After 14 hours of flying Kathy and I landed in Santiago de Chile expecting to be surprised by what we were to find. We were not disappointed.
The first surprise was the amazing sense of home – Repsol, Telefonica and the major Spanish banks are to be seen everywhere. But the best surprise of all is the vibrant, modern and sophisticated city that is Santiago. We are finding fabulous cuisine and outstanding wines – and all at affordable prices. It is a great advantage to have a decent degree of Spanish here – but the welcome to foreigners generally is very warm.
We have endeavoured to extend our education in the few days since we arrived, especially in terms of the wines of the country.
Our first pleasant discovery was the fast growing popularity of the variety Carménère. The vines were imported to Chile by mistake at the end of the 19th Century during the phylloxera crisis in France. Vines were taken en masse to Rioja, California and South America to protect the future of wine production before the bug could take hold. But it was assumed that Carménère had been lost. For nearly a hundred years the Chileans produced a poor quality wine thought to be a bad Merlot that was identified only in the closing years of the last century for what it is.
In the Medoc Carménère had been used mainly to blend with varieties such as Petit Verdot and was “lost” with sadness by the claret houses.
A member of the Cabernet family it produces deep smokey wines and we have found a number of excellent examples, both single varietal wines and in blends. The Marande Terrarum Reserva from the Valle de Maipo is a super example and available in restaurants for under €10 a bottle.
We also found it strongly represented at the Concha y Toro winery – the largest in South America. Here they claim that their founder, Don Melchor Concha y Toro, was the one who accidentally brought these vines all this way. What a shame he didn´t know what he had!
In Spain Concha y Toro is best known for its Casillero del Diablo brand – named after the Don´s fable of the devil in the wine cellar to scare away local thieves!
But here we discovered many outstanding wines not yet commonly available in our local suppliers – such as Don Melchior, a complex wine grown in the Puente Alto vineyard in the Maipo Valley; Marques de Casa Concha, a selection of cellar master chosen vintages; and the Casillero del Diablo Reserva Privada, a lower price selection of quality wines.
The house has also now launched a new brand to market – Trio is always a blend of 3 varieties, where one dominates . These now offer 6 different Trio blends, including now one that uses only Sauvignon Blanc – but from three differing locations, adding a complexity of flavours.
We also discovered some super Petit Verdot varietals and a number of great Cabernet Sauvignon´s.
Later in the day, following an outstanding lunch, we visited the Santa Rita winery, also in the Valle de Maipo. Their Carménère 120 (named in memory of the Chilean fighters resisting the Spanish, who were hidden in the cellars of the grand original house of this winery) – is a little lighter and is made here but from grapes harvested in the Valle de Rapel.
Through this company we also discovered the Carmen Reserva Pinot Noir. This comes from the Carmen Valley and has more chew than we are used to from a Pinot NoirM.
The wines that we have discovered are all enjoyable, the country is welcoming and the people are charming. We are now leaving wine country as we head north towards Machu Picchu in Peru and then by cruise ship to Ecuadaor, Panama, Colombia and on to the USA before we return.
