Explore the wines of Chile
Published Saturday November 7th, 2009
Considering the importance of the Chilean wine selection at this year's World Wine and Food Expo and the number of wines from this country that won medals at the preceding Wine Excellence Awards, this week I share some information about the wines of Chile.
Location, location, location. Geography is the key element of the Chilean wine industry. Chile is essentially one long narrow strip of Pacific coastline bounded by the dry and hot Atacama Desert to the north and the Andes Mountains to the west, which effectively isolates them from the rest of South America.
This particular location makes it an ideal place to grow vines and is the main reason why Chile is one of the few wine regions in the world that was not affected by phylloxera, a pest that destroyed vines all over the world.
As a result, Chilean vines are some of the healthiest in the wine world and can be grown organically without too many risks. One of the wine world's leading exporters, Chile has earned a reputation for producing good value wine.
However in recent years Chile has demonstrated that it can produce great wines comparable with some of the finest in the world. Even with a great climate and more than 500 years of vine growing experience, the Chilean wine industry only began to flourish and gain international recognition after achieving political and economic stability in the 1980s.
Since then, things have really taken off. Today, Chile is ranked 10th behind Australia in total wine production and is the world's fifth ranked exporter of wine. Many respected wineries from around the world like Miguel Torres (Spain), Baron de Rothschild and Château Lafite (France), Robert Mondavi (USA) and Piero Antinori (Italy) have invested heavily in Chile with the belief that the Chilean wine regions like Maipo, Casablanca, Cachapoal, Colchagua, Maule and Elqui valleys are capable of producing great wine.
Concha Y Toro is probably the most popular but also one of the oldest and the biggest wineries in Chile.
Founded in 1883, they export to more than 70 countries. They produce some great value wines like the Trio line but also some of the best premium Chilean wines like Don Melchor Cabernet Sauvignon and Almaviva (a joint venture with Baron Philippe de Rothschild of Bordeaux).
Concha y Toro may be the biggest, but it is certainly not the only producer of great wines. When I think of Chilean wine, the names Montes, Carmen, Casa Lapostolle, Santa Rita, Santa Carolina, Cono Sur and Vina Errazuriz spring to mind, but there are many more! And this number is growing every year.
Most of the Chilean vines were imported from France two centuries ago.
Like most new world wine producing countries, Chile produces wine from a large number of grapes with the usual suspects leading the way like cabernet sauvignon, merlot, chardonnay and sauvignon blanc.
However, there is one notable exception, the carmenère grape.
Carmenère is an ancient Bordeaux grape that was, for the longest time, confused with Merlot, but has now emerged as a Chilean specialty and seems to be particularly suited to Chilean growing conditions.
Along with carmenère, Chile is also known for great Cabernet Sauvignon, good value Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc.
It's hard to believe that in only 10 years that the value of Chilean wine exports exploded from $30 million to more than $600 million per year and the number of exporters grew from 12 to more than 170.
For us wine lovers this situation means more offerings and competition among wineries resulting, I hope, in better wines at better prices. Chile is a country taking its spot on the world wine map, offering great buys and very good wines.
Make sure to try some of their fine wines at this year's wine show.
Weekly wine picks:
#088110831226: Casa Lapostolle Cabernet Sauvignon, Chile ($21.29)
#7804320510170: Casillero del Diablo Shiraz, Chile ($13.79)
#089046777336: Errazuriz Max Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon, Chile ($18.99)
#7804320156903: Cono Sur Bio Bio Riesling, Chile ($12.99)
* Robert Noel is Alcool N.B. Liquor's sommelier. His column, World of Wine, appears each Saturday in Life & Times.
More Life & Times
Search Articles
More CE Network Sites & Partners:
