Sommeliers serve up tips for Chile

Top UK sommeliers have called for Chile to show greater consistency and less extraction if it is to boost its representation in the fine dining sector.

The comments arose during a tasting of a range of Carmenere wines produced by Concha y Toro in Peumo, a sub-region of Cachapoal, where the variety dominates along with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot.

Offering his own pick of Chile’s greatest strengths, Laurent Chaniac, group wine buyer for Cinnamon Club, cited: “Casablanca Pinot Noir, Limari for its fresher styles and the Maipo structured reds.”

As for where the country struggles in the UK, Chaniac suggested: “I think in Chile you want to avoid the hotter regions.” Despite his belief that, compared to other New World countries, Chile offers “better value for money”, Chaniac still pointed to the challenge of selling more expensive Chilean wines, saying: “At £60 I’m going to struggle.”

Savoy Grill wine manager Cédric Beaumond supported this view, admitting: “We keep Chile a little bit more for the cheaper part of the list, for the Saturday night crowd.” Looking towards the country’s more expensive styles, he remarked: “We can make good margins, but if I was to charge for my time in selling these wines…”

For Beaumond, a key element that would help improve Chile’s reputation at higher price points is consistency. “They need to be more regular on the quality,” he commented. “If they can make this level for two, three, four years in a row then it would be a revelation.”

As for stylistic trends, Beaumond recommended: “More elegance and less extraction would make introducing Chilean wines easier.”

There was also broad support from the sommeliers for further emphasis on Chile’s region’s and sub-regions such as Peumo. “There’s a lot of work to do to persuade customers that there’s more to it than just Chile,” remarked Beaumond.

Explaining the particular suitability of Peumo for Carmenere, Alvaro Garcia, sales development manager for Concha y Toro, observed: “For me the grapes in the Peumo region ripen in such a slow way that you get the right combination of flavours without any of the green notes you find in other Carmeneres.”