Chile targets glass ceiling

Ten years on from the Berlin Tasting, the boss of Viña Errázuriz, Eduardo Chadwick, believes Chilean fine wine is still moving in the right direction.

Eduardo Chadwick

“If you look at the statistics, Chilean wine is growing faster at the premium end,” explained Eduardo Chadwick. Splitting the premium category into wines over US$50 a case F.O.B, and those over US$100 (above £20 a bottle in UK retail) he put current growth at 4-5% a year. “We’d all love it to move faster, but at least it’s at the right momentum,” he said, adding he felt optimistic for 2015. “That’s where we’re putting most of our focus on in, because that’s where we’re growing.”

For his top icon wines; Viñedo Chadwick and Seña – one of only two Chilean wines traded on the Place de Bordeaux, he said: “The strongest demand is from Asia, with Hong Kong our number one market. When we launched Seña at US$50 twenty years ago it seems there was a glass ceiling, as no Chilean wines were sold at that price. Today Seña retails for around US$160-170 and we have growing sales. Viñedo Chadwick is positioned at almost twice the price of Seña which would have seemed impossible ten years ago.”

Though both wine are available in Harrods, he admitted to finding the UK difficult for his flagship wines. “There’s a tradition for top Burgundy and Bordeaux, and it’s difficult to educate the market and help people understand that the fine wine world goes far beyond these two great appellations.” Last year Chadwick celebrated the tenth anniversary of the Berlin Tasting where Viñedo Chadwick and Seña grabbed silver and gold from a bevy of First Growths and top Italians. “It was a wonderful way to prove to key critics that the quality is there,” said Chadwick. Getting this message out to consumers and major retailers remains a priority. On the UK high street, Chile still struggles to punch through that £10 barrier.