Chile’s big producers ‘need to innovate’

Chile’s leading producers need to innovate and make the kind of wines consumers are asking for, winemaker Sébastien Labbé has warned.

Sébastien Labbé, chief winemaker of Carmen

Speaking to the drinks business during a recent visit to Chile, Sébastien Labbé, chief winemaker at Carmen, said: “Smaller brands like Movi are experimenting with a lot of different grapes and styles of wines, which is great but the big producers need to be doing the same.

“We need to listen to the market and make the kind of wines that conusmers are demanding. In order to stay relevant, the big wine brands need to prove that they can provide both tradition and innovation in their portfolios.”

Among the quirkier wines Labbé is working on at Carmen at the moment is an old vine Semillon/Sauvignon blend made in an oxidised style and an unfiltered, wild ferment Muscat.

“I used to work with a specific yeast for each grape variety but I believe less in that now – you just need to do the right thing in the vineyard,” Labbé told db.

He is also experimenting with an unoaked Cinsault from Itata in the Maule Valley that undergoes carbonic maceration, describing the fruity, easy drinking style of wine as “very trendy” in Chile right now.

“Chilean consumers are gradually starting to move away from big, heavy, oaky red blends towards lighter, easy drinking wines,” he said.

He also believes that Chile has something new to bring to the table with Malbec, describing locally made Malbec as “more vibrant, floral and fresh” than those from Argentina.

Labbé has worked as the chief winemaker at Carmen, one of Chile’s oldest wine producers founded in 1850, since 2005. During his time at the Santa Rita-owned estate, Labbé has scoured Chile for the best sites for specific grape varieties via an exhaustive number of soil studies.