¿FOREIGN WINERIES SHOPPING IN CHILE?

This week, AndesWines.com confirmed a daring strategy that would show why Argentinian and foreign cellarmen want to invest in wine cellars and vineyards in the Chilean Limari, Maule and Bio Bio regions. At this point in Mendoza, Argentinian/Foreign and Chilean investors are already crossing borders to Chile to launch their wines. A greater number is expected for the next months given the Chilean remarkable diversity in climate and terroirs that suit the production of high standard wines.
AndesWines.com said that due to the current economic crisis there are several Chilean wine cellars and vineyards for sale throughout the country viticultural valleys. This represents a great opportunity for foreign investors if one considers that most of the Chilean wine cellars belong to Chilean owners. To assess this opportunity, a meeting of specialists on the field, winemakers and viticulture-investors was held.

“Given the present world economic circumstances, the trade and international investors are focusing on and improving their moves. That’s why both Malbec and Chilean Carménère are being recognized and used for spreading investments and for a logic strategy to create new sales, advantage that only Chile has taken so far. It is expected that Argentina will make its move now, in turn” as reported by AndesWines.com

“Argentinian cellarmen leading the U.S.A. and some Europe countries export markets have been asked about a time when a Chilean Sauvignon Blanc or Carmenere will be available in their portfolio and thus keep doing business with the same wine cellar”, said viticulture marketing consultant, Maximiliano Morales.

To answer that, Bodega Renacer, owned by Chilean Patricio Reich and located at Luján de Cuyo will introduce the first Casablanca Valley Chilean Sauvignon Blanc as told to AndesWines.com, an important news given their headquartes located in Argentina.

This fact is a clear strategic reaction coming from the more than 8 Chilean-owned vineyards in Mendoza that sell Argentinian Malbec under a Chilean label for years, or have added Malbec to their international wine portfolio.

An example of the above-mentioned was the acquisition of Chilean Chateau Los Boldos by Sogrape, who also owns Flichman in Argentina. In this case, it’s about a Portuguese investment seeing in Chile a sound opportunity to diversify their portfolio, therefore establishing a precedent to attract not only Portuguese investors but also Argentinian, American, French or Spanish.

After this, Colin Becker, M&A associate for PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in Chile, said that “when in crisis, there is a greater volatility in the exchange rate and a local shortage of resources, attractive conditions for foreign investors to invest in Chile. We advise this kind of investor as well as local owners, so we can feel a good deal of future investments being analyzed, most likely to close by the end of the second semester”.

In turn, Luis Enrique Alamos, a PwC Chile associate in charge of Retail & Consumer and an expert in the viticulture sector, says that “wine industry in Chile is advancing toward settlement, but the sector is still weak in the production area, so we see quite a few opportunities to develop. We are working in some now, hoping to settle properly given that buyer and seller points of view are now getting closer in their approach than in previous years “.

“Due to the current great dynamism in wine industry, given the worldwide economic conditions, we started to develop a positioning strategy in Limari, Maule and Bio Bio regions using high standard wines based on varieties such as Sauvignon Blanc, Gewurztraminer, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, looking into settling new viticultural investments and operations in Chile”, stated the consultant agronomist Maximiliano Morales.

Andes Wines
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