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Land of Plenty: a look at Félix Solís Avantis in Chile
Spanish wine producer Félix Solís Avantis has made its first foray overseas, with a winery in Chile. But what fresh knowledge can be gained from its new portfolio of wines from the southern hemisphere?
This year, Félix Solís Avantis made a leap of faith. The winemaking company, which has been rooted in Spain since 1952, decided to expand its global footprint, building a winery in Chile as a way to bolster its international presence.
Its Chilean project has been no easy feat. The company invested €45 million (£38m) in its new site, in the Cachapoal Valley.
“Cachapoal is strategically positioned, close to the main producing areas and close to the main ports,” explains Félix Solís Ramos, the company’s general manager for marketing and commercial. “On top of that, this region produces some of the best-quality wines in Chile with great value,” he says.
Called Viña Casa Solís, the winery spans 136,000 square metres, with the capacity to store 30m litres of wine. The entire winemaking process, from fermentation to bottling, will be carried out there.
Chile and Spain may share a common language, making communication that much easier, but it also offers some beneficial differences. “We have chosen Chile because its offer is complementary to our Spanish wine offer, with little competition among them,” says Ramos.
Having a foothold in Chile, the largest wine producer in the southern hemisphere, is a strategic move for the Spanish company. “Among other places to invest in we have chosen Chile because of the stability of the country and the long-term guarantee it offers to international investors,” he adds.
Chile also has one of the highest number of free-trade agreements with other countries, allowing Félix Solís Avantis to trade freely in more countries than any other wine-producing nation in the world.
“Our company trades with more than 115 countries worldwide, and counts subsidiaries in 12 countries,” he says, arguing that “Chilean wines would benefit tremendously from this.”
The new winery is Félix Solís Avantis’ first overseas expansion, and the company hasn’t done anything by halves. Rather than buying a pre-existing facility, the Spanish producer decided to start from scratch, building the winery from the ground up.
Purchasing director Carlos Nieto explains: “Once the company decided to move forward with this establishment in Chile, we visited several wineries that were available, but none met the technical requirements we were looking for. This led us to build our winery from scratch, incorporating all the technology we use in our Spanish wineries.”
To that end, all the machinery and tanks we have installed in Chile were brought from Spain. Félix Solís Avantis announced the news about the winery in May, and since then has been working to bring the wines to market.
Niento says: “Obviously, starting production in our own facilities, with all the new machinery and tanks, combined with all the workers we’ve brought on, and having everything go practically well, as it has in this case, has indeed been a great challenge for us. We are very happy with the result.”
Production is due to reach 15m kilograms of grapes – half of total capacity. Viña Casa Solís produces a range of Chilean wines including a Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc in addition to Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Carmemere.
Malbec, Albariño, and Syrah are also being trialled at the new site.
Key markets include China, Japan, South Korea, Brazil, and the UK. Here, too, Félix Solís Avantis’ Chilean venture differs from its Spanish counterpart. Ramos explains: “Except for the UK, there is a significant difference, as Spain relies more on than 70% in the European Markets and China and Japan are not as important for Spanish wines as they are for Chilean wines.”
Viña Casa Solís also plans to produce blended wines using the most representative Chilean grapes, taking inspiration from its Spanish Mucho Más range. Mucho Más combines different varieties through a special cuvée, through the careful selection of grapes from some of the best wine-growing regions and vineyards in Spain.
The breadth of its range seeks to respond to a diversity of palates and consumption moments among consumers. And its strategy is working, with sales of 15 million bottles in the 65 countries where the brand is present. Germany, Holland, the UK, and Spain, the brand’s domestic market, are some of the markets where Mucho Más has conquered more consumers.
Sustainability
In 2023, Félix Solís Avantis published an ambitious Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) plan. The company has a dedicated six-person environmental department in charge of implementing the necessary measures to comply with its established commitments, whether they be climate change or people-focused goals.
A total of €2,685,738 has been invested in environmental management activities to prevent risks that may arise from the company’s activities in Spain.
In 2023 the company defined a range of environmental targets related to the operations stage to prevent, control and mitigate any risks and encourage development of potential opportunities. Notably, it has achieved compliance with most of these, and pledges to continue working to reduce both energy consumption and waste destined for landfill.
As part of its climate-change plan aiming for 100% renewable energy use, the business has already hit 98%. Its circularity plan sets out to increase the use of recycled paper by 94%, and in 2023, it has already achieved 95%.
Félix Solís Avantis remains on track to meet reductions of water consumption by 20% and waste to landfill by 20%.
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