Chile: more than just a one-trick pony

Carmenère and Cabernet Sauvignon may steal the headlines, but Chile’s wealth of diverse terroirs is helping to raise the profile of other styles, from old bush vine Carignan to cool climate whites.

Chile’s allure as a wine producing country lies in its dizzying diversity. Shaped like a long, thin brushstroke stretching along the southwestern coast of South America, Chile is a land of extremes. Home to both the driest desert in the world, the Atacama, and the Patagonian ice fields, a wide variety of grapes grow up and down Chile’s strip against a backdrop of the Andes mountains – Chile’s backbone.

Home to a mosaic of unique terroirs, Chile offers a vast array of climatic conditions for an eclectic mix of grape varieties, many of which benefit from free air conditioning in the form of the cooling influence of the Pacific Ocean. But which grapes are thriving where, and which are leading the charge in terms of producing terroir- driven wines that sing of Chile’s soils and the salty air from its wind-whipped lands soothed by the Pacific?

Chile has around 125,000 hectares under vine, though with grape growers expanding eastward up the Andean hillsides and westward to the very edges of the country, plantings are on the rise. Despite its bounty of pre-phylloxera vines, a number of forward thinking producers are bringing new clones into Chile and are choosing to work with selected rootstocks.

Red varieties rule the roost, accounting for 71% of the country’s vineyard land, with Cabernet Sauvignon the most widely planted red grape at 40,728 hectares under vine. Merlot comes in second with 10,041ha across the country, while Chile’s flagship grape, Carmenère, is third, with 8,827ha. As for the whites, Chardonnay leads the pack with 13,082ha under vine, followed closely by Sauvignon Blanc on 12,159ha, though progress is also being made with Riesling in Bío Bío, Viognier and Gewurztraminer in Casablanca and even Sauvignon Gris in San Antonio.

KING CABERNET

Cabernet Sauvignon remains the king of the grapes in Chile, and the most widely planted variety in the country, with over three times as many hectares under vine as second place Chardonnay. The late- ripening grape is thriving in inland regions such as the Alto Maipo and Puente Alto sub-regions in Maipo, home to gravelly soils similar to those in Bordeaux. It also shines in the Aconcagua Valley, where the warm, dry climate allows it to develop its signature concentration and rich black currant, tobacco, liquorice and coffee aromas, while the Cabernets from Alto Maipo boast a distinctive eucalyptus edge.

Winemakers have confidence in the variety and are using it to make “icon” Bordeaux blends such as Concha y Toro’s top wine Don Melchor from Puente Alto, Montes Alpha M Cabernet Sauvignon from the Colchagua Valley and Almaviva from Puente Alto – a joint venture between Concha y Toro and Baron Philippe de Rothschild. Alvaro Garcia, fine wine business development manager for Concha y Toro, believes consumers are willing to pay more for a top Cabernet from Chile over a Carmenère: “People are buying Chile’s icon Cabernets in high-end restaurants across the UK at £150 a bottle,” he reveals, adding, “Chile’s fine wine future lies in Cabernet.”

Chilean wine expert Peter Richards MW on the other hand, believes the grape has further potential to excel in Chile’s more extreme terroirs. “Winemakers are scared to plant Cabernet at Chile’s extreme limits. They should take more risks in order to get the good green elements from the grape,” he offers. Richards believes a preoccupation with “sexier” grapes like Pinot Noir has led to Cabernet being neglected in the last few years.

“The truly great terroirs for Cabernet in Chile have yet to be found; Puente Alto is world class, but it can be improved upon,” he says, though he thinks winemakers are starting to reevaluate how to get the best out of Cabernet in Chile, pinpointing the terroirs near the coast as exciting sites for the fresher, slightly greener Cabernets he feels Chile should be making.

Canadian abroad Derek Mossman Knapp, of the Maule-based Garage Wine Company, has seen this happening in the form of mountain grown Cabernet made high up in the Andes in sub-regions such as Boca Chica and Coya by the likes of William Fèvre and Pedro Parra, offering freshness, finesse and a more subtle flavour profile than is usually associated with Chilean Cabernet.

CARMENERE AND MERLOT

Long lost in France, Chile’s flagship grape, Carmenère, masqueraded as Merlot in Chilean vineyards for a century before being rediscovered in 1994. It took a decade for winemakers to understand this neglected grape, but the spicy, black- fruited variety has grown to become the grape most associated with, and unique to Chile. There are mixed feelings in the trade towards Chilean Carmenère, with some fighting its corner and others believing the Chileans have done the wrong thing in promoting it as their flagship.

“The Carmenère marketing route was a mistake when Chile boasts eye-popping varietal diversity,” believes Sideways author Rex Pickett, who recently returned to LA from a four-month excursion to Chile as part of a research trip for his third wine-themed novel, to be set in Chilean wine country.

Conversely, Michael Cox, the European director of Wines of Chile, is enthusiastic about Carmenère’s swift evolution in Chile and has high hopes for its future. “The last five years have seen a dramatic increase in understanding of this fickle and distinctive variety,” he says, adding, “Winemakers are using the right soils, optimum picking times and careful treatment in the winery, leading Carmenère to up its game.”

While the sub-region of Apalta in Colchagua is believed to be the best place for growing Carmenère in Chile, Garcia of Concha y Toro believes because of its status as Chile’s flagship grape, growers have been planting it all over the place, leading UK consumers to have bad experiences with unripe Carmenère, which is tarnishing both the grape and Chile’s name.

Peter Richards MW meanwhile, believes the idea that Carmenère is Chile’s signature grape is something the press has invented to the detriment of Chile. “I don’t believe Carmenère is Chile’s flagship variety and I don’t think producers support this idea either. They can and should be proud of it, but it’s dangerous to rely too heavily on one grape in Chile as the Argentinians have done with Malbec,” he says.

The ever-adaptable Merlot meanwhile, is thriving in Maipo, where it’s producing juicy, fruit-forward, generous examples, with the more elegant styles coming from old vines in the Andean foothills, where it is given the time to develop to its full aromatic potential. While few in the trade are rhapsodising about Chilean Merlot, the red-fruited, reliable grape is proving a key component in some of the top blends coming out of the country.

SYRAH

One grape in Chile that does seem to be getting both producers and wine writers in raptures is Syrah, which is proving to have a large stylistic arc depending on where it’s planted, running the gamut from big, lusty and concentrated, to savoury, floral and herbaceous in the country’s cooler climate regions.

Widely touted as Chile’s grape to watch, Syrah is performing particularly well in cooler regions like San Antonio, Leyda, Elqui and Limarí. “Chilean Syrah is increasingly and deliberately becoming more Northern Rhône-like in style, with subtle savoury characteristics rather than Barossa Valley power,” says Cox, who encourages winemakers to name their wines “Syrah” over “Shiraz” in order to distance Chilean Syrah from Aussie blockbusters.

“The term Syrah may not yet be as commercially strong as Shiraz, but I’m confident that Chilean Syrah will carve out an important niche stylistically and the consumer will respond positively to it,” he says.

Possibly the most fired up about Chilean Syrah is Peter Richards MW. “If I could start again with Chile, I’d plant Syrah in place of Cabernet. Syrah seems at home in Chile; it can take a lot of sun and loves the country’s abounding granitic hillsides. It’s a great grape for capturing and expressing diversity, and can make everything from big bruisers in Apalta to ethereal wines in Elqui,” he enthuses, spying an opportunity for Chile to take ownership of the grape and run with it.

PINOT NOIR

Another grape with tremendous potential in Chile is Pinot Noir, though experiments with the notoriously fickle variety are still in their infancy. Pinot is proving its mettle in Chile’s cool climate regions like Casablanca, Bío Bío, Malleco and Leyda in San Antonio, where Adolfo Hurtado, chief winemaker of Cono Sur, recently planted 15 hectares of his beloved thin-skinned grape.

Even further north, right on the edge of the Atacama, Tabalí is also finding success with Pinot Noir in Limarí. Like Syrah, Chilean Pinot Noir varies in style from bright and charming at entry level to hauntingly seductive at the top end. While still a work in progress, Cox believes in five years Chilean Pinot Noir will “make heads turn” in the value for money stakes.

As he is with Syrah, Peter Richards MW is also excited about Pinot’s future in Chile. “Quantum leaps are being made with Pinot; there are a lot of passionate Pinotphiles in Chile and there’s a bit of a space race going on at the moment for the best places to plant the grape,” he says. However, at the moment, quality is more producer- rather than region-led.

GREAT WHITES

Just two grapes are leading the charge on the white front in Chile: Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay, both of which are thriving in the cool climate regions of Limarí, Casablanca, San Antonio, Aconcagua and Bío Bío, with Sauvignon also showing promise in Elqui and Chardonnay in Malleco.

Chilean Sauvignon Blanc seems to be carving out a clever niche for itself in offering some of the best value and highest quality examples from the New World. Pickett is full of superlatives for Casablanca’s “knockout” Sauvignons, praising their “Sancerre-like, steely, sea air minerality”.

“You can taste the terroir in the wines, the volcanic topsoil, the Andean water, the cold Pacific wind, it’s all in the glass,” he gushes. “The importance of Sauvignon Blanc for Chile mustn’t be underestimated; it has helped convince both buyers and consumers that Chile is more than just a one-trick pony,” says Cox, who name checks Con Con and Zapallar in Aconcagua and Pumanque and Paredones in Colchagua as sub-regions to watch for Sauvignon Blanc.

Richards, however, is more fired up about Chilean Chardonnay, the best of which he dubs “world class” and leaning more towards having a full-bodied Côte d’Or character, rather than a mineral Chablisian style. “Chile’s greatest Chardonnays are being made in cool climate regions like Limarí, and have a rich palate, great balance, wonderful acidity and a savoury core,” he says.

Garcia agrees that Limarí Chardonnays have an appealing “saltiness” on the finish, with the best having seen a touch of oak either through barrel fermenting or a short period of oak ageing. According to Cox, Limarí, with its calcium carbonate soils, is proving such a star for mineral-rich Chardonnay, that a number of Burgundian growers are “salivating” over the promise that the terroirs in the region offer.

BEST OF THE REST

But what of Chile’s Mediterranean varieties? A big believer in Carignan’s potential in Chile is Adolfo Hurtado of Cono Sur, who recently planted Carignan, Mourvèdre, Grenache, Petit Verdot and Petite Sirah at high altitude in the San Felipe sub-region of Aconcagua.

Felipe Tosso, chief winemaker of Viña Ventisquero, believes Chile’s Mediterranean climate makes it a good home for these sun-seeking varieties, and is seeing good results from old bush vine Carignan, Grenache and Mourvèdre.

One of Chile’s most passionate torchbearers for Carignan is Derek Mossman Knapp, of the Garage Wine Company, who flags up Maule and Itata as being a haven for Carignan, Grenache and Mourvèdre bush vines. “The old bush vines are coming into their own and are beginning to get noticed,” he says, adding,

“The combination of dry farming and old vines lends the wines complexity, depth and a funkiness not often enough associated with Chilean wine. Chile has been playing too many marches and needs more jazz on the airwaves and in the market.” This counter culture of making wine in a minimum intervention style has existed for years in Chile and is taking shape through the likes of natural wine brotherhood Chanchos Deslenguados (“foul-mouthed pigs”), a bunch of biodynamic garagistes making natural wines across the country.

With such a swift pace of change, should Chile be pursuing its regionality message harder in order to promote the diversity of its terroirs and the different grape varieties thriving within them? An unequivocal yes, believes Richards. “It’s essential to push the regional message in Chile. A lot of people shoot it down, but you could say the same for France 100 years ago,” he insists.

While Chile is still an unfinished masterpiece in terms of grape growing and winemaking, huge strides are being made in the quality of the wines coming out of the country, as its winemakers grow in confidence and learn where to plant which varieties in order to get the best out of them. “Chileans need to be making wines that aren’t replicable anywhere else in the world; wines that express the country’s wonderful terroirs,” urges Richards. But this will only happen if they are willing to take a few risks.

Having lived and breathed Chile’s extremes for four months, Rex Pickett is confident about Chile’s fine wine future. “Chile has the potential to produce some of the world’s finest wines in the next 10-20 years,” he predicts, while Alvaro Garcia asks consumers to have patience while Chile gets to grips with its terroirs. “New DOs are emerging all the time in Chile – we’ve got good entry-level wines, but now’s the time to start making world- class fine wines,” he says. And with continued experimentation and innovation, they just might do it.