Chile’s premium wine opportunity: Merlot

Merlot will come back into fashion, and Chile could be the New World country to benefit the most, believes CEO of Santa Rita Estates, Andrés Lavados.

CEO of Santa Rita Estates, Andrés Lavados

Whether you blame the film Sideways, or clumsy handling in the vineyard and cellar, the grape has a poor reputation as a varietal wine, particularly from New World producers, although its quality potential is undeniable: it is the source of one of the wine world’s most famous labels, Pétrus, which is 100% Merlot.

And during a discussion about Chile’s premium wine potential with the drinks business in Maipo late last year, Lavados expressed his belief in the possibility of carving out a quality niche with Merlot – a grape that he thinks is long overdue a resurgence in popularity.

“I think Merlot will have a comeback,” he stated.

When asked why, he explained, “Because Merlot is the best-selling grape in many countries and it’s the grape of Pétrus.”

Although he added that he didn’t know of a single New World region that had yet become known exclusively for the quality of its varietal Merlots, he said that new plantings in Chile’s Pumanque region could be the ideal spot for great wines from the grape.

The area is a new coastal DO within the Colchagua Valley which SRE discovered almost 10 years ago and, having acquired 1,200 hectares in the region, planted as many as 600ha to a mix of Bordeaux varieties in 2007.

Pomerol’s most famous wine, Pétrus, is, in fact, a varietal Merlot

Among the wines that have proved particularly exciting for SRE are a varietal Cabernet Franc, as well as a Merlot, which is now sold under the Floresta brand.

“I think there must be a place for producing good Merlot [in the New World] and I think our Floresta Merlot is good, and that’s from Pumanque,” he said, admitting that he and his team have been surprised at the quality of the Merlot from this new area.

More generally, he said that he thought that Chile had an opportunity to build a reputation for Merlot, especially due to the fact Chile is a relatively cool place to produce wine, and the grape ripens earlier than other Bordeaux varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Carmenère or Malbec.

“Chile could be the place for good New World Merlot… grapes with a short-cylce work well here; this is not a hot country, it is a cold country, so we are better with short-cycle grapes,” he said.

Nevertheless, as recent reports by db have highlighted, there is an emerging interest in grapes such as Carignan and Syrah in Chile, varieties suited to a Mediterranean climate.

Lavados responded, “I think the focus on Mediterranean grapes may be a bit of a fashion, because the old viticulture of Chile has a lot of Mediterranean grapes and we are rediscovering them, which is fantastic, and very good for Chile, but if I were to plant grapes today, I would probably go more for Bordeaux varieties, because there is a lot more we can do with them, and they are easier to sell.”

Nevertheless, Lavados also told db that there was “still a lot to do with Pinot Noir, and we should have the elements to produce great Pinot Noir, but the first real vintage of Pinot was only really 10 years ago, and we are still trying to understand the grape.”

Summing up, he described Chile as “diverse”, stressing that the country’s varied geography and great latitudinal range allowed producers to try many grapes and be “playful”.

Santa Rita Estates (SRE), comprises four main wine brands from Chile – Santa Rita, Carmen, Nativa, and Terra Andina – plus Doña Paula from Argentina. SRE currently own over 3,700 hectares of vines in Chile and more than 700 hectares in Argentina.

As reported by db earlier this week, the group has just become a “Major Supporter” of the Institute of Masters of Wine.