and away two things struck me the most about Chile. The first is the size of the vineyards and wineries, and the second is the fact that in this country they are looking forward towards the future, instead of relying on their past. The first may be changing, and the second is why.
Chile is wine production on a huge scale. We visited a single vineyard that was almost 5000 acres. And it was only half of their holdings. Compare this to the whole of Burgundy's 13,500 acres or Oregon's 13,700. And this is just one large producer. A medium sized grower here has about 1000 acres, and that is more than the whole acreage of a large California producer like Mondavi.
To combat the industrial scale of these numbers the best large producers have teams of winemakers that keep the different levels of wine separate. It is like having several wineries under one roof. That way the finest wines can still be made with the hands on attention that a small winery can afford to give.
Everywhere we went the wineries speak about how they are experimenting, and how much more they have to learn. This is a pleasant contrast to so many other regions around the world where you are more likely to hear about their traditions and how they make wine like their predecessors did. Making great wine works, no matter if you use the most modern or the most ancient techniques, but striving to improve yourself or your wine always gets my vote.
It is this predilection to forward movement that will propel more small wineries into existence. 20 years ago there were only a handful of wineries, and they were all industrial sized. Now there are closer to 200 properties and they range greatly in production. The smaller artisanal efforts are just starting to appear, and I expect to see the trend continue, and the general level of quality to continue to improve.
The hospitality we received was remarkable. Everyone that we visited went out of their way to make us comfortable and to take care of us. We made some great friends on the trip and look forward to having the chance to see them all again at some future date. While we only got to the chance to visit less than 10% of all the wineries, we got a look at a good cross section of the market.
With our thanks here, in alphabetical order, or those wineries that played host for us:
We also want to give special thanks to the two wine stores that took the time and went to great expense to hold private tastings for us. El Mundo del Vino and Wain. With their help we were able to expand our understanding of the wines of Chile beyond just the few wineries we visited.
And final thanks go to the ever hard working Andes Wines without whom we would never have had the opportunities to explore as much of the Chilean wine scene as we did. They put together the tastings, introduced us to the community and garnered a good deal of press for us. Not willing to rest on their own laurels, they have already begun to work their magic for us in Argentina as well.
I am hard at work on two books about our Chile adventures. The first tentatively titled "Exploring Chilean Wines" will be a well organized ebook with the scores of wines that I tasted on this trip. It will be the first time an American has published such an exhaustive look at these remarkable wines.
The second book, with the working title of "Visiting the Wineries of Chile" will be a guide for seeking out these wineries for yourself. It will be a lavish publication with some of the more than 3000 photos my photographer wife Janet Engelhard took in Chile.
Off now to Argentina, for even more adventures on the Wine Road Less Traveled®!
By far and away two things struck me the most about Chile. The first is the size of the vineyards and wineries, and the second is the fact that in this country they are looking forward towards the future, instead of relying on their past. The first may be changing, and the second is why.
Chile is wine production on a huge scale. We visited a single vineyard that was almost 5000 acres. And it was only half of their holdings. Compare this to the whole of Burgundy's 13,500 acres or Oregon's 13,700. And this is just one large producer. A medium sized grower here has about 1000 acres, and that is more than the whole acreage of a large California producer like Mondavi.
To combat the industrial scale of these numbers the best large producers have teams of winemakers that keep the different levels of wine separate. It is like having several wineries under one roof. That way the finest wines can still be made with the hands on attention that a small winery can afford to give.
Everywhere we went the wineries speak about how they are experimenting, and how much more they have to learn. This is a pleasant contrast to so many other regions around the world where you are more likely to hear about their traditions and how they make wine like their predecessors did. Making great wine works, no matter if you use the most modern or the most ancient techniques, but striving to improve yourself or your wine always gets my vote.
It is this predilection to forward movement that will propel more small wineries into existence. 20 years ago there were only a handful of wineries, and they were all industrial sized. Now there are closer to 200 properties and they range greatly in production. The smaller artisanal efforts are just starting to appear, and I expect to see the trend continue, and the general level of quality to continue to improve.
The hospitality we received was remarkable. Everyone that we visited went out of their way to make us comfortable and to take care of us. We made some great friends on the trip and look forward to having the chance to see them all again at some future date. While we only got to the chance to visit less than 10% of all the wineries, we got a look at a good cross section of the market.
With our thanks here, in alphabetical order, or those wineries that played host for us:
- Anakena
- Anityal
- Casa Lapostolle
- Casas del Bosque
- El Principal
- Hacienda Chada
- Huelquen
- J. Bouchon
- Perez Cruz
- Portal del Alto
- San Estaban
- San Pedro
- Ventisquero
- Vina Haras de Pirque
- Vina Tarapaca
- William Fevre
We also want to give special thanks to the two wine stores that took the time and went to great expense to hold private tastings for us. El Mundo del Vino and Wain. With their help we were able to expand our understanding of the wines of Chile beyond just the few wineries we visited.
And final thanks go to the ever hard working Andes Wines without whom we would never have had the opportunities to explore as much of the Chilean wine scene as we did. They put together the tastings, introduced us to the community and garnered a good deal of press for us. Not willing to rest on their own laurels, they have already begun to work their magic for us in Argentina as well.
I am hard at work on two books about our Chile adventures. The first tentatively titled "Exploring Chilean Wines" will be a well organized ebook with the scores of wines that I tasted on this trip. It will be the first time an American has published such an exhaustive look at these remarkable wines.
The second book, with the working title of "Visiting the Wineries of Chile" will be a guide for seeking out these wineries for yourself. It will be a lavish publication with some of the more than 3000 photos my photographer wife Janet Engelhard took in Chile.
Off now to Argentina, for even more adventures on the Wine Road Less Traveled®!
posted by Wineguy at 9:49 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home