Chile: The Move from Value to Ultra-Premium Wines

The busload of wine purveyors just wrapped up with "You've lost that loving feeling" and is now segueing into "King of the Road." Pisco Sour in hand, staring out into the blackness of the Coastal Mountain Range, this is a fitting end to a wonderful day. And to think this is only day two of our 5 day "wine junket" to Chile. For laypeople, trips like these are wonderful incentives for those who are responsible for successfully bringing wine to market. Most of my twenty-eight bus passengers work at the distribution tier, a few at the retail level.

Our host is Vina Morande, a winery whose largest export market today is the UK, then Germany, closedly followed by the USA. The company's North American leadership has the
sauve and multi-lingual Jaime Moreno at the helm. Jaime's team covers 32 states in the US with the sole purpose of ensuring the Morande label is on every menu in every restaurant or hotel, as well as the shelves of every retailer. Besides his corporate savvy in growing the North American presence, he is very knowledgeable on wine, enjoys the occassional dig at Argentina, is the father of five (twins and triplets), and can muster the National dance of Chile (the Cueca) like a professional. Jaime is a native of Chile, so you couldn't ask for a better host for a trip back to his homeland.

The Country
No pictures will do justice to a place which is isolated from the Andes on the East, Antartica to the South, Pacific to the West, and the Atacama desert to the North. 3,000 miles of coast line, averaging 100 miles in width, and as narrow as 60 miles in one place, no other country is shaped like this or has so many square miles per person. The entire population of the country is the same as Los Angeles.

The latitude (34 degrees) of the Valle Central (which accounts for 80% of vines planted in the country) approximates Napa Valley (which accounts for less than 4% of California wine produced). Both are protected from the cold currents of the Pacific Ocean by different mountain ranges, which happen to have the same name--Coastal Mountain Range. In exactly the same way the Japanese Current from Alaska allows California to have Coastal wine regions, the Humbolt Current up from Antartica allows Chile to cool down decidely. Without the Humbolt, Chile's climate would be more like North Africa.

In more ways than one, Chile and California were separated at birth. Both benefit from low precipitation, loads of sunshine, cool evenings--long hangtime, organic growing (not producing) conditions, and very similar grape varietals. In order of plantings, here are the primary grapes grown in Chile: Cabernet Sauvignon (36%), Pais (14%), Merlot (12%), Chardonnay (7%), Carmenere (5%), and a dozen others in the low single digits. "Pais" by the way is the grape brought by the Conquistadors into South America. It is known as Pais in Chile, Criolla in Argentina, and was carried from Mexico by the missionaries into California, and thus is simply known as the "Mission" grape. In all cases the wines produced from this grape are undistinctive jug wines consumed entirely in country--although Mission's largest plantings today are likely in Texas, and not in California.

Finally, Chile shares one distinctive fact with only one other wine region--Washington state. It is phylloxera-free. Its sandy soils, combined with its sheer isolationist geography, has provided for non-grafted vine plantings. No North American root-stock graftings, which are commonplace in every other part of the world, anchor their vines. Chile still touts that its vines are descendents from "pure" European varietal cuttings brought over prior to 1860, the dawn of phylloxera's global scourge.

In spite of its size, Chile "owns" certain exports. For products like Copper, Iodine, and Fresh Table Grapes, Chile ranks number one in global exports, providing up to half of the world's iodine. You might be surprised that in addition to the good drinking wines of this country (only 3% of their exports), we also enjoy their avocados (17% of world exports), plums (16%), farmed salmon and trout (38%). Chile is number five in global wine exports, but is number one as a percentage of its total production--Chile exports 80% of the wine it makes; the next closest primary producer is Australia at 50%. Oh, and when I asked about that rich, buttery Chilean Sea Bass, and where its ranking was in relation to other products exported? The answer I received from Dr. Walter Sanchez, Doctor of Political Science at University of Chile, was "immeasureably low." Good. No need to alert the fish activists about my favorite fish for pan-sauteing.

Victim of Its Own Success
In spite of Chile's long winemaking heritage, which pre-dates California, and is more French-influenced than Spanish, "Brand Chile" didn't become a reality until 15+/- years ago. While Chile had Pinochet, its geopolitical instabilities paled compared to its "sleeping-giant" neighbor Argentina, thus nothing stood in its way in claiming the "soft, easy-drinking, fruit-forward, value category" whose only player was California--Australia wasn't a factor in that category--yet. The Chileans have been making wines that Americans (and the English) like to drink, and the prices are unbeatable. In every circle, Chile stole the buzz for value in wine.

Such has been the success that no one can separate the word value from Chile. And that is now their curse.

Chile's winemaking heritage is clearly European, yet prices for its ultra-premium wines barely top $60-80; far below the average Grand Cru's in Bordeaux, Burgundy, or icon labels in Spain & Italy. The country's top producers know their ultra labels are every bit of their European cousins, yet are still challenged to bridge the price gap. Change of this nature must start at the top, as folks involved in the everyday commerce of Chilean wine need to make a living, and leading a crusade on price can be bloody. For the economic development group ProChile, it is in their best interest to help raise awareness of Chile's Ultra labels, and assist in the price modifications that are sought. The US office of ProChile has a website jam-packed with information on all of the country's exported products, certainly wine too. http://www.chileinfo.com

In fact, as I write, the Chilean advocacy is conducting a "premium-wines" presentation in Dallas, the fourth of six stop-overs on the recent "Wines of Chile: The Next Generation."

The Trip
Please enjoy the photos with captions from the trip down South. We were treated with the ultimate in hospitality, and I'm sure I can speak for all of the attendees when I say that Chilean wine definitely has supplanted positive images about the people, culture, and foods each time we reach for a glass. And by the way, the toilet water in fact does not flush the opposite way as in the Northern Hemisphere. :)