Chile ‘honoured’ by visiting MWs during ‘difficult days’

Isabel Guilisasti, marketing director of the country’s largest wine company, Concha y Toro, expressed her gratitude to as many as 30 Masters of Wine who have come to Chile this week to take a tour of the country’s key wine regions.

Isabel Guilisasti welcomes the MWs to Chile

The MWs, who hail from around the world, will spend seven days immersing themselves in the country’s wine scene, starting in the Maipo, before heading as far south as Itata, and then finishing the visit back in Santiago.

Among other regions they will experience on the programme are the Cachapoal, Colchagua and Curico Valleys, along with San Antonio and Casablanca.

Welcoming the group on the first day of the tour, Isabel Guilisasti, whose family have a majority shareholding in Concha y Toro, spoke movingly to the guests, aware that the social and political unrest in Santiago during recent weeks may have led them to doubt whether it was sensible to visit the country.

“In these difficult days, for us to have you here is an honour,” she said.

She then invited the MWs to take part in a “Don Melchor experience”, which involved a tasting of the top-end Cabernet’s inaugural 1987 vintage – as well as its latest release, which comes from the 2017 harvest; 30 years later.

Continuing, she said, “We are so proud to celebrate this 30th anniversary with you”, while revealing that from the 2017 vintage the brand is being called Viña Don Melchor to reflect the fact it was “one winery, one wine”.