Vaildaily.com.-/ While many imported wine varietals are known for price inflation, Chilean wines have generally been labeled “cheap” in recent decades — especially compared to most foreign pours. It’s a reputation that doesn’t always translate to elite drinkability.
“Chile has been known to produce a lot of wine,” said Chilean winemaker Rene Merino at the “Wines of Chile” wine dinner at the Sonnenalp in Vail on Jan. 17. “And it has been sent all over the world for very cheap prices.” Merino is the managing director and owner of Merino Wines located in the Limari Valley. He explained how “The New Chile” portfolio, released in May by Vine Connections, a California-based importer, represents the wine culture of the country in an entirely new way. “The fantastic thing about ‘The New Chile’ is that we are nine wineries working together, and that is quite unusual in the wine world,” he said. “We are here with five of the wine producers sitting at the same table and trying our wines together, which is quite unique — you won’t find this very often.”
Wine production paradise
Chile’s long shape stretches more than 2,880 miles from north to south and is just 265 miles from east to west, at its widest point. Interestingly enough, its shape is quite similar to North America’s prized place for wine production, California. The climate, however, is flipped upside down.
“The map is opposite of California,” said Lizzy Butler, U.S. brand ambassador for Vina Mayu winery in Chile. “The farther north you go, the hotter and dryer the climate; farther south gets more rainfall.”
Chile’s natural boundaries play a significant role in the country’s climate, and therefore its wine, with geographic landmarks that include the Pacific Ocean to the west, the Andes Mountains to the east, Patagonia glaciers to the south and the Atacama Desert to the north.
Butler said what Chilean winemakers are now realizing is how much potential they have, with all the country’s resources. “Chile is a viticultural paradise,” she said. “It is completely protected by four major geographic regions, and they all box-in Chile to protect it from huge rain and other severe weather patterns.”
Chile has been producing wine for more than 500 years and began to expand on a global scale in the 1980s with the introduction of French oak barrels and stainless steel tanks. Today, Chile ranks fifth in wine exportation at more than 400,000 metric tons, according to Vine Connections.
The 14 wine growing regions of the country are in a series of valleys that stretch 700 miles from the Elqui Valley through the center of the country to the Malleco Valley in the south. “The New Chile” portfolio represents nine boutique wineries and 12 growing regions from all over the country.
The Sonnenalp’s second wine dinner, in a series of four this season, highlighted four of the nine wineries: Merino, J. Bouchon, Amayna and Mayu — each represented with food pairings and informative discussion from the winemakers themselves.
“When it comes to these winemaker dinners, it’s all about the wine,” said Jarrett Quint, sommelier at the Sonnenalp. “These are small scale wineries. These are from ‘terrior’; these are wineries that are focused on quality.”