An in-depth vision of the International practices and internships. CAEP manages in the area of enology in the US about 300 work placements a year. In addition to the classic enology program there are other Amazing oportunities in agriculture, veterinarian and landscapers. We wanted to learn more and share the information that we detailed as follows.
Andes Wines interviewed Daniella Gillmore, who participated of CAEP USA program in 1999, and Lori Holmgreen, USA coordinator specialized in enology. We wanted to know in detail about their experiences with the program and the set of tools they obtained.
It is very interesting to learn the opinion of Daniella Gillmore, since she is answering the questions having been in the two scenarios: being the intern in a foreign country and today as the head winemaker at Gillmore Wines.
Q: What where you looping forward when you decided to do your first International harvest?
I was looking forward to see different cellars, vineyards and to gain more experience.
Q: According to your experience, in what way does an international internship nurture human, technical and technological aspects?
Its very important to see how other countries work, what they are investigating, what new machineries they develop. Its vital to keep one self updated.
Q: Do you see any differences or similarities between Chilean and foreign interns?
There are more similarities than differences; at our cellar we have every year International interns. They are looking for the experience, to be exponed to different varieties and vinifications.
Q: What are the benefits for a winery to welcome international interns?
There is always a learning, a different view and you establish a great set of contacts for the future, for new projects that might be interesting.
Q: If you would give three advices to a newly graduated enologist, what would it be?
To spends as much time in the vineyard as possible, to keep him/herself constantly updated and to be passionate about what they do.
Lori, Country Enology Coordinator for USA
1. After our recent trip to Chile, what are the advantages you see from a view point of agricultur and Chilean universities?
From the students and staff that I had the chance to meet while at different Chilean universities, I am convinced that we are in the position to provide the oppurtinity to expand the educational experience beyond the standard classroom and the “typical” required internship. The universities that we visited offer degrees in similar areas that we focus on for the CAEP programs: Agriculture, Horticulture, Apriary, Equine Sciences and Enology. To me it “Just makes sense”.
2. What are the three main reasons to enroll to an International program such as CAEP?
CAEP will be able to assist participants in locating a placement that will not only offer the trianing they need to complete their university required internship, we will be able to offer them the chance to live in another country, experience a different culture, and speak another language. At the same time, they will be exchanging their knowledge, expertise and their home country experiences with their host and other CAEP participants. CAEP will help with all of the visa paperwork involved in applying for a J-1 Intern or Trainee visa while in Chile. CAEP will be there for you throughout your stay to help answer questions, to be your guide through out the entire process and to be a resource for you.
3. What are the cellars and ranchs looping for?
Our CAEP member hosts are looking for participants that are open minded and who are willing to learn new skills or develop their current skills. Our hosts are looking for people with some experience in the area that they are coming to train. They will expect that the participant will have some English skills. So practice speaking English! Above all else, they are looking for people with a GREAT attitude!
4. What are the options for vets?
The vet placements that we can offer vary from program to program. In the Equine area, we have placements working in an Equine vet clinic; where you would be able to assist with surgery, prepare a horse for surgery or work in the rehabilitation of the animal. Or we have placements that would work with artificial breeding, insemination to birthing and foaling.
On a cattle ranch, a vet technician would assist with heard health, vaccinations, herd identification, calving and record keeping. Some artificial breeding and insemination may also be possible.
A vet technician in NOT able to formally practice as a Doctor of Veterinary while on a J-1 visa.
5. What would be your advine for chilean applicants to improve their competentes when looking for a job?
Your application will be compared to your peers from all over the world who are looking for the SAME internship. Make your application stands out. Be very COMPLETE on your application. Be SPECIFIC about what you would like to learn. Be HONEST about what your goals are; Do you want this experience to better your English? Are you hoping that this experience will help to advance your career or resume? Above all Practice your English and plan to have a great time!
Interview by Pamela Villablanca
Andes Wines
andes@andeswines.com
(56) 2-23702997
@andeswines
Global warming and wine: When the world will adapt, France might be trapped
Today it’s obvious that climate has an important impact on vineyards across the world. Just like the “terroir” and often belonging to it, climate is one of the keys to get unique characteristics in our wines. Without spending much time about its various consequences on our vineyards, I would like to remind one: temperature. Going up or down, its variations influence the vine’s behaviour, crops, and taste. In order to limit the global warming impact on our vineyards, we often used irrigation. But now it becomes more and more expensive across the world, and we can’t call this a solution.
The wine-making lands are about to move
According to scientists of the PNAS, 19 to 73% of the lands is our current wine regions will become unable to produce, depending on the location and the global warming strength. In other words, it means that we might need to move our vineyards upper north. But is that realistic?
And even if we do so, it would have another consequence: the loss of identity. By leaving soils behind, the wine culture across the world would be threatened.
Finding solutions: The great concern.
At that point, all the actors of the wine industry must look for ways to counter as much as possible the phenomenon. Here is what come to my mind:
The first thing to set up is a local changing of the methods. Wineries must change their habits to deal with temperature. I think about the orientation of vine rows, but there are also things to do about the leaf removal. Often used to expose the grapes under the sun, it is easy to understand that leaving the leafs would somehow protect from the rays. Also, one may take care of the rows density, because closer vine stocks means mutual protection.
We can also rely on science to create new vines that would match our new environment. On the other hand, one may go back in time and look for Carignan for example, not really used anymore but strong against the sun. Who knows, global warming might allow us to appreciate unexpected wines.
Finally, it seems obvious to me that we need to look carefully the vines used around the world, because one may certainly find one that would fit the new local climates. The Mourvedre for example, mainly used in Spain and Southern France, might be used in a lot of places across the world during the coming decades.
Trapped, France might lose much more than other countries.
France is built on foundations that are somehow fragile and when the changings mentioned above will become necessary, the country might lose a lot.
Indeed, modifying vines and methods would be extremely harmful in France, while doing so in other countries of the new-world for example could have a positive effect. The reason: France is one of the only wine-making areas based on tradition.
Then I see two scenarios: If France changes nothing and if the PNAS’s forecasts become reality, we will witness an unprecedented drop in French wine production. And if the country chooses to adapt itself, it will have to leave behind traditional methods and emblematic vines that are at the root of its world-renowned reputation. In both cases, it is likely that French wine as we know it is about to disappear.
Hugo Aimonetti
From France
Andes Wines
andes@andeswines.com
(56) 2-23702997
@andeswines
Chile takes a dig at Argentina’s Malbec throne
Malbec may be the emblematic variety of Argentina lately, but last week its wine neighbor, Chile, rocked into Mendoza to show off its own production of this boom variety in an unprecedented tasting.
Exclusive Report AndesWines.com
There’s no doubt that Argentina is renowned worldwide as the New World producer of Malbec and has with formidable strength planted this grape firmly on the wine map. Its great success has made Malbec the emblematic variety of the country, creating launch pad for other grapes cultivated in Argentina.
Its runaway triumph generated a revitalization of Malbec, propelled by assorted factors like the work done in Argentina by flying winemaker Michel Rolland, who has consulted influential wineries throughout the country, along with other flying winemakers like Alberto Antonini. Thanks to Malbec, they have opened the doors for Argentine wine in diverse markets.
“Due to the boom of this signature grape from Cahors, France – and now with Argentina leading the bandwagon – Chile is timidly joining this segment of Malbec producers because of historical reasons and its hundreds of hectares planted across varied regions on the ‘other’ side of the Andes.” says AndesWines.com
There are many different versions of the story about the arrival of Malbec in Argentina. The official line given by Wines of Argentina and according to Pablo Lacoste’s research in the context of celebrating World Malbec Day points out that Malbec was introduced to Chile in 1840 – almost 30 years before than in Argentina. Many dispute that story, but there do exist concrete facts that Chile has vineyards just as old as Argentina.
“There are many important differences between Argentine and Chilean Malbec beyond just the vine and its origin, which have been a key factor in the growing impact that Malbec is having on the world. This is charted in the wealth of wines from Controlled Designations of Origin (DOCs) that Chile is presenting in the market. Vineyards range from those recently planted (5 years) to vineyards more than 100 years old that are being discovered and planted in valleys like Colchagua, Itata and Maule in the South and Centre of Chile. Many of these old vines were confused for other traditional vines of the country”, confirms Maximiliano Morales, wine marketing consultant.
According to Joaquín Almarza from the Section of Vines and Wines in the Agricultural and Forest Protection Division of SAG: “In Chile there are 1,827 hectares of Malbec planted, according to the information from the last land registry. The evolution of these vineyards in the last 10 years has been of around 10%, showing the interest that this variety has sparked in the national viticulture. The main differences with regards to old and new plantations are vineyard management systems, locations of plantation and the plants (new plantations corresponding to clones and the old vines coming from massal reproduction). The regions of Libertador O’Higgins and Maule in Chile have the most surface area of Malbec in our country (88%).”
When asked about the opportunity that Chile has to plant in extreme regions, Joaquín Almarza points out that: “In general, Chile has come to understand better the cultivation of this variety, which explains why the planted areas have increased so much over the last decade. The vineyard management system, the climate, the soil and the harvest time have been analyzed to obtain the best potential of this variety in our country. In this way, Chilean vineyards have achieved great Malbecs, that now even our neighboring countries recognize. What previously obeyed its original plantation location has now been extended just as much between regions of hot and cool climates, generating in both conditions different results for the variety and of great quality.”
Finally, Chile will never reach Argentina´s surface of Malbec and either is the focus to, but with just a few hectares and great marketing strategies, plus old vines and new extreme wine regions planted, is making a point that Argentina and France are not alone in the Malbec´s challenge.
Chilean Malbec planting itself Mendoza
As a way to get to know and analyze the Malbec produced in diverse geographical regions in Chile, Andes Wines organized a ‘Chilean Malbec Tasting’ in Mendoza city on 2 May for specialized press at Hotel Intercontinental.
The tasting was guided by Wine expert Pamela Villablanca and Founder of Enophia, who took the tasters into a journey through the different DOCs in Chile to explore the characteristics and varied expressions of this emblematic grape that originates from Cahors in France.
Soon, photos and analysis to be published!
Translated by Amanda Barnes
Andes Wines
andes@andeswines.com
(56) 2-23702997
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Claudia Eraso: Sommelier Corporativa Orient-Express Peru
A Little Taste of Chile in Calgary
This could be a menu sign from any little tiny restaurant in Chile with such mainstay dishes as Ensalada Chilena, Bistec a lo Pobre and Pastel de Choclo. But unfortunately, I’m not in Chile. Of all places, I find this mouth-watering menu in a tiny, little restaurant in an unassuming plaza in the northeast quadrant of Calgary. Even seeing the written words written across the board makes me think back the warm times I spent in Chile. So I am really excited that I am here at Empanada Queen to get a behind- the- scenes interview at this very unique restaurant in Calgary.
By Suzanne Taylor
Katherine Vallejos, the owner of Empanada Queen, has kindly agreed to allow me to come see her on a Saturday. This is typically a busy time where she’ll produce up to as many as 300 full size empanadas and 300 cocktail size empanadas just for catering orders alone, as well as her walk-in business. As soon as you come through the door, you see all the different styles of empanadas in the display case lined up like soldiers. The aroma of freshly baked bundles of pastry, meats and just the right amount of spice hits and instantly I am transported back to walking along the sidewalks of Santiago smelling the very same thing. Everything is made in-house, using just the simplest of ingredients and cooked slowly to get the fullest flavour. Her product stands out as being so unique in a city that generally over–flows with Mexican-style restaurants, that many people approach her to come to participate in many of the major festivals that go on throughout the year.
Born Canadian to Chilean parents, who moved to Canada during the 70’s, Katherine is completely bilingual with both Spanish and English languages. She did spend some time in Chile to finish school. She feels having both languages has helped with the business. Other Chilean restaurants may have opened before in Calgary, but often with older generations, they may have only appealed to a Chilean population, whereas, Katherine has opened her doors to all Calgarians. The secret to her success lies in the fact that she comes from a generation that has embraced social networks to get the word out about Empanada Queen. In business for just slightly more than three years, she caters for many different venues from businesses downtown to schools and community groups. She doesn’t have a set menu for catering but follows what the customer wants. Along with empanadas, Chori Pan, Chorillana and Italianos are popular with the weekly lunch crowds as well.
Calgary is generally a conservative town, with its culinary leanings towards meat and potatoes. We have a huge beef industry here. So when it came to ethnic foods, did she find it hard to win people over? “The biggest part was to educate first. People didn’t know what an empanada was.” She needed to be able to translate the dishes into something quite easily understood in English-style menus. Pastel de Choclo, for example, is just like Sheppard’s pie but with creamy corn instead of potatoes. In my opinion, I’ll take Pastel de Choclo over Sheppard’s pie anyday! It’s so good!
Although the pino empanada with beef, hard-boiled egg and an olive is from her mother’s traditional recipe, other empanada choices, like spinach or black bean chipotle, Katherine created to add extra variety. There is plenty to choose off the menu, if you are craving simple, honest Chilean food. Now I know exactly where I need to go in Calgary the next time I am in need of a little Chilean reminiscing and some excellent empanadas.
Purple Pager Michael Alberty of Oregon recently had the chance to meet up with Paolo de Marchi of Isole e Olena and quiz him on esca (see A possible cure for esca? to understand why). Here is his reaction.
21 Feb 2013 by Michael Alberty
Wow. Paolo de Marchi is such an amazing mix of education, experience and passion. I learned a lot in my two visits with him here in Portland. As far as esca goes, here’s what I found out:
Paolo thinks esca has probably always been present in Chianti but it didn’t really show itself that much in healthy plants. He blames two factors for its escalation: the transition away from a sharecropper economy in Chianti and the big frost of 1985. He says that when Chianti transitioned away from the sharecropper economy they lost a lot of people that had expertise when it came to pruning the vines. He finds a lot of poor pruning techniques these days and that means lots of microcuts/injuries and the vines become susceptible to esca. The big frost also created a lot of microcut damage. This was his response when I asked him about esca seemingly having more of an impact on older vines than on younger vines.
He began experimenting with the trichoderma fungus in 2000. But he says the cultures came from New Zealand, not Israel. One year he would get good results, the next year, not so much. Given the extra work and expense of buying the cultures and drilling holes in the vines, he eventually abandoned the effort. During that time the University of Florence reviewed his data and also found the trichoderma wanting.
These days he’s excited about the work going on at the Guillaume commercial nursery in France. They are selling vines that are already inoculated with trichoderma and they seem promising. They are more expensive but Paolo has begun working with them. He claims they are also providing some protection against mildew and botrytis.
WINEBEER TUESDAYS PREMIER NIGHT OF SOCIAL & BUSINESS NETWORKING
Tuesday 26th February will be the premier night of WineBeer Tuesdays, a social and business networking event that will give business minded people, based in Santiago, an opportunity to network in a fun social environment every Tuesday.
WineBeer Tuesdays is a new concept from the Marketing Division of Andes Wines, who also introduced ” Wine After Office” and “Circle of Wine Investors” in 2011 -2012. WineBeer Tuesdays is aimed for both Chilean and foreign professionals over 30’s. The idea is to offer quality Chilean wine and beer tasting in a relaxed social environment of likeminded professionals.
Paola Vega, Executive Producer of WineBeer Tuesdays says: “In Santiago we have 2000+ foreigners working in areas from International companies to Embassies and we have many places and social events to choose from. Our goal is to bring both foreign and Chilean professionals together to make new friends, increase both their business and social network and, of course, to taste some of Chile’s high quality wines and beers!
Wine Beer Tuesdays management team include agricultural engineer Maximiliano Morales, City Leader of First Tuesday Concepcion and General Manager of The Andes Wines Store, and Public Relations Manager Paola Vega who has had over 10 years experience organizing events for the diplomatic and foreign community here in Santiago.
The premier WineBeer Tuesdays will take place on the 26th February on the terrace at Asialima Ceviche Restaurant (General Flores 39, Providencia) from 19.30hrs.
Prices include 2 glasses of wine or two beers and are as follows:
Presale 1 before 15th February: $10,000
Presale 2 before 25th February: $12,000
Normal price the same of the event: $15,000
MEDIA PARTNERS: Conespuma.com – One Way Marketing & Entretenimiento
Contact data: andes@andeswines.com or (2) 23702997
WINE TASTING IN ENGLISH IN PROVIDENCIA – CHILE
March 6th at Hotel NH Ciudad de Santiago (Condell 40, Providencia), The Wine Circle of Andes Wines will organized a Wine Tasting of Carmenere in English for expats and chileans that want to practice english and enjoy great wines.
Pamela Villablanca, a chilean wine specialist will be incharge of guiding the tasting of 5 different wines from several valleys like Casa Carmenere 2011 and Canto de Apalta 2011 from Lapostolle Winery.
Date: Wednesday 6th
Time: 19.00 a 21.30
Place: Hotel NH Ciudad Santiago
Avenida Condell 40
Providencia
If you pay before February 28th: $20.000
If you pay after March 1st: $30.000
You can reserve the spot at andes@andeswines.com o call to (2)2-23702997
Andes Wines
andes@andeswines.com
(56) 2-2370 2997
Grapes are Good…Wine even Better!!
ANDES WINES TO DELIVER WEB APPLICATIONS TO THE WINE INDUSTRY
Chilean wine marketing and strategy firm Andes Wines announced the beginning of its new spin-off project “WineAmix: Wine Digital Laboratory”.
Wine Amix’s main objective is to fuel innovation in the winemaking, food, tourism, and entertainment businesses with the use of digital tools. For this purpose, it will offer a custom-made service in the design and implementation of digital tools to improve customer relationship management initiatives, as well as generate and/or increase sales using the Web as a tool.
Andes Wines aims to develop and deliver high definition web applications starting with an interactive “wine-quiz,” a game platform that will bring together winemakers and consumers in 15 countries.
Andes Wines begun to search for investment partners in Silicon Valley and NYC area.
Andes Wines´ spin-off emerges as a result of the firm’s ten years of experience in the international markets after becoming the first wine marketing firm in South America, with an office in Santiago led by the company’s CEO Maximiliano Morales.
andes@andeswines.com
twitter: @andeswines
CHANGE OF VENUE OF WINE TERROIR ADVENTURE IN NEW YORK
The organizers of Wine Terroir Adventure changed the venue of the welcoming event for Cristián Muñoz for Tuesday December 18th. at Urban Garden in New York from 12 to 2 pm.
Cristián is the BMW Motorcycle rider who is filming the first documentary of the wine terroirs of the Americas called “Wine Terrior Adventure”
If you want to participate RSVP to maxmorales@andeswines.com
This adventure began September 1st from Santiago, where Cristián is driving through a variety of wine terroirs in both South America and the United States to discover the best locations for wine production. More than 300 hours of interviews and landscape footage, which gives character to this documentary that, will be released commercially in 2013.
The event will be focused on special guests, wine writers, food and wine enthusiasts that want to know and talk with Cristián Muñoz after 107 days of travelling along America.
The host of the event will be Steven Shaw from Shaw Vineyards.
1640 Park Avenue @116 St.
New York, NY 10035
(646) 872- 3991
At this event, Cristián Muñoz will present a trailer for the “Wine Terroir Adventure” to the attendees, depicting the marvelous natural wonders of Latin America such as the Galapagos Islands, Machu Picchu, Iguazu Falls, the Atacama Desert and Salar de Uyuni.
Highlights from the documentary include interviews with the owners and or winemakers from different vineyards/wineries on the route such as Stefano Gandolini Gandolini, Ventolera, Von Siebenthal, Alta Alcurnia of Chile, Vinicola Geisse from Brazil, Bodegas Cruzat, Antigal, Tapiz and Carmelo Patti from Argentina and op/ed writers Uvairenda of Bolivia.
Throughout the expedition Cristián has been communicating with his followers on Twitter @WTAdventure, Facebook as “Wine Terroir Adventure,” and the official Youtube channel “WineTerroirAdventure.”
Steven Shaw from Shaw Vineyard said: “We are participating in this project because at we feel the same passion for wine that Cristián feels and want to convey that to viewers. I think the WTA is a fantastic quest to find unique wines crafted all over the world that each express the land from which they are born. I came across Wine Adventure TV on a google search & I reached out to Cristian to see if he had interest in our wines & winery. After we got talking, it turned out we had a mutual friend in the wine business from Upstate NY. From there, we hit it off very well. Cristián was nice enough to include Shaw Vineyard in this historic project that we are honored to be a part of.
The campaign
The “Wine Terroir Adventure” campaign is developed by Cristian Muñoz, CEO of Wine Adventure TV and Maximiliano Morales, CEO of AndesWines.com, the first bilingual wine site with over 10 years of experience in Latin America.
The Media Partners of WTA are Magazine Vinissimo from Ecuador, Venezuela communicator from esnobgourmet Nieves Jesus Montero, Dionisos Magazine and Radio Dionisos from Peru, Nirvino.cl of Chilean journalist Daniel Greve, Chile Tips Trips, Cuyomotor, Welcome Mendoza, Mendoza Sun, and Newsholding.cl
The primary sponsors of the Wine Terroir Adventure are: J.E. Rueda, a Colombian wine importer, BMW Lerma Motors of Mexico, Tregua and CronStudio.
Andes Wines
RSVP: andes@andeswines.com
(56) 2-23702297
twitter @andeswines
WEEKLY WINE REPORT BY ANDES WINES
Napa Valley’s Climate Plan The wine industry has long been known for taking the lead in environmental conservation. This time around, the Napa Valley Country government is in the process of reviewing a climate control plan that aspires to reduce up to 38% of carbon emissions form wineries. The majority of the reduced carbon emissions proposed by the new plan will come from stricter fuel-efficiency measures, which has raised concerns over maintaining tourism profitability. Napa Valley hopes to continue to be at the forefront of the agricultural world’s eco-conscious movement with this proposal.
Yao Ming Debut’s His Wine in the United States Yao Ming Family Wines, founded by NBA-star Yao Ming, will soon be debuting two new wines in the United States. Yao Ming Family Wines has achieved past success in China and is looking to expand on that success by entering the premium wine market in the United States. They will be debuting two different cabernet sauvignons on their first push into the US market.
Amazon Released Wine Website Amazon has now released “Amazon Wine”, a section of the larger Amazon platform that is dedicated entirely to wine and gourmet products. Following with the trend of online shopping, Amazon seeks to create a better format in which to purchase wine via internet. The majority of the wines available through Amazon are popular and proven sellers, however, if looking for more specific wines Amazon provides links to competing retailers. As for now, Amazon Wines only ships to a small limited number of states but is looking to expand rapidly.
Napa Valley Author Jospefina Adriance Releases “Spanish for the Wine Industry” “Spanish for the Wine Industry” was created out of the scarcity of resources available to those looking to communicate in Spanish within the wine community. The book focuses on translating simple tasks and is accompanied by an interactive cd-rom. Mrs. Adriance hopes that this book will be used as a form of corporate education and self-study.
Syrian Winemakers Persevere Through Civil War At a time when the world is being flooded with news of Syria’s civil war and images of ongoing atrocities, Karim and and Sandro Saade find comfort in the soil. Currently headquarted out of Beirut, the Saades have had to double their efforts to continue producing and marketing their Syrian wine.
The Beverage Media Group Inc., has released a new online search and order engine for alcoholic beverages. The search engine is matched up with wholesale providers to hook up with sommeliers and retailers for online direct ordering. This would function very similar to Amazon.com but with a stronger focus on wholesale.
As of now, The Cellar, will debut in the New York metro area but there are plans in place to have a national release as well. If you would like to learn more about, The Cellar, and The Beverage Media Group Inc. please visit www.BeverageMedia.com.
“Canadian Government Provides Clean Energy to Wineries”
The Canadian government has decided to provide assistance to wineries in British Columbia to begin utilizing solar power operations. Orofino Vineyards will be one of the first wineries to make the transition. The large majority of the solar power being used will go towards providing heat and electricity to the tasting room. The transition to solar power is thought to have the ability to save the vineyard a substantial portion of electrical costs over the next ten years. The assistance program providing these wineries with solar power is called LiveSmart BC, and looks to institute clean energy subsidies for a variety of other companies in the British Columbia area as well.
“MarketMaker Application Expanding to Include Grape Growers”
MarketMaker, is an application created by the University of Illinois to connect small and medium businesses involved in the food industry to local and national buyers. This free application has recently been updated to provide hook up grape growers with buyers. This move has been made in order to expand the reach of the app which has been primarily limited to the United States Midwest region.
The application functions as a map of the United States with certain highlighted states that allows the user to explore the options in each individual state. If you are interested in discovering more about the application you may visit http://national.marketmaker.uiuc.edu/.
Nigeria’s growing wine market has been valued at nearly 300 million dollars. The surging middle class has spearheaded the majority of the growth in wine consumption, along with the savvy of South African wineries to realize the market in Nigeria. A large portion of the wine consumed in Nigeria is of South African origin. The biodiversity of African soils has been highlighted as a major facet in the potential growth of the Nigerian and African wine growth.
O’Shea Award given to the Australian Screwcap Initiative
Clare Valley winemaker Jeffrey Grosset, accepted the award on behalf of the Screwcap Initiative. The idea behind the initiative is that screwcaps are able to preserve and optimize the quality of the wine so that when it arrives to the consumer the wine will be in perfect form. The use of screwcaps is thought to enable the wine to avoid issues such as cork taint and sporadic oxidation. The initiative has become increasingly popular in Australia as well as New Zealand.
CHILEAN IS THE WINE SPECIALIST OF NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC EXPLORER CRUISE
After having traveled 4 cruises along the Pacific coast from Lima, as well as Juan Fernández Archipelago through the fjords of the south to Cape Horn and across the Gulf of Penas in this year alone. The Chilean agronomist Maximiliano Morales, was confirmed as the Wine Cruise Specialist National Geographic Explorer.
With this title, he becomes the only Chilean staff member of this unprecedented expedition cruise ship that travels around the world visiting extreme unexplored areas without human intervention. Whose mission is to conduct tastings of wine, beer and olive oil.
Andes Wines, the company in charge of these tastings, has created various activities that include “wine tastings” of premium wines from various Chilean valleys for 140 passengers, the majority of them being Americans whom enjoy adventure, outdoor life and good wine.
Among the wineries to be presented are La Rosa, VIK of Millahue, Cooperativa Loncomilla (Chicha Premium and Late Harvest) and Viña Alta Alcurnia with his Rosé and Premium Illuustris of Colchagua Valley (Palmilla), in addition the beer Gran Torobayo de Kunstmann, Austral from Punta Arenas, and the olive oil Bogaris shall be presented.
In turn, every cruise passenger will receive a Chilean beer map as a gift to enhance the positioning of the breweries in the foreign market.
This year, the Cruise Ship National Geographic Explorer will run from October 21 to November 9 and will begin in Buenos Aires and continue to Montevideo – Bahia Blanca – Puerto Madryn – Bahia Bustamante – Puerto Deseado – Monte Leon Coast – the east entry of the Strait of Magellan – Punta Arenas – Penguin Reserve Magdalena Island – Karukinka in Seno Almirantzago – Bahia Ainswiorth Canal Gabriel – Isla Carlos III – Puerto Deep – Ventisquero Bernal – Seno de las Montañas – Puerto Natales – Agostini – Seno Garibaldi – Yenegaia Bahia – Cabo de Hornos – Estancia Hamberston – Ushuaia.
CHILEAN WINE SPECIALIST
Maximiliano Morales lived in La Serena working as a tour guide specializing in wine topics in 2003. In addition to focusing on his marketing company, Andes Wines, he received a call from Lindblad Expeditions, after the Ingservtur Agency owned by businessman Sergio Bustos Caro recommended him as bilingual wine expert.
Since then, Morales has begun touring across the Pacific ocean and island hopping across to experience the local wildlife. Among the highlights of the National Geographic Explorer is the emphasis on their ability to stop where needed, disembark the zodiacs, and allow passengers to explore virgin landscapes, unscathed from the previous explorations of naturalists, wildlife specialists, as well as photographers and researchers Nat Geographic.
“We have trekked and hiked along the coast, through fjords and islands carrying in my backpack two bottles of wine. These two bottles accompanied me along the journey complementing the stunning landscapes and natural beauty. Some of the details that passengers love to point towards is that we have taken photos sitting on an iceberg during our time in the Chilean fjords, “said Maximiliano Morales.
Andes Wines Communications
(56) 2-3702997
andes@andeswines.com
RADIO SHOW IN MENDOZA INVINOVERITAS
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WEEKLY WINE REPORT – ANDES WINES
“Zombie Bees in British Columbia”
The term “zombie bees” refers to bees infected by a parasitic fly that causes them to move in erratic flight patterns during the night. There have been sightings of swarms of this parasite infected bees across the United States Pacific Northwest. You may ask yourself, “How is this relevant to my wine?” The infection often leads to colony collapse disorder, which puts an enormous amount of stress on pollinators. http://www.edmontonjournal.com/life/Swarm+zombie+bees+believed+sighted/7307204/story.html
“Alcohol and Breast Cancer Link Complicated by Hormone Replacement Therapy”
A new study published by the American Association for Cancer Research medical journal challenges the idea that alcohol consumption alone is a major risk factor for breast cancer in post-menopausal women. The place of alcohol in health has been ferociously debated since introduction of alcohol as a medical remedy of early man. Recently studies have shown that women who are being treated with hormone replacement therapy while consuming alcohol are much more likely to develop cancer than their counterparts.
However, the moderate consumption of alcohol has still shown to have beneficial effects on heart disease, and antioxidant levels in the blood. While there have been many studies pertaining to the links between alcohol and cancer, none of them have been deemed conclusive.
The Ned Sauvignon Blanc 2011 by Marisco Vineyards in the Waihopai Valley was crowned the Best in Show Sauvignon Blanc Under $20 at the Decanter World Wine Awards in London. The Decanter World Wine Awards received more than14,000 entries and were judged by 200 international wine experts.
“Positive Effects of Reservatrol Found in New Study”
A group of scientists from Arizona State University, the Norwegian University of Life Sciences, and Harvard Medical School, tested the effects of resveratrol on the lifespan, learning ability, and food perception in honeybees. The research has shown that the consumption of resveratrol changes the decision of food consumption as well as the amount of calories consumed.
Reservatrol is an anti-oxidant, which opens up the discussion of whether or not the controlled consumption of wine could diminish the damaging effects of free-radicals on the body. It also could effect insulin activity as well, which leads activities such as muscle growth and the controlling of the metabolic rate.
“Moderate Alcohol Consumption may Prevent Bone Loss”
The study displayed similar results to the Framingham Heart Study, which showed that people who consume one to two drinks per day have higher bone mineral density compared to heavy drinkers and non-drinkers. Unfortunately, the findings of this study apply to women exclusively.
The findings appear to display that that alcohol may slow down the bone turnover rate during a women’s menopausal period. Jon Callaci, director of the Molecular and Cellular Bone Biology Laboratory says that, “Seven to nine drinks spread out over the course of a week may be beneficial for bone health, bit it is not a message you’d want to send to people under 25 who are still building bone mass.”
The day I left Vinicola Geisse in the Terroir of Pinto Bandeira, Brazil, I had to ride 600 miles (960 km), under very hard weather conditions.
I started the day at 10am and got to my hotel in Foz de Iguazu a 5am the next morning. It was cold, I got wet as a duck, a girl paid my toll fee, and had to exchange money in the black market in the middle of the night at a toll both and finally got 3 hours of sleep in a very nice hotel sponsored by the Geisse family.
We’ve received several emails asking why are we doing this??? My answer is very simple…world-class Terroirs can be found in the New World and Wine Terroir Adventure is our contribution to the millions of wine consumers around the world, so a little of bit of rain, hail, fog, high temperature or thick humidity is nothing compare to tasting great Terroir wines and the pleasure of meeting wonderful people.
THE BREAKDOWN OF WINE TERROIR ADVENTURE IN ARGENTINA
andes@andeswines.com
WORK AGREEMENT BETWEEN ANDES WINES AND CAEP CHILE ENOLOGY APPLICANT RECRUITMENTS
Andes Wines, a marketing company with more than 11 years in business, executes agreement with CAEP, a world leading organization, listing trainee and internship Enology programs around the world.
Every year, more than 150 Chileans travel abroad to the United States, Italy, Spain, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand in search of services offered by CAEP for job opportunities and growth in their fields. Andes Wines will engage in future enology recruits on behalf of CAEP.
Requisite for the programs and opportunities offered, shall be a mid-level comprehension and knowledge of the English language in order to undertake future tasks and work descriptions that are part of the programs.
In Chile, in order to practice enology, a participant must have had an agronomy degree in order to continue specialization in enology, this is in addition to prior viticulture and vineyard work experiences and knowledge.
Andes Wines will be in charge of selecting future candidates for future job placements and will guide them in the process of completing all of the requirements necessary for the program.
In order to increase student growth in the agronomy and veterinarian programs, CAEP and Andes Wines will recruit opportunities in diverse foreign countries in the areas of agriculture, such as pig, swine, and horticulture.
Andes Wines
andes@andeswines.com
(56) 2-3702297
twitter@andeswines
WINE TERROIR ADVENTURE AT PRESS CONFERENCE IN BUENOS AIRES
Cristián Muñoz, the rider ofWine Terroir Adventure was in Buenos Aires where he participated at a press conference lead by the representative of Andes Wines in Argentina, Gabriela Luna Romano. The place was Espacio Gasset and some of the people participating were Gustavo Precedo, Alejandro Maglione, Hernan Aranzana de Revista Tu News, Silvia Alegre, periodista de Bank Magazine, Noelia Pineda, anfitriona de Espacio Gasset. Cristián Muñoz stayed at Mine Hotel Boutique inPalermo Soho and Feir’s Park Hotel.
This Saturday, September 1st Christian Muñoz arrived to Mendoza. Christian, a commercial engineer is the creator and adventurer for the “Wine Terrior Adventure”, a wine documentary detailing an adventure by motorcycle from Santiago to New York City. He will cover more than 25 terroirs to discover the best viticulture North and South America have to offer in ninety days, arriving in New York City the 15th of December.
There are more than 12 wineries confirmed on the route from Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Brasil, Peru, Bolivia, Mexico, and the United States that will be visited by Christian. Alta Alcurnia (Peralillo), Gandolini (Maipo), Ventolera (Leyda) and Von Siebenthal (Aconcagua) of Chile, Bodega Cruzat, Antigal and Tapiz and Argentina, Uvairenda of Bolivia, Geisse of Brasil, Rivero Gonzalez of México and Shaw Vineyards of the United States will be visited to gain a better understanding of the importance and diversity in the terriors.
During the journey, there will be discussions of the top ten natural wonders of Latin America. A wine from the cellars of each of these beautiful attractions will be presented and discussed at each stop in the journey.
#1 Ecuador: Galapagos Islands
#2 Argentina, Brasil and Paraguay: Cataratas of Iguazu
#3 Brasil: Selva Amazonica
#4 Venezuela: Salto Angel
#5 Puerto Rico: The National Park El Yunque
#6 Brasil: Archipelago Fernando de Noronha
#7 Bolivia: Salar de Uyuni
#8 Costa Rica: Cocos Islands
#9 Bolivia: Laguna Colorada
#10 Chile: Atacama Desert
Geolocation via GPS, as well as Twitter and Facebook will be used to stay in contact throughout the adventure. We will also contact bloggers across the Americas to incorporate everyone that wants to follow this incredible journey.
40,000 km through 18 different countries is a fantastic opportunity to highlight the use of social networks to enjoy wine.
Feel free to contact us on Twitter at @WTAdventure (English), @WTerroirA (Spanish), Facebook “Terroir Wine Adventure” and Pinterest.
The twitter campaign #AtrapaLaMoto in Spanish and #CatchTheBike will be launched so that people around the world may participate in the Wine Terroir Adventure. People may participate by taking a photo holding a sign saying “Wine Terrior Adventure” with a tourist icon of their city or country in the background. These photos will be uploaded to Pinterest, Facebook, and Instagram from @AndesWines and Wine Terrior Adventure.
Throughout the various countries that make up the route, there will be interviews with leading sommeliers such as Ricardo Grellet, Chile, Argentina’s Andres Rosberg, Mexico´s René Renteria and Maya García (from Venezuela living in Buenos Aires)
In turn, Christian will meet with leading wine journalists & bloggers, consumers and restauranteurs, to understand and publicize the importance of terroirs in wine production.
The “Terroir Wine Adventure” has been developed by Cristian Muñoz, CEO of Wine Adventure TV and Maximiliano Morales, general manager of Andes Wines Communications. Andes Wine is the first wine marketing company with over 10 years of experience in Latin America.
Cristian and Maximiliano produced the mostly highly publicized Chilean wine adventure in the world in 2005, “Carmenere Adventure 2005″, which allowed them to implement a new way to promote and position Chilean wines in the world.
Cristián Muñoz will be the navigator, who has outstanding experience when it comes to wine and motorcycle adventures. During his career in exportations from various vineyards in Chile, USA and Europe, he has toured over 40 countries. Over the past seven years he has made a variety of films in the USA, Europe, and Australia in addition to the promotion campaign recognized by Chilean Wines, called Carmenere Adventure. This trip also traveled through the Americas, in order to promote Chile through the country’s emblematic variety.
The Media Partners of Wine Terroir Adventure are Vinissimo Magazine from Ecuador, Venezuela communicator esnobgourmet Nieves Jesus Montero, Nirvino.cl from journalist Daniel Greve, Mendoza Sun and Welcome Mendoza.
The main sponsors of the Wine Terroir Adventure, are the wine importer of Colombia JE Rueda, BMW Lerma Motors of Mexico, CronStudio and Club Tapiz.Andes Wines
BIODYNAMIC ORGANIC VINEYARD AGUATIERRA IN LIMARI FOR SALE
James Pryor, a 78 year-old foreign investor and owner of Sociedad Agrícola AguaTierra Limitada in Punitaqui in the Coquimbo Region in Chile, has decided to sell his prized project, Viña AguaTierra. The vineyard is part of a strategic property that has five of its own wells drawing water from the Punitaqui stream, the main water source in the Limari Valley.
AguaTierra continues to be one of the principal suppliers of biodynamic organic grapes for wineries such as Cono Sur and previously the Guilisasti family’s Emiliana, and many others who sought the high quality grapes.
Enologists that have bought AguaTierra grapes for their wines include Alvaro Espinoza, Ed Flaherty, Adolfo Hurtado and Guillermo Sanchez.
The vineyard, northern Chile’s most innovative biodynamic organic project, covers 120 hectares in the Ciénago area, and has 23 hectares of Syrah, five hectares of Cabernet and four hectares of Carmenere, as well as 53 hectares of land suitable for planting vines and 22 hectares that have been prepared for planting.
AguaTierra averaged 15,000 kilos a hectare in the last harvest, and has 2,000 bottles of a premium Carmenere-Cabernet Sauvignon-Syrah blend in French oak barrels.
James is from Amarillo Texas and married the daughter of an influential communications businessman in Canada, where he worked for several years. On his retirement he staked his fortune on the stock exchange, later investing in gold ingots and then buying a boat and sailing from Canada to Guam.
He traveled in Thailand, Europe, the Mediterranean and setting up for a while on the island of Anguilla in the Lesser Antilles, sailing for six months and working for six months –motivated by his previous experience- as an advisor to family businesses. In the mid-nineties he sold part of his gold in Switzerland and bought different stocks, investing a large part in companies such as Exxon Mobil, Microsoft and Intel.
In 1999 Pryor visited Tongoy and fell in love with the north of Chile. He bought land in Ciénago, Punitaqui, 25km from Ovalle in the Limari valley. His objective was to manage 100 hectares organically; for it to be sustainable and profitable without chemicals. He developed a premium grape that is sold to the most important wineries in Chile, developed a premium wine from the AguaTierra terrior, and won medals in international competitions. His “Aguatierra…Naturally 2008” wine won medals at the “W” Chile competition, in Brussels and Spain’s Peñin competition.
Among the initiatives that James will follow from now, he highlights the idea of advising on the possibility of taking total responsibility in his life, becoming responsible for communications between people, the development of personal limits and expressing anger constructively and creatively. The objective is to reach greater intimacy, honesty and more profound communications between people to improve their quality of life, drawing on the vast experience of personal development and family business that James has developed in his years of living abroad.
“So, this time of my life and until my last days is for contributing to the improvement of others’ lives.”
Developed by Sin Titulo Producciones – andes@andeswines.com
INTERVIEW WITH FREDDY GREZ – CHILEAN WINEMAKER IN GREECE
We talk with Freddy Grez, a prestigious Chilean winemaker who lives in Greece. He told us about his challenges and achievements after working in Porto Carras Winery.
How did you get to work in Greece?
Thanks to the good professional work of the “Wine Job Search” system of Andes Wines Headhunters, I had the opportunity to meet one of my greatest desires, knowing the land of Dionysus, Zeus, Athena and many other mythological Greek Gods and enjoying the hospitality and especially the affection of the personnel in the wine cellar at Domaine Porto Carras, which are things that I will never forget.
I arrived in Greece the second week of May 2010 and I am currently looking for a new working challenge in Greece.
Domaine Porto Carras is one of the most important wine producing companies in Greece, the winery with 2.000.000 liters of capacity, 475 hectare vineyards, excellent facilities and machines gave me the unique opportunity to meet, learn and work with Greek grape varieties for the first time in my life, which has been really rewarding in my professional life.
For me it was a dream come true to get to Greece, because since my school days, that is many years ago, my interest and desire to know this wonderful country were very important, due to of all the historical and cultural wealth, natural beauty and especially in recent years to discover the many varieties of wine grapes from this land completely unknown to me, despite spending so many years working in this wonderful world of wine.
However, the most important and fun part is that I never thought about coming to work in Greece. I always considered to travel as a tourist to visit and enjoy all that Greece has to offer to more than 15.000.000 tourists visiting the country annually, which is why when I had the opportunity to come to work, I did not hesitate, although at that time I had an actual job offer in Australia with the company that I previously worked in Fresno, California, (the Wine Group) yet and despite many contractual disputes, I preferred to come to work at Domaine Porto Carras because it is a Greek company and I also believed it was a very nice professional challenge for me, which I witnessed in these two beautiful and successful years working here in Greece.
2. What did you do in Porto Carras in the period you worked there? What were the challenges and achievements in terms of the wines you produced?
During the 2 years that I was in charge of the wine cellar at Domaine Porto Carras, I did many things, during my first two months I had to learn to know the different types of wines and grapes from Domaine Porto Carras, which is why I carried out periodic wine tastings (bottled and bulk) and toured the vineyards tasting grapes to familiarize with the flavors, aromas and all the characteristics of each variety, in order to make and produce the best wines possible from the beginning of my management, which fortunately happened that way.
At the same time, I familiarized with the way the wine cellar and bottling and labeling room was being handled, and generally all production processes (bottling, labeling, sending, etc.), also regarding the purchase of dried and winemaking supplies.
Once I familiarized with all the procedures, I learned to know the wines and grapes. It was the time to propose, change, execute and get rid of some things, especially anything related to both wine harvest machinery (press, pumps, grinders cooling equipment, etc.) and the rest of the winery machinery and equipment (filters, washing machine, bottling, corking, labeling, etc.).
The first thing I did was to make the wine harvest machines more productive, since they were being used incorrectly. I also modified the pressing programs in the pneumatic press. Thanks to this, we increased the yield of white grape musts by 15%.
In the white wine harvest, I changed the time of cold maceration (skin contact), depending on the quality of the grapes and not following the same recipe that had been used for years (all whites to maceration), the results were immediately white wines, much more fruity, aromatic and balanced wines than before.
In red wines, I introduced the post-fermentation maceration obtaining smoother and fruity wines and melted and tender tannins that is I achieved to drastically change the flavor and balance of red wines. In addition with the changes I made in the pneumatic press programs, I managed to produce less rustic and more elegant press wines than before, so they can be used with drop wines without problems.
Also in red wines, I reduced the time of storage in barrels, this because in my opinion, red wines in general here in this company do not support more than 1 year in barrels, the result is that now wines are more balanced, they have a better wood-fruit relationship, which means they can be commercializes faster so the financial and operational costs are reduced that will directly benefit the company.
I also introduced some changes in the bottling and corking machine, achieving a better machinery performance, better filling level and more productivity.
I changed the working system of the bottling line, achieving better productivity, better performance and a more friendly way regarding the work of people, all of this reduced the production cost of products.
It should be noted that when making the machinery and workforce more productive, costs are considerably reduced, and so the wine cellar can be much more competitive in different markets.
I would also like to mention that in March 2011, I was proud to be the Jury at the 11th International Wine Competition of Thessaloniki, which is sponsored by the OIV.
I participated in presentations of wines in Porto Carras Domaine at fairs here in Greece and in November 2011 I made the presentation of wines in Germany (Frankfurt and Munchen)
3. What do you think of the wines in Greece? What should be done to obtain more reception?
Regarding my opinion of Greek wines, I think that in general red wines are a bit rustic (tannic, alcoholic and sometimes very acids) and white wines in general need more aroma, fruit characteristics and better balance in the mouth.
In any case, I am convinced of the potential of at least 80% of Greek wines that I have tasted, especially this last month, as since I ended my contract with Domaine Porto Carras, I had the opportunity to visit, learn and taste many wines from different areas and zones, even I had the opportunity to travel to Crete, where I tasted very interesting wines and also with enormous potential.
In my opinion, the best way for Greek wines to be more accepted in the international market is working more in vineyards (best production and disease controls) and introducing new winemaking techniques in wine cellars worrying more of all the equipment involved in the production of good wines.
5. What would you like to accomplish in your next step after having worked in Porto Carras?
Apart from being happy, I would like to help in everything I could to make Greek wines more recognized in many parts of the world for their quality and good prices, and I am convinced that this can be done in an orderly and rapid manner, as due to the potential of many of them, this is easier to make than it looks like.
Reliability and consistency is all needed in what is done and I hope to be part of the new and successful phase of wines in this beautiful country called Greece.
Andes Wines
andes@andeswines.com
@andeswines
(56) 2-3702997
JANCIS ROBINSON: WE HAVE A WINNER A RESTAURANT EXPANDS
Drum roll, drum roll. All of the team at JancisRobinson.com agree that all of our shortlisted four restaurant submissions for our reader reviewers competition were excellent, of truly professional quality, but we also agree on the winner: Henry Jeffreys for his review of Giaconda in London (pictured), of particular interest to those seeking a rather quieter restaurant than most. Henry writes a blog with the (to me) rather unappetising name World of booze. Actually it is highly literate and has the more appealing subtitle ‘For the impecunious amateur’. We hope his prize of a bottle of Ch Mouton-Rothschild 1996 will make a glamorous appearance in his world of booze (though there is no hurry to drink it, Henry – see this 2011 tasting note, the most recent of my four, on it).
But we were hugely impressed by the average standard of the reviews you so kindly sent us. So high was it that I’m afraid we were unable to publish everything we were sent (and had to disqualify some entries because they had already been published elsewhere), but we were very grateful for everything we were sent. Thank you, everyone who took the trouble to send us a review.
By a strange coincidence Nick, who will return to his usual slot here and in the Financial Times tomorrow, has just been sent the following by Giaconda about exciting developments for chef-patron Paul Merrony (see Nick’s 2008 review of Giaconda).
After nearly three years of negotiations, providence has intervened! The Giaconda Dining Room will shortly be growing up into a real restaurant. Whilst the chains breed exponentially; we take heart that there are still those of you that believe ‘fine restaurants are made, not built’ and choose to patronise family-run restaurants – an independent restaurant built on enthusiasm and tough grind.
We are very excited to announce that we intend to take over a space that has lain fallow to the rear of our restaurant. We intend to be able to build a bigger kitchen and accommodate another 40 chairs – that’ll give us 70 seats in total. Our valued customers know that Paul works out of a tiny domestic-sized kitchen. Paul cooks everything served! We’ve always said ‘Paul needs help’. Well, now he can get it! We are thrilled to the marrow about this. We’ll be changing our name to The Giaconda Dining Rooms.
In enhancing our capacity, and making the seating less compact, we realise that ‘the vibe’ that we have created needs to be maintained. The aim is to keep doing what we’ve been doing over the last four years, but better.
In order to accommodate the works, we’ll be pausing for a breather from 16 July. We anticipate hibernating for about two to three months while the renovations are undertaken
This year, a new 40,000 kilometre motorcycle odyssey will promote the importance of terroir for wine production in the Americas.
More than 12 wineries in Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, Mexico and the United States are supporting the “2012 Wine Terroir Adventure”, a motorcycle road trip led by Chilean wine entrepreneur Cristian Muñoz, who will travel on his motorcycle from Santiago to New York City in search for the best terroirs for wine production in the Americas.
Muñoz will begin his journey in Santiago and visiting the Top 10 Natural Wonders of Latin America, where he will lead tastings with wines of some of the wineries that he will visit during his voyage.
Participant wineries are Alta Alcurnia (Palmilla), Gandolini (Maipo), Ventolera (Leyda), and Von Siebenthal (Aconcagua) from Chile; Antigal in Argentina; Uvairenda in Bolivia, Vista Alegre (Perú), Geisse in Brazil; Rivero Gonzalez in Mexico; and Shaw Vineyards in the United States.
The road trip will cover 40,000 kms and a total of 18 countries. Social networks playing a key role throughout the voyage, with Muñoz documenting his journey through his Twitter accounts @WTAdventure (in English) and @WTerroirA (in Spanish), and the Facebook page “Wine Terroir Adventure” and uploading photos via Pinterest.
During his voyage, Muñoz will meet with renowned sommeliers in Latin America, such as Ricardo Grellet in Chile, Andres Rosberg in Argentina and René Rentería in Mexico. He will also meet up with leading wine journalists and bloggers, with whom he will share their input on the best terroir in the region.
A ride of entrepreneurship
The “Wine Terroir Adventure” campaign is produced by Cristian Muñoz, CEO of Wine Adventure TV and Maximiliano Morales, CEO of AndesWines.com, the first wine marketing company with over 10 years of experience in Latin America.
Muñoz and Morales also produced the first motorcycle wine marketing ride in Latin America, the “Carmenere Adventure 2005″, in which Muñoz toured the Americas promoting Chile´s emblematic wine variety, Carmenere, a campaign that innovated in the promotion of the country´s wine around the world.
Muñoz is a Chilean Commercial Engineer with experience in wine exporting and has worked in different vineyards in Chile, USA and Europe; toured 40 countries, and in the last seven years has produced and documented wine initiatives in the US, Europe and Australia.
The WTA Media Partners are Vinissimo Magazine of Ecuador; Venezuelan wine blogger Jesus Nieves Montero (esnobgourmet.com); wine magazine Dionisos in Peru and, wine journalist Daniel Greve with his website Nirvino.cl.
The main sponsors of Terroir Wine Adventure are Colombian´s main wine importer, J.E. Rueda, BMW Lerma Motors in Mexico and Mototechnik in Chile.
The Top 10 Natural Wonders of Latin America where Muñoz will be leading the tastings are:
# 1 Ecuador: Galapagos Island
# 2 Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay: Iguazu Falls
# 3 Brazil: Amazons
# 4 Venezuela: Salto Angel
# 5 Puerto Rico: El Yunque National Park
# 6 Brazil: Fernando de Noronha Archipelago
# 7 Bolivia: Salar de Uyuni
# 8 Costa Rica: Cocos Island
# 9 Bolivia: Laguna Colorada
# 10 Chile: Atacama Desert
* * *
If you’d like more information about Wine Terroir Adventure, or to Schedule an interview with Max Morales or Cristian Munoz, please call Andes Wines at +56 2-3702997 / skype: andeswines or e-mail the producers at andes@andeswines.com
THE CHILEAN INVESTOR FORUM 2012
Now in its second year, the Chilean Investors Forum is a specialized gathering of institutional investors, fund managers and international industry leaders for a discussion of asset allocation, regulatory change and investment strategy across asset classes, including private equity, real assets, hedge funds and equities. Over the course of two days, more than 300 executives from Chile, broader Latin America and the international fund industry will come together to exchange ideas and engage one-on-one to address pressing issues and explore opportunities in today’s turbulent markets.
Featured speakers include industry leaders from different markets worldwide:
·Patricio Eskenazi, CIO Private Bank, Banco Penta (Chile)
·Diego Grove, Portfolio Manager, Megeve Investments (Chile)
·Ignacio Briones, Head of International Finance, Chilean Ministry of Finance (Chile)
·Pablo Valero, CIO Wealth Management, Banchile Inversiones (Chile)
·Horacio Peña, CEO, Penta Las Américas (Chile)
·Ricardo Fernandez, Vice President, Hamilton Lane (Brazil)
·Manuel Carvallo, Senior Consultant, Towers Watson (US)
Javier Miñana
Southern Latin America Group
646-216-8690
Javier.Minana@latinmarkets.org
Sponsorship
William Frank
Southern Latin America Group
212-696-0848
William.Frank@latinmarkets.org
Investor Contact
Edgi De Los Santos Jiménez
Southern Latin America Group
212-213-3272
Edgi.Delossantos@latinmarkets.org
ANDES WINES
andes@andeswines.com
PETER & SUSIE PROFILE DIRK NIEPOORT
‘No one really understands me,’ muses Dirk Niepoort, standing in the half light of his Vila Nova de Gaia cellar.
‘But life could be worse.’ It’s difficult to tell, in the gloom, whether it’s a wry smile or a taut grimace on his face. Either way, his eyes gleam momentarily and then he’s away, off into the bright spring sunlight of Vila Nova, shoulders hunched, bottles in hand, shaggy hair bobbing with his gait.
Such disarming moments are common with Niepoort.
This thoughtful, provocative winemaker is used to ploughing his own furrows; in doing so, he’s become recognised as one of the most inventive and progressive winemakers on the modern Portuguese scene, if not globally. He has an engaging sense of humour which, allied to a fiercely analytical brain and notable commercial guile, makes for quite a subject.
I spent some time with him when I was recently in Portugal. Over a tour of his cellars, a tasting and lunch, I found him to be a man brimming with ideas and incisive thinking, certainly not afraid to speak his mind.
I didn’t always agree with his views – just as I wasn’t won over by all of his wines – but in both fields he is constantly challenging, provocative and engaging.
He’s also very hard working. Researching Niepoort’s wine range is like mapping Byzantium: he has myriad mini projects on the go in addition to his core range – which includes ports and still table wines, around 1.5m bottles annual production in all. This in addition to a punishing travel schedule – he estimates he’s on the road around 170 days in a year – plus the usual 50 days of harvest per year, not to mention the family commitments (including a tea importing business…)
‘People ask me why I make so many wines,’ Niepoort says. ‘My reply is that I’m not as clever or educated as some people. My way of learning is by doing.’
One of his newest projects is in Bairrada, making Baga with Quinta de Baixo in Bairrada.
‘I love Baga, it’s my disease,’ he enthuses dryly. ‘It’s like Nebbiolo in Piedmont or Pinot Noir in Burgundy: it needs the right plot and proper handling in the winery. Baga and Bairrada are the best combination in Portuguese red.’
When asked what makes his approach different from others, he cites a strict attention to detail. To this you could add a healthy appetite for risk taking. Take his commitment to using stems in red winemaking – something many winemakers run a mile from, for fear of making astringent, green wines.
‘The basis of good wine is a bit of green-ness,’ states Niepoort baldly. ‘It’s the same as freshness. It helps a wine age. I don’t believe in fruity wines. Although there’s no recipe, using stems can give firmer, more sexy tannin, and help eat up the fatness of wines.’
He sums up his winemaking style in the following terms: ‘I look for balance, elegance and authenticity.’ He recognises the incongruity of his aim in the Douro, an area famous for making Port, one of the most powerful wine styles around. ‘In theory, what I’m trying to do is nonsense: make vintage port that tastes like red Burgundy. I love surgical precision and elegance in my wines.’
However crazy the theory, his wines do him credit. Charmes, his most Burgundy-like Douro red, and his super-fine vintage port, are two of the stand-outs in his portfolio. Clearly the ambition translates into fine wines.
Niepoort is no fan of natural wines, nor what he calls ‘global wines’.
‘We live in a world where wines taste more and more the same: ‘global wines’. Our society loves noise – the noisier the wine, the better. People don’t have time to understand things. I don’t like natural wines because they’re the same as global wines: they taste of who made them and how they were made. I want to taste terroir: where the wine has come from.’
He’s scathing about the new generation of Portuguese winemakers. While he concedes there are some bright sparks out there, he, ‘would have expected more. There’s no invention. People are all doing things by the book, making over-ripe, crap wines. They have to be more fundamental, go the whole hog.’
Part of Niepoort’s concern is the tendency for winemakers to use international varieties and overly promote, for example, Touriga Nacional, which in his view risks undermining the significant diversity of indigenous vines that is one of the country’s strongest suits.
‘Portugal’s the most interesting wine country in the world!’ he exclaims, expansively. ‘But we could do better.’
It’s a classic Niepoort comment: bold, provocative, but also fiercely self-aware. Much like the man.
TASTING
The following are my favourite wines from several I tasted with Dirk in Vila Nova in mid-February (2012).
Redoma Branco 2010, Douro, 13.5% – this was a cool, high-yielding year which Dirk described as good for whites – fresh acids, ripeness at lower alcohols – and not so good for port. This is mainly Rabigato, a field blend from old vines with 100% barrel ferment. Lovely aromas of blanched nuts and tangerine pith. Soft, nutty, creamy. Very good. Not steely but nice persistence. Well made. 6.5-7/10
Redoma Reserva Branco 2010, 13.5% – a selection of the best barrels from older vineyards. Ten months in barrel, wild yeasts. Subtle earthy, stony nose. Lovely palate; elegant, herbal scented, limpid. Excellent integration. Very pleasant white. Could have more structure but well worked. 7(-7.5)/10
Redoma Rosé 2010, 13% – Dirk introduces this wine by announcing he ‘likes a bit of funkiness in his wines’, especially in whites and rosé. It’s another highly individual wine: mainly Tinta Amarela picked early, picked specifically for this wine, with 40% fermented in new barrels. It has a leafy, peppery aroma and a serious, savoury palate with decent concentration. A very serious dry style, yes with rough edges, and a bit watery on the finish, but overall a gallant, characterful style. Very nice. 5/10
Redoma 2008, Duoro, 13.5% – mainly Tinta Amarela from north-facing vineyards: ‘It’s our most authentic wine’, comments Dirk. ‘It’s not trying to be the best or finest – it has character, edges, a bit of a wild side – but a faithful representation of the Douro’. Lovely fresh cherried and floral aromatics. Firm tannins, with a serious, savoury undercurrent. Spicy. Some yeasty, malty notes. Seems young but nicely scented. Not the most complex but nicely crafted. I preferred this to the warmer 2009 vintage, which was a bit baked, if still decent. 6.5-7/10
Batuta 2009, Douro, 13.5% – ‘Philosophically,’ says Dirk – it’s a word he uses a lot – ‘Batuta is different from Redoma. It wants to be the best wine in the world…’ Similar vineyards to Redoma, north-facing, high elevations, but older (at least 80 years in age). Lovely dark fruit aromas lead into a rich, dense palate that’s not at all sweet. Impressive, gently bittersweet. Notable textural elegance and savoury character. Has a vibrancy yet gentleness to it that typifies many of these reds. 7/10
Doda 2008, 13.5% – a blend fruit from Douro and Dão, made in collaboration with Alvaro Castro. Dão gives the fresh acidity, Douro the richness. Dense, fluid flavour profile, firm in structure and beautifully integrated spice. Lovely aromas of wood smoke, dried herbs and fresh damson. Fluid, cogent. Grown-up stuff. Needs time to improve but very impressive. 7.5/10
Charme 2008, Douro, 14% – elegance and finesse are the aims with this wine, according to Dirk – and it pays off. This is a beautiful wine, with heavenly scents of warm earth, wood smoke and hedgerow fruits. Evocative. On the palate it’s a bit oaky but a wonderful combination of lightness with savoury density. Really the one wine that encapsulates Dirk’s vision of acidity, lightness and drinkability in reds. I’d love a notch less oak and alcohol, but even so it’s lovely stuff. Made from a cooler vintage, with source from old vines mainly in the Pinhão valley, 100% foot trodden and made with 100% stems. 7.5-8/10
Niepoort 2009 vintage port, 20.5% – ‘In theory the best wine I’ve ever made,’ muses Dirk. ‘It has soul.’ Brooding wine with minty, camphor edge to it above the roasted dark fruit and bergamot flavours. Spicy, dense, fiery and young. Lovely tannin. Very impressive, even though the aromas are slightly surprising. Pure, direct, vigorous. A baby yet, though. (8/10)
Niepoort 30-year-old tawny, 20.5% – piercing aromas of muscovado sugar and fresh malt. Punchy, rich and fiery on the palate. Vivid, albeit a bit raw. 7.5/10
USE OF FACEBOOK AND TWITTER BY CHILEAN WINERIES IS LIMITED
To analyze the use of the social media by Chilean wineries, AndesWines.com asked to digital audience consulting company, Sondet, a comprehensive analysis of how the industry is using these tools in the market.
ANDES WINES EXCLUSIVE REPORT
From the total of the wineries that belong to Wines of Chile, almost 30% don´t have profile in Facebook and more that 50% don´t have in Twitter. Results show that, the national wine industry, still has a long way to go to take advantage in the social networks benefits, they can help with their business plans and the relationship with their consumers.
The Andes Wines´ report was focused in the registered wineries in Wines of Chile, and the social media, like Twitter and Facebook, both, the most important in Chile.
An analysis was realized during February 2012 and defined which wineries have more web representation, through those networks, how intensive is their use and how many definitively aren´t in those nets. In the case of twitter, were considering the number of the tweets, followers and the activity which was shown in each profile.
Of the total of wineries which belong to Wines of Chile, 30% don´t have official profile in Facebook. 23.5% has profile but, they are forgotten o hasn´t got any traffic. A 34.4% shows high activity in Facebook, and coincidentally, have more followers; while 8.4% of the profile´s vineyards in Facebook have been created by users, not by the wineries.
In the Twitter case, the 53% of the vineyards, haven´t got account. 23,5% of the different profiles are lost and the same number registered high activity.
According to the director of corporate strategy for measuring social networks Sondet, Flavio Cardemil: “The majority of the wineries don´t have Facebook or Twitter integrated on their own web sites. In Facebook, for example, only the 32.7% have it. To link social networks to the websites is easier to the consumers, to know the brands in the social networks.”
Connecting to the wine
The wineries with more followers in Facebook are Lapostolle Wine (7,320) Misiones de Rengo (3,758) and Viña Concha y Toro (2,962). While in Twitter are Viña Valdivieso (4,947); Concha y Toro (3,603) and Ventisquero (2,563).
In Chile, Viña Valdivieso and Ventisquero are among the most active wineries on Twitter with a level tweeted average 6,000 and 5,000 tweets respectively, and third place is La Rosa Wines with an average of 3,609 tweets.
According to Maximiliano Morales, AndesWines.com General Manager says: “have lots of followers don´t prove more traffic and greater brand impact on social networks. For example, there are wineries through contests and / or “quiz” of specific issues resulting in different impacts on the brand. This can lead to a winery to produce a constant struggle between his followers, for that particular prize at the end is something “free” and can devalue the brand, becoming regarded as the “winery that gives free wine thanks to Twitter or Facebook “.
“Something similar happens with contests to participate in events. Often they are 3 or 4 fans who get the awards always leaving out others who are discouraged followers of the brand in question and stop following your tweets, creating a low interest.” Morales, said.
In the analysis highlights Concha y Toro which in addition, has an official Facebook profile has a distinguished brand. Frontera and Trio featuring more than 34 thousand, and 19 thousand followers, respectively, surpassing all the vineyards in the Association. In addition, Trio has a Twitter profile than the official Concha y Toro, with more than 1,100 followers.
Meanwhile, only 9 of the 119 vineyards have studied its Facebook profile with a personalized welcome message. This represents 7,5% of the companies under Wines of Chile, two of which 9 are among the top three ranked (Lapostolle and Concha y Toro). “The importance of welcome pages is to approach the audience and differentiate from other brands and the standard Facebook” adds Cardemil.
“In most cases, there is a dissociation between the winery and the company or person, who takes over the management of social media, since service is outsourced to an advertising agency, through a community manager, journalist or publicist. In this case, need more training in order to convey the brand attributes, and a lack of “monetization” of the strategy, that is based in most cases giving a gift. Definitely need a specialized consultancy that is based on wine marketing strategy to measure the real impact” Maximiliano Morales told.
Andes Wines
andes@andeswines.com
Twitter @andeswines
(56) 2 3702997
“TOKYO IS THE JAPANESE WINE MARKET”
Japan´s first Master of Wine, Ned Goodwin, introduces us to this foreign and distant drinking culture. Far from being a new frontier in wine drinking, the land of the Rising Sun has seen other spirits rise –beer and sake-, yet it is open for new experiences, even if only in Tokyo. By Marta Lillo, AndesWines.com
AW: What has it been to live in Japan as a foreigner and a wine expert?
NG: Fascinating and certainly never dull, but that is more because of the cultural insights that living here provides, rather than due to any real dynamism in the wine market. The Japanese market is not particularly dynamic and will not be in the future either.
AW: Is Japan the new frontier in wine drinking?
NG: Far from it. The old frontier as far as Asia goes, perhaps.
AW: What is the market size of wine drinking in Japan?
NG: Just under 2 liters per capita consumption, with 70% of that concentrated in Tokyo. Thus, in essence, Tokyo IS the Japanese wine market.
AW: What brands are more popular in Japan?
NG: Regional brands are more popular than commercially labelled brands, per se, Bordeaux, Burgundy, Chablis, Chianti, Napa. That is about it. Otherwise, inexpensive volume-driven brands such as Sunrise, Carlo Rossi, Yellowtail are popular but not necessarily due to brand loyalty, but simply because they are inexpensive and appealing in these recessionary times.
AW: Have there been any alcoholic drinks legislative changes over the past 12 months that you find key for the wine market in general?
NG: No, not that I can think of. The free-trade agreement with Chile certainly raised Chile’s market penetration here albeit, that was more than 12 months ago.
AW: Has the alcoholic drinks industry in general been affected by the global recession?
NG: Of course. Beer and sake are on the decline. Wine is fairly stagnant as it has been for the last 12 or so years although I read figures that indicate some growth in volume consumed, especially at the (very) low price points.
AW: What is consumed more; beer, sake, wine or spirits?
NG: Beer. Wine would be last in the grouping, in volume terms.
AW: What have been the key trends seen in new product developments? Any Chilean brands among them?
NG: Slash discounting across the board, from on to off-trades, to obviate the need for trained and capable sales staff; Lower wages; little new product development as a result, although for a while there were wine brands touting their new health benefits due to ‘polyphenols’, bio etc. Domestic wine is also gaining attention. Right now the market is undergoing a paradigm shift from the on to the off trade. The traditional sommelier hegemony’s influence is waning, with huge opportunity for savvy buyers and sales leaders (trainers and motivators) in the off-trade.
NG: Do Japanese alcoholic drinks consumers want value for money or added value?
Perceived value for money.
AW: What would you recommend to wine producers in general when approaching the Japanese consumer?
Think hard. Know the right people on the ground. Choose your distributor carefully. Make regular visits. Prepare yourself for language barriers and a culture that is as frustratingly uninternatioal and inflexible, as it is fascinating and rewarding. Things do not get done fast in Japan and there are many cultural hurdles. Currently, few industries can compete with the downward price spiral, aside from Chile and to a lesser extent, perhaps, Spain. Understand that perceptions of the Old World are largely positive and regimented and that traditional OW regional brands hold sway, even in this climate. Few people taste with their mouths, but rather, with their eyes.
(March 2012) Renowned wine publications Harper’s, Master of Wine Jancis Robinson and The Independent Wine Review have recently acknowledged the growth of the Chilean independent wine movement, allowing the sector to increase its global market share. Report by AndesWines.com
Speaking to Harper´s magazine, Wines of Chile’s European director, Michael Cox, said that Chilean wines are growing fast in the independent sector, accounting now for 10% market share in this sector, having displaced Italy from fourth place by volume.
However, he warned that Chile has yet to reach its full potential in the £6 to £12 area: “There are too many Old World wine regions with stories and names that get stuck in people’s minds. At these higher price points, Chile can more than hold its own,” Cox added.
Cox spoke to Harper’s during Prowein in Dusseldorf, where 43 Chilean wineries were exhibiting on the Wines of Chile’s stand and 19 on their own stands, and more working on their importers booths.
Recently as well, renowned wine expert Jancis Robinson dedicated a full report on the recent changes in the Chilean wine map, among them the creation of Vigno, the group of producers that have joined to promote the Carignan appellation produced in the Maule Region in Chile.
The Independent Wine Review also reported that UK consumers are now purchasing more Chilean wine than French wine in independent wine retailers, which are notorious for supporting unknown, more exclusive and tailor-made wine brands, compared to traditional sales of industrial brands by supermarkets, pubs and restaurants.
By 2011, the country was also the fifth most popular country of origin for wine sold in the UK (by value), overtaking South Africa for the first time. Almost one in ten bottles of wine sold in the UK were Chilean, said the Review.
Andes Wines sweets and pastry writer Suzanne Taylor’s job could not get any better. She embarked on a very yummy task: combine desserts with wine. A Peach struesel tart and a Chocolate cake with a hint of merken were the perfect excuse to try a couple of sweet wines that made our mouths water…
There is nothing more satisfying than a mouth-watering dessert at the end of an incredible meal. Possibly, the only thing that could send you into a different stratosphere is to serve it with a dessert wine that compliments the taste and complexity of the dessert itself.
I choose these two different desserts for a couple of reasons. The aroma of peaches fills the air everywhere right now in Chile. Even a steamy, hot day won’t keep me from baking those beautiful peaches. Chocolate flourless cake is nothing new. But when I suggested making it with Chile’s own chili spice – merken, the raised eyebrows signalled that this is not something that has been tried very often.
Andes Wines CEO, Max Morales, enologist Jose Miguel Sostomayor, and myself embarked on the difficult task of trying to keep an independent mind when trying these delicious combinations. And we were in for a treat!
We chose Encomenderos 2010 Moscatel to taste with the peach streusel tart. I really liked how the acidity helped to balance the sweetness of the dessert. It had a very fresh taste.
With the flourless chocolate cake, the Syrah Tardio from Portal del Alto really hit the spot. Without trying the wine, the merken was just slightly noticeable. After the wine, the spice really came out and tingled all the way down your throat. It just went down so, so well altogether. I really liked this combination.
A couple of things to remember if you want to try your own experiment with wine and dessert:
An acidic wine will pair well with a fruit dish, which also has its own natural acidity.
With more intense flavours of the dessert, the intensity should increase in the wine.
The wine should be sweeter than the dessert.
Have fun!
For those who dare:
Peach Struesel Tart
Pie Dough Recipe
3/4 cup unsalted butter, slightly soft
1/3 cup sugar
6 egg yolks
Pinch of salt
2 cups All-purpose flour
In a mixing bowl, place the butter and sugar and start to mix with a wooden spoon for a couple of minutes until all the sugar is incorporated. (you can do this with a mixer, but don’t over mix to the point where the mixture is creamy) Add the egg yolks and mix. Lastly add all the flour, salt and mix until it comes together. Turn out onto a lightly floured table. Make a ball and then flatten into 6” disk of dough. Wrap this disk with plastic wrap and place in the freezer for about ½ hour. This last step can be done in advance and left in the freezer for a week. Preheat oven to 200C. Take out of the freezer and let warm only slightly enough to be able to roll the dough out to about 12” diameter. Line the dough into a flan mould or pie mould that has been slightly greased and floured. Trim the edges and prick the dough with a fork. Place in a preheated oven for about 5 minutes and then turn down heat to 180C and continue to bake for about 10 minutes. Take out of oven and set aside.
Struesel Topping
2/3 cup All-Purpose Flour
4 Tablespoons granulated white sugar
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
4 TBSP. unsalted butter
¼ cup sliced almonds – optional
Method- Sift all dry ingredients together in a bowl. Add the butter in small pieces. Add almonds. Blend just until a mixture forms and there are small pea sized clumps. This can either be done by hand or by food processor. Do not over mix. Can be made ahead of time and left in the fridge for a couple of days.
Fruit Mixture
7 cups peaches – peeled and sliced
¼ cup white sugar
¼ cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. lemon zest
3 TBSP. All purpose flour
Peel peaches and then slice about 1/2” thick – too much thinner and they will disintegrate during baking. Add zest. Sift all dry ingredients and mix with peaches. Place mixture in pre-baked pie shell. Spread streusel mixture over top of peaches. Bake at 180C for 45-50 minutes or until the peach filling starts to bubble.
Flourless Chocolate Cake with Merken
125 grams good quality semi-sweet chocolate
½ cup unsalted butter
¾ cup white sugar
3 large eggs
½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
½ tsp. merken
¼ tsp. cinnamon
Preheat oven to 180C. Chop chocolate and place into stainless steel bowl. Place bowl over a pot of water and slowly melt chocolate with butter. (The water should not be boiling!) Add sugar. Take off from the pot of water. Whisk eggs and add to the chocolate mixture. Sift dry ingredients and add to the mix. Lightly grease a 10” cake ring. One that has a collapsible bottom is easier to remove the cake. Pour mix into the pan and bake for approximately 25 minutes. When testing for doneness, an inserted knife will be slightly moist with mixture. Let cool. Note – this cake is not supposed to have height like a normal cake because it does not have the flour.
Andes Wines
andes@andeswines.com
Twitter @andeswines
WINE FRAUDS AND COUNTERFEITS IN THE WORLD
The Pinotgate scandal reminds many that the world of wine has its share of scams, and revives the debate about the inability of wine producers and traders to detect irregularities in time.
By Marta Lillo and Sandra Vargas, AndesWines.com
(Santiago, February 2012) Even the most renowned wine critic in the world has tasted fake wine at one moment in life. Without noticing it.
Wine is not only easy to drink, but also to fake. Technology, globalization of prices and produce, an international market increasingly expensive, a limited offer of fine wine bottles, the subjectivity in wine tasting, and the fact that the older the vintage, the harder is to prove its authenticity, are all variables that make this business an easy target to counterfeiting.
Although difficult to measure, Wine Spectator magazine projected that about 5% of the wine traded in the international secondary market is fake (bottles that collectors keep for more than a decade). The figures on the sale of fake wine in specialized stores and gourmet corners at supermarkets could be even greater. The numbers for alcohol counterfeits in general speak of nearly US$ 1 billion in annual losses for the alcohol industry worldwide, according to data by the International Federation of Spirits Producers.
This is a complex situation for a business to which public image is everything. It should not come as a surprise, then, that only a few cases see the light of day, as their victims fear to be branded inefficient and have their prestige compromised.
However, among the scandals that have made it through this pact of silence, the most notorious ones involve some of the oldest denomination of origin wines from Spain, France and Italy. The illegal practices range from bottling and labelling of low-quality wines as fine wines at the wineries themselves, the substitution of bottles during transport, and exorbitant auctions of fine and rare wines that turned out to be the contrary.
A never-ending old story
Compared to the millenary story of wine, which dates back to 20,000 AD, fraud and counterfeit detection is recent.
Among the first known cases in the modern world isthe forgery of Portuguese port between the XVI and XVIII centuries. Original from the Duoro River valley, this wine fortified with brandy became a favourite in England when the constant warring with France limited the access to European wine. However, the competition with other Iberian wines and the copies by other Portuguese wine regions gave way to overproduction, which reached critical levels by mid 1700s.
As a result, exports to England came to a stall and the prices began to fall as British merchants started to discover the forgeries. To protect the origin and quality of this emblematic product, and at the request of the producers from Duoro, the Portuguese crown founded the Companhia Geral dos Vinhos do Alto Douro to secure the balance between quality, production, trade, and prices.
This initiative gave way to the first denomination of origin in Portugal, the first mountain demarcation related to wine, and one of the first vine registries in the history of wine.
But these efforts did not keep the counterfeits at bay. Port began to be produced from elderberry extracts, for example; the Companhia decided to uproot the problem, literally, by ordering the complete destruction of elderberry plans in the north of Portugal.
Three centuries later, scandals from forgeries and frauds continue to add up.
Since mid 2000s, energy tycoon and fervent wine collector, William Koch, maintains a real crusade against counterfeits while suing many wineries, traders and suppliers, claiming that he has lost about US$ 4 million because of wine that turned out to be fake.
Among the most relevant cases linked to Koch involves the mystic Château Pétrus, which wines are a symbol from the wine region of Pomerol, in Burdeaux. Many of the 1921 Château Pétrus that Koch owns were filled with cheap Cabernet from California; the winery claims that it never bottled magnums from its 1921 vintage.
The wine region and denomination of origin of Bordeaux is at the heart of many of these scams, as well.
In 2002, a former employee of the Belgian group Geens Benelux claimed that not all wines imported by the company from Bordeaux were of such origin. The wine allegedly came from other wine regions and countries, fixed with aromas and chemicals, and sold under false châteaux names at supermarkets and specialized wine stores in Belgium and France.
Then director general Willy Frederick and his predecessor, the founder of the Belgian firm, Roger Geens, were placed under custody. But the case never made it to a French court after Geens suffered a brain stroke in 2006. The Belgian side kept on and in 2007 then director general Gillaume Berckmans and three other executives were sent to jail and a court administrator was appointed to run the company. However, even though the enquiry continued, the trial was postponed in 2007.
Meanwhile, another scam was beginning to take form at another French wine region, but this time the responsible agents would be legally convicted, in 2010.
It all began when French producers in the Languedoc-Roussillon region decided to sell nearly 3.5 million litres of fake Pinot Noir, equivalent to nearly 18.5 million of bottles, to the world´s largest wine producers Constellation and Gallo, both from California, between 2006 and 2008.
The wine in question was a mix of Syrah and Merlot, much cheaper to produce but for which the French wineries turned a profit of about 7 million euros.
Consumer complaints gave way to investigations both in France and in the United States. Finally, in February 2010 executives from the French producers Ducasse, Vignobles, Alain Maurel, Sieur d’Arques, Montblanc and Caves Pierre Fabre, and from both American firms, were charged fines and convicted to jail, sentences that would later be reduced to conditional release.
However, the scandal did not end here. Constellation and Gallo claim that they were never aware of the sham because the French purchase orders always read Pinot Noir. Nevertheless, in 2011 they decided to reimburse the misled consumers, compensations that rise up to US$ 2 million, after an off-court settlement.
But three consumers were not satisfied by this and decided to launch a class action against Gallo and Constellation, accusing them of unfair competition and misleading advertising.
In 2008, also in Bordeaux, the Customs Office raided the cellar of a businessman planning to sell 5 thousand bottles of cheap wine fake fine wine labels.
New markets, new victims
Counterfeiting is taking advantage of the growing popularity of wine in non-traditional markets such as Asia.
Wine consumption has grown hand in hand with the economic boom in the region, particularly in China. Multimillionaires in Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Beijing are starting to better their Western counterparts in collecting fine and rare wines, hungry for the image of sophistication that this practice bestows, opening a new window of opportunity for counterfeits. Projections value the fake wine market in China in nearly US$ 685 million yearly, about 5% of the country’s total wine market.
In 2011, the founder and director of the Independent Wine Centre in Hong Kong and Shanghai, Simon Tam, sounded the alarm about a buying network of empty fine wine bottles discarded after tastings and at expensive restaurants. These would later be refilled with low-quality red wine.
Reports speak of empty Châteaux Lafite bottles bought for as much as 900 euros each to judges and restaurant administrators, refilled with cheap French wine, and sold after in nearly 4,000 euros.
Also, the vice chairman of the realty subcommittee of the Asia-Pacific Urban Development Association revealed on his microblog in late 2011 that the largest agent of Lafite in Beijing had told him that he had converted two ocean-going cargo ships into factories producing counterfiet.
As a result of this trend, Chinese traders and wine agents have begun to shatter the empty bottles once tastings and special events are done, so to reduce the possibility of forgery.
Meanwhile, denominations of origin in France have begun to register their brand in China, thus to be able to launch legal actions.
Latin America does not fall behind. A recent case concerns five wineries in Argentina with inflated wine stocks. The Federal Justice and the National Institute of Viticulture (INV in Spanish) began to investigate after the companies, which belong to the same group, turned an employee over to the authorities, accusing him of fixing the accounts, thus claiming no responsibility on the matter.
Many solutions to a common problem
The Pinotgate scandal continues to generate debate because of the high profile of the guilty parties, the multimillion dollar lawsuits and reimbursements involved, the damage to the public image of French wine, and the endless questioning about the capacity of winemakers and traders to detect irregularities and forgeries in time.
Current technologies account for the authenticity of the wine at its point of origin, but once it leaves the wineries the monitoring becomes difficult and expensive, leaving the wine and the label exposed to wrong doings.
The industry is coming up with new tools to prove counterfeits. An investigation at the University of Adelaide, in Australia, claims that the radioactive isotopes from atomic bomb tests left in the atmosphere in the past century could help date wine. The study found that the carbon-14 isotope ratio of the wine alcohol can be used to determine the vintage with precision.
Another crusader against counterfeiting, wine collector Russell Frye, began a listing of all legitimate bottles worldwide, which can be registered in the web page Wineauthentication.com, so to facilitate legal claims once fakes have been discovered.
Andes Wines
andes@andeswines.com
Twitter @andeswines
THE II INTERNATIONAL WINE COMIC COMPETITION IS NOW OPEN!
In order to continue encouraging the talent and creativity of wine lovers and fans from around the world, Andes Wines is launching the II International Wine Comic Competition (II Concurso Internacional de Comics del Vino). And for second year in a row, the initiative is beingsponsored by the Lukas Foundation in Valparaiso, dedicated to the works of cartoonist and artist Renzo Pecchenino.
To enter, participants only need to send their work before the deadline expires on August 30, 2012 at midnight, Chile time.
This initiative is led by Andes Wines.com, the first wine culture website in Chile and Latin America. In its second version, the competition emerges as a result of the big success of comic strips about wine in Asia, particularly in Japan.
This graphic culture of wine comic books is boosting wine sales in the region by reaching youth consumers and professionals over 25 years old who are just starting to learn about wine as an option to beer and other spirits.
The trend is led by renowned Japanese manga “Kami no Shizuku,” which translates to “The Drops of God”. The story tells about a fictional hero in a quest to find the 12 best wines the world in order to inherit his father’s priceless wine collection. The comic has been described as “The Da Vinci Code” of wine.
The competition is open to all people, from oenophiles to designers and oenology experts, from all over the world, who want to produce a comic strip with wine a focal point.
Last year, the I International Wine Comic Competition awarded first prices to the comic strip “La Bodega Universal” (the universal cellar), by Spanish designer Juan Palacio.
The II International Wine Comic Competition is split into four categories: grape harvest, wine myths and legends, stories and wine characters. Those who are interested in participating can request the rules of the competition at andes@andeswines.com.
The international spread of the competition has reached Spain, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Brazil, the United States, Europe, and Asia.
The first prize will be awarded US$500 and the publication of the comic at http://www.andeswines.com, both in English and Spanish, in addition to many other rewards that will be informed during the next weeks.
Andes Wines Communications ™
(56) 9 – 9-219 7117
andes@andeswines.com
ANDES WINES SHOP OPENS IN SANTIAGO
Visitors to our store in Quilicura can expect to find the best sample of Chilean wine making and gourmet products all year-round.
(Santiago, February 2012) Andes Wines announces the opening of the Andes Wines Wine Shop, beginning this February, 2012, a service-oriented wine and gourmet products business with an emphasis on local brands.
Situated in the Mall Premium Buenaventura, in Quilicura, the Andes Wines Wine Shop features a wide variety of wines from all the winemaking valleys in Chile, and a myriad of gourmet products, wine accessories, artisanal beer and renowned spirits brands like vodka, rum, whisky, tequila, among others.
The Andes Wines Wine Shop offers sales prices that range from 10% to 60% discount on a wide variety of wines from renowned brands such as Concha y Toro, San Pedro, Tarapacá, Bisquertt, Casa Donoso, Casas del Toqui, William Fevre, Portal del Alto, Morandé, La Rosa, Anakena, Villalobos, Encomenderos, Via Wines, Ventolera, Lafken, Calyptra, Nerkihue, Cuve del Maolee, and Ventisquero.
The shop also features artisanal beers like Austral, Falken y DieM, and gourmet products such as smoked venison ham, venison and wild boar salami, olive oil, garlic pastes, lamb ham, fruit infusions, Mexican tuna, chutneys and sugar free jam, pates and quail eggs, artisanal mustard, dried fruits, natural juices, manjares (milk-based sauce or spread) and marmalades, gourmet cheeses and honey, Emu carpaccio, among other delicious alternatives.
The wine accessories found in the store range from tasting glasses in different sizes and formats, decanters, different types of corkscrews and bottle openers, etc.
To make this shopping experience even more enjoyable, the customers can have their shopping delivered to their homes or anywhere in Santiago by using our “Delivery Service.”
Opening hours:
Monday thru Saturdays from 10:00 to 20.00; Sunday and Holidays, from 11:00 to 19.00 hrs.
Location:
Mall Buenaventura Premium Outlet, Avenida San Ignacio N°500, Bodega 4, Quilicura, easily accesed from Autopista Nor-Oriente, Autopista Américo Vespucio Norte, Túnel San Cristóbal, Autopista 5 Norte, and Carretera General San Martín.
Andes Wines asked its sweets and pastry writer Suzanne Taylor to embark on a very special mission: try having a stress-free wine shopping experience in Santiago. With more than 90 wineries and 15 different wine regions to show off for, it was all but a piece of cake!
For some, it can be an awfully daunting task to dare go into a wine shop. The pressure of finding that perfect bottle can make you freeze in your tracks. Try making a decision when you are not sure what it is that you’re looking for, never mind if you’re going into a shop in a foreign country, particularly if it´s a wine producing one.
Personally, I love walking into a wine store and gawking like a little kid in a candy store at the wall of wines. So imagine what’s it like to me here in Chile, when you have 15 different wine regions and more than 90 wineries being represented; Carménère, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Chardonnay… and the list goes on and on.
But before you start playing eeny, meeny, miny, moe let me tell you about some excellent spots to locate that perfect bottle here in Santiago.
Yes, you can find wine in the supermarkets, but forget about a varied selection or getting any service other than showing you to isle #9. However, I can tell you about a couple of boutique shops in the Providencia and Las Condes neighbourhoods that I would definitely give my repeat business to because of their incredible selections of some of Chile’s finest wines: El Mundo del Vino and Baco Vino.
Now, the name El Mundo De Vino may be a little misleading at first glance. It’s not that this shop has wines from around the world, but rather wines from one end of Chile to the other. The Parque Arauco location didn’t seem to have anything but Chilean wines, while the store on Isidora Goyenechea had a small selection of some French and Argentinian wines. But seriously, if you can’t find something here, you are being way too fussy!
Of course, with so many different terroirs and climates within Chile, there’s much to study. What makes a Chardonnay from the cool climate region of Limarí in the North different from a Chardonnay in the cool climate region of Casablanca in the central part of the country? In order to sell your product, you really need to know your grapes. Thankfully, the salespeople from both stores were very well trained and easily approachable.
In total, I visited El Mundo del Vino three times; twice in the Parque Aruaco location and the other time in the Isidora Goyenechea. The salespeople in the first spot knew enough English to tell me stories behind the labels and I liked that. I knew that I wanted to try something different and that I might not possibly be able to acquire back home. The lesser known winery, at least to me, of Odjfjell appealed because of its background of a former Norwegian shipper that fell in love with Chile and brought over horses as a gift to his adopted new land. It appeared as if we had a love in common; Chile and horses. So the bottle of Odjfjell’s Orzado Syrah 2006 with the label of the horse easily made its way to the cashier.
At the Goyenechea location, I had to practice my Spanish a little more. The woman serving me didn’t know English, but could recommend various types of wines depending on what grape I was looking for. She did look up various vineyards and grapes in a wine book for me.
But beyond that, I would say it would be a little difficult for someone who doesn’t know any Spanish to try and get a sense of the true service that I think can be available here. In all fairness, there may have been someone else who knew more English but wasn’t available at the time. Only because the location is definitely a tourist hotspot, I would expect there to be some spoken English.
Now be prepared, as these stores may try to sell you on Chile’s signature grape, Carménère. It helps to know if you have had the chance to try it before. This is where Baco may have the advantage because they sell only what is available in their restaurant.
You can find a very good list of approximately 20 wines available by the glass in the Baco restaurant. But back in the store, their service was terrific. In English, they were able to describe flavours of various grapes and the distinctions between the same grapes but from different valleys, which I thought was very interesting. I can really appreciate when someone takes the time to help me learn something new. That day in particular was quite warm and I was recommended a nice bottle of crisp and clean 2011 Sauvignon Blanc from the Casablanca winery of Matetic. A repeat customer came in at the time I was there and asked for a selection of 6 bottles to be ready for air transport, which I thought, was a plus as well.
And don’t worry if Carménère isn’t your thing as there are at least ten other types of grape deliciousness to choose from. This is where the trained staff can really help guide you through the maze of labels.
At both places, they didn’t try to push the more expensive brands. Instead, they tried to narrow in on what type of wine I preferred in order to find the wine best suited to my taste. They were also very good at food and wine pairing or suggesting wines that were good for sipping on their own.
It was only after a week researching and visiting specialized wine stores that I could fully grasp Chile’s diversity in wine growing regions, grape varieties, flavours, and textures. I wish I had time to try them all. But realistically, nobody can. For the sake of my liver, however, going to these shops helped to narrow my choices. It is in their best interest to make sure that they give you the service and information that you need to receive so that hopefully you’ll be a return customer and can be more at ease when facing that wall of wines.
Andes Wines
andes@andeswines.com
Twitter @andeswines
RABOBANK: 2012 WILL BE “THE BEST” AND “WORST” OF TIMES FOR THE GLOBAL BEVERAGE INDUSTRY (PREVIEW)
Five megatrends will lead the consolidation of the sector this years, warns the Dutch bank.
(Santiago, February 2012) Volatility, the emerging market demand, the bifurcation of value, the convergence in distribution, and sustainable sourcing, will be the key trends in the Global Beverages sector this year, making this both the “best of times” and “worst of times” for industry players, warns Dutch bank Rabobank in a recent report by its Global Food & Agribusiness Research and Advisory department.
The bank cautions that those “beverage companies that have the vision and resources to take advantage of the five key megatrends are likely to see brighter days ahead in 2012.”
For the wine sector, the bank expects tighter global inventories and weaker currencies in Europe and North America, which could bring shifts in competitive sourcing.
Rabobank believes that growth expectations will contrast sharply across product segments and global regions. The bank also discusses the emergence of new global players in the convergence between soft drinks and beer, and expects developing markets such as India to see dramatic growth in the spirits segment.
Andes Wines
andes@andeswines.com
Twitter @andeswines
ANDES WINES’ INTERVIEW WITH RICHARD HEMMING
The wine & drinks writer -whose work appears on the Jancis Robinson-MW website- applauds Chile and Argentina for their wines, but warns that they have yet to show their full potential as wine producing countries.
(Santiago, February 2012) Richard Hemming currently works as wine & drinks writer at Sainsbury’s Magazine and for the renowned wine critic Jancis Robinson’s website. Before that, he worked for six years as Senior Manager for the leading UK retailer Majestic Wine, period in which he earned his Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET) Diploma. He also worked in 2008 at Kangarilla Road Winery at McLaren Vale, one of Ausralia’s renowned wine regions.
In an exclusive interview with Andes Wines.com, Hemming talks about his passion for wine, how he came to work with Robinson, and warns that although their wines are good and reliable, Chile and Argentina have yet to show their full potential as wine producing countries.
AW: When did you start to work with Jancis Robinson and how did you come by this opportunity?
RH: I wrote my first article for Jancis in February 2008. It was a chronicle of how the vintage was going. I simply emailed her with some things I had written, and she got back in touch. Following that, I travelled around Australian wine regions and kept sending her some articles; at first, it was an informal arrangement but when I came back to London in the Summer of 2008 we met in person and she offered me more tastings opportunities and press trips to cover. A lot of the time we work separately -going to tastings, writing up notes and publishing them online. There is no office space as such, so we all work from home.
AW: Which wine country have you visited in the New World? Any favourites?
RH: I’ve been to Australia, California, Chile, Brazil, New Zealand, and South Africa. I suppose Australia is the country I know the most about, and I do think they have some phenomenally good wines there. I was very impressed with Chile, too, when I went there last year. I believe wine regions like Limarí and Leyda are making some fantastic wines.
AW: What’s your opinion of Chilean and Argentinean wines? Are they well focused on the UK market?
RH: I think they are both well focused. Chile can look too branded and mainstream at times, which is a shame because the consumer doesn’t get to see the full potential of smaller producers. Generally though, I think the quality is good and reliable. Argentina, I would say, needs to diversify slightly: Malbec is a great style, but too much of it tastes too similar. It would be great if there were some other alternatives. I have seen people experimenting with Touriga Nacional and other varieties; perhaps this will encourage more variation.
AW: Are there enough wine events in the UK, particularly for consumers rather than the specialized media?
RH: Yes, there are. The trade is very active. Consumers have lots of choice from Decanter, the Wine Gang, as well as other wine fairs and exhibitions. Plus, retailers are very good at running tasting events for their customers. As for advice, the single most important thing is getting the basics right: enough room, enough spittoons, correct information in the catalogue (price, vintage, percentage vol, etc.) It’s amazing how many events don’t get this right! AW
Establecimiento ofrece una amplia variedad de más de vinos, cervezas artesanales, licores y productos gourmet.
Esta semana Andes Wines abrió su Tienda de Vinos para ofrecer durante todo el año una amplia variedad de más de 25 viñas y 25 productores gourmet, cervezas artesanales y diversas marcas de licores y espirituosos como vodka, ron, whisky, tequila, entre otros.
La gran fortaleza de la Tienda de Andes Wines radica en descuentos todo el año entre 10% y hasta 60% en los precios de diversas líneas de vinos de reconocidas marcas nacionales como Concha y Toro, San Pedro, Tarapacá, Bisquertt, Casa Donoso, Casas del Toqui, William Fevre, Portal del Alto, Morandé, La Rosa, Anakena, Villalobos, Encomenderos, Via Wines, Ventolera, Lafken, Calyptra, Nerkihue, Cuve del Maolee y Ventisquero.
La Tienda cuenta también con cervezas artesanales como Austral, Falken y DieM, además de productos gourmet como lomo de ciervo ahumado, salame de ciervo/jabalí, aceite de oliva, pastas de ajo, jamón de Cordero, infusiones de frutas, atún mexicano, chutney y mermeladas con y sin azúcar, patés y huevos de codorniz, mostaza artesanal, frutos secos, jugos naturales, manjares y mermeladas, quesos especiales, mieles gourmet, paté y carpaccio de Emú, entre otras deliciosas alternativas.
En cuanto a accesorios vitivinícolas, destacan las copas de degustación en diferentes formatos, decantadores, descorchadores para vinos y espumantes, y novedosos cortagotas.
La Tienda de Andes Wines ofrece también un servicio de “Wine Delivery”, despacho a domicilio, que busca facilitar aún más el acceso a la variada oferta.
Fecha y horario:
Lunes a Sábado de 10 a 20.00; Domingo y Festivos, de 11 a 19.00 hrs.
Ubicación:
Mall Buenaventura Premium Outlet, Avenida San Ignacio N°500, Bodega 4, Quilicura, con fácil acceso por Autopista Nor-Oriente, Autopista Américo Vespucio Norte, Túnel San Cristóbal, Autopista 5 Norte y Carretera General San Martín.
Andes Wines
(2)-3702997
andes@andeswines.com
CLIMATE CHANGE IS THE GREATEST CHALLENGE TO SUSTAINABILITY IN THE WINE SECTOR
Since ancient times, viticulture has been one of the agricultural practices most vulnerable to variations in climate. Current Climate Change patterns are intensifying this connection.
Por Marta Lillo y Sandra Vargas, AndesWines.com
(Santiago, February 2012) Climate Change is one of the most debated scientific phenomenons of the past century.
The issue has given way to a global trend of sound environmental, social and political practices denominated Sustainability. This trend is not uniform, let alone accepted by everybody, but it´s one of the global solutions that have emerged to face a reality that has become evident in the past 50 years: the climate of our planet is changing, for better and for worse.
Unlike previous millennia, however, when adjustments in climate took place also at planetary levels, this time the human influence has had a role to play in the process. Our part has consisted mostly in increasing the normal volume of greenhouse gases (GHG) emission sent to the atmosphere and the unrestrained use of finite natural resources, both distinctive human practices markedly executed since the Industrial Revolution.
Gradual but rising global temperatures are the most palpable result of this transformation. It is having irreversible impacts on our biodiversity. And grapes are one of the natural resources that are showing most of the symptoms.
Diversity in the production of wine has always depended on even the most subtle changes in climate. Viticulture is therefore particularly sensitive to the current situation. That is why an industry so traditional and rooted like wine making, which depends so much on planting and harvesting seasons, has seen many opportunities both open up and close because of climate change.
From France to Chile, no wine producing region has been left intact. But the impact has not been, nor will become, uniform. Planting and harvesting times have either come earlier or have had to be pushed back, depending on the terroir where the grapevines are located.
While some regions seem threatened, others have become the new wine frontiers. A very good example is Great Britain, an island where nobody would have risked producing wine not even half a century ago. Climate just wasn’t good enough, not even for ice wine. Not until the 1960s, when gradual rising temperatures and variations in climate started to cause longer and warmer days. Today, the British market has become a leader in the international sparkling wine and Sauvignon Blanc markets.
Article 4.8 of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change places Chile among the countries most at risk of being affected by changes in prevailing global climate patterns. Because of its geographical and climatic conditions, the country reluctantly complies with seven of the nine characteristics of vulnerability indicated by the framework.
Wine climatologist from the University of Southern Oregon, Gregory Jones, warned in 2006 that the temperature in the Chilean central valley would rise 1.8°C during harvesting times for the next 50 years, going from a Mediterranean climate to a much hotter one. He then recommended that national viticulture should adapt by migrating to regions higher in altitude and father down to the South.
These warning were matched by an extensive research conducted by Chilean technological wine consortium Vinnova and PricewaterHouseCoopers in 2009. It revealed that as a result of the current climate change patterns, less rain would fall in continental Chile; rainfall in the Central zone would decrease by 30%, less areas would be able to rely on non-irrigated cultivation (secano) between the VII and VIII regions, the Mediterranean climate would expand to the South and temperatures would rise from 1° to 1.5°C by 2050 and between 2° and 4° by 2100.
As climate change advances, Chile faces important climatic and biogeographic transformations and its emblematic wine industry has begun to pay attention.
Flattening the land
For the past ten years, the industry has adopted a series of activities and initiatives in sustainability for adaptation and mitigation purposes; the first, to adapt to the impacts of climate change with the resources at hand; the second, to mitigate their contribution of GHG emissions to the atmosphere.
Most of the projects, public and private, concentrate mostly in the Central valley of Chile.
The most ambitious effort so far is a comprehensive Sustainability Program led by the national wine association Wines of Chile, and its technical branches Vinnova and Tecnovid, consisting of four projects that respond to environmental, economic and social sustainability issues.
Its cornerstone is the Sustainability Code, which establishes parameters for the production chain and national practices in wine production. According to Wines of Chile, wineries have now the opportunity to measure their progress toward the use of more sustainable practices and receive recognized and validated accreditation or certification for their efforts. It’s scheduled to be fully implemented this year (for more click here).
The Program also intends to have wineries in Chile issue their Sustainability reports following the methodology of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), which addresses aspects of Social Responsibility in the individual companies as well as industrial association.
A third important aspect of the Sustainability Program is the Network of Meteorological Stations for Chile’s winegrowing valleys. This pioneering project has already established more than 15 meteorological stations. It aims to expedite the adoption of sustainability practices by understanding the weather and climate conditions in the wine regions, allowing the implementation of bioclimatic indicators to characterize the terroirs found in the country, detect the climatic variations that may cause health-sanitary problems, and support the decision-making process in the wineries.
A fourth part of this Program concerns the practices of energy efficiency in cellars and production locations. The project aims to record the best practices available in the sector to create a protocol for the national industry.
Another important nation-wide project is the “Wine, Climate Change, and Biodiversity” led by the Institute of Ecology and Biodiversity at the Universidad Austral de Chile, co-funded by CONICYT and the Chilean government entity Millennium Science Initiative (MSI). The project is studying the uses and impacts of biodiversity in the production of wine, with climate change as center point. The wine regions represented in the research are Leyda, Aconcagua, Alto Cachapoal, Colchagua, Maipo, Bío-Bío, and Casablanca.
Meanwhile, the wineries at Colchagua valley lead most of the private efforts to reduce and/or neutralize CO2 emissions in their chain of production and in the use of glass bottles, while others also have started to experiment with solar panels and wind turbines.
Also, a project in the Itata valley aims to develop a more sustainable agricultural policy for the region and the country. The Group for Technology Transfer in Wine of the Itata Valley, coordinated by INIA Bío Bío, is congregating small, medium and big producers of traditional grapes such as País (red) and Moscatel de Alejandría (white), characteristic in the area, besides the incorporation of “fine varieties” such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Carménère, Merlot, and Syrah.
Andes Wines
andes@andeswines.com
Twitter @andeswines
CLIMATOLOGIST GREGORY JONES: “THE TIE BETWEEN CLIMATE AND WINE IS UNIQUE”
Gregory Jones is one of the few climate scientists in the world to study the “intriguing” relationship between wine and climate. His research shows that viticulture is capable to adapt to changes in climate, but only to a certain point. Climate Change today is challenging this 20,000 years romance, warns the scientist.
By Marta Lillo, AndesWines.com
(Santiago, February 2012) Agriculture is directly dependent on climate, more than any other human-led activity.
Yet the natural and man-made processes that are giving shape to the current pattern of Climate Change such as rising temperatures, more frequent extreme weather, greater greenhouse gas emissions, and reduced water availability, among others, are overrunning the conventional capacity of this sector to adapt to changes in climate. And for viticulture, the situation leaves a particular after taste.
However, to understand how climate change adds further challenges to the many economic and social challenges that viticulture must traditionally face, at AndesWines.com we found necessary to first understand the relationship between wine and climate.
A relationship that climatologist Gregory Jones finds “intriguing”. This is because of the unique blend of climatic, geological, and biological conditions that have allowed the development of a limited and relatively narrow number of geographical and climatic regions in the world that can support wine growth and production.
But how did this scientist from Southern Oregon University come to study wine? Twenty-five years ago, Jones’ father asked him where it would be a good place in the West Coast to grow Spanish wine grapes. To his astonishment, Jones was not able to find much scientific data about the relationship between climate and wine. An idea ripened in his head.
Today, he’s one of the few leading scientific figures in the world to focus his studies on the climatology of viticulture. Decanter magazine even placed him among the 50 most influential people in the wine world in its 2009 Power List.
And climate change has been keeping him busy this past quarter-century. His studies show that the phenomenon has the potential to impact every form of agriculture, with viticulture at a greatest risk than any other type of crop.
His work put him under the spotlight in mid-2000s as the international wine industry began to fully realize that adapting to the phenomenon was a mandatory step in its survival.
However, this impact is not uniform, warns Jones. For greater part of the 20th century, the observed warming of global temperatures has been largely beneficial for viticulture in many regions, particularly the coldest climates in Europe, by allowing longer and warmer growing seasons with less risk of frost.
Yet, as global temperatures continue to increase, his projections and that of his colleagues show both beneficial and detrimental impacts; on the positive side, it could set the conditions for new wine regions. On the negative, it has the potential to hinder the ability of some grape varieties and current terroirs to adapt to more extreme variations in climate.
In this interview with AndesWines.com, Jones warns about why climate and wine make a particular assemblage, the risks of climate change to wine production, and the need of further studies in this field.
AW: How challenging was for you to become a climate scientist specialized in viticulture?
GJ: I have been doing climate, viticulture, and wine production research for about 25 years now. The tie between climate and wine is so unique and full of interesting physical and cultural influences that, along with a wonderful history, made for an easy choice of what area of agriculture to study. While I do not find it particularly difficult, I do find that it is very challenging in terms of new issues and means of understanding the relationships.
AW: Why did you start guiding your studies towards climate change and its impact on wine?
GJ: In my early studies of climate and agriculture I was initially interested in broad scale crops such as corn, wheat, rice, and soybeans, but I found the complex inter-relationships between the physical and cultural environment that together produce wine (terroir) so intriguing that I was drawn to the wine industry. People find wine interesting because of the romance, the geography, and the history and I guess that is what pulled me toward it as a scientist.
AW: How would you define viticulturists’ and winegrowers’ relation with climate? What issues concerning climate do you think worry them the most?
GJ: Growers are intimately aware of their weather and climate, if they were not they would not stay in business long. The planting of any crop is strongly tied to what the climate will allow and its productivity and quality is tied to short term variability. Growers are clearly most concerned with the short term effects of individual weather events that could damage the crop (e.g., heavy rain, hail, etc.), but are also concerned with vintage to vintage variability, which can be large in wine regions worldwide. However, growers do not produce in a climate environment in isolation; they do it in a multi-risk environment where markets, economic influences, government regulation, and other external pressures put added pressure on climate issues.
AW: Regarding climate change, where lays the vulnerability of wine making?
GJ: There are three areas: changes in average conditions, changes in variability, and changes in extremes. While we often hear the most about changes in average conditions, I think that growers have more adaptive potential to deal with average temperature changes. However, increased variability in the weather/climate, from week to week and vintage to vintage, is much harder to predict and manage. Furthermore, changes in extremes, which we are already seeing, bring much greater risk to productivity. However, a grower/producer who is aware of the changes and manages the crop system well in terms of the changes will likely reduce their vulnerability and increase their adaptive capacity in the face of more change.
AW: Is there evidence on the effects in vine and fruit composition of elevated CO2 levels and higher temperatures?
GJ: Yes, there is plenty of evidence of the impact of temperature on vine phenology and fruit composition. We are seeing mostly higher sugar levels, lower acidity, and general balance issues across many regions, varieties, and wine styles. The issue of CO2 is less clear. We know that more CO2 means likely leads to a larger plant, bigger leaves, and potentially higher production. However, very few studies have looked at the combined effects all the way into the wine and how it ages. So, more work needs to be done in this area.
AW: How adaptable is viticulture to changes in the environment and climate? Is climate change modifying this ability in any way?
GJ: Wine grapes do offer a wide range of adaptive potential, both in the plant system and how they are managed. For the plant system we have numerous varieties that all have different climate requirements and changes to other varieties provide a tremendous amount of adaptation. However, management provides a tremendous amount of adaptation without having to change varieties. Vineyard management strategies of row orientation, vine canopy structure, soil and cover crop management, irrigation strategies all have room for managing some level of a change in climate.
AW: Yet, there is a trend in Europe to replace indigenous varieties by more popular, mainstream varieties. What impact could this have on the climatology of wine?
GJ: I think the trend is not universal in Europe. Many regions are still focused on local varieties because these clearly grow best. They might also hold the keys to genetic material that could better help breed new varieties, and they have unique market niches. However, many producers all over the world are still planting the more mainstream varieties due to the ease of marketing them. AW
Andes Wines
andes@andeswines.com
Twitter @andeswines
ENJOYING THE CHILEAN COFFEE SCENE: BYE, BYE NESCAFÉ!
Andes Wines’ sweets and pastry writer Suzanne Taylor sips through the history of coffee drinking in Chile, brings some light into the local popularity of instant coffee, and the principle behind the quintessential café con piernas.
You just can’t beat chillin’ out in a sidewalk café enjoying a nice cup of joe.
This is not an experience to take lightly down here in Santiago, however. It wasn’t all that long ago that there was a perception out there about Chile’s coffee scene being somewhat lacklustre.
A couple of years ago, I wouldn’t have blamed visitors for bringing beans from home. Going into a restaurant, at times, meant you got some hot water and some Nescafé instant coffee. Thankfully, the times are changing.
A couple of weekends ago, I happened to come across the 1st Annual Cafe Expo held in Espacio Juventud in Providencia, where coffee baristas got to demonstrate the art of making wonderful lattes and espressos. Could it be that Chile is finally shedding this age old reputation of bad coffee and is embracing a new atmosphere of coffee bean supremacy?
Yes, you may be thinking like I did when I first got here: When you are on the same continent as some of the biggest and best coffee producers in the world, how can you not get a decent cup of coffee in Chile? Unlike Brazil and Colombia, coffee has never been a traditional hot drink down here. It really has been in the last 50 years or so that it has started to take hold; more on this point later.
Before that, tea and a drink called “Ulpo” were the choices; Ulpo got its start when the Spanish conquistadores brought wheat to be grown in the south. The Mapuche toasted the wheat, ground it and added it to hot water with some honey. This was very popular in the countryside, and in some parts it still is.
Now, about 50 years ago, a group of business men got together and decided they would really like to have a place to go in the afternoons and have their espresso. A new business was born, Café Haiti, which was soon to be known as the first café con piernas (coffee with legs) This wasn’t any ordinary business as it was a coffee shop where the female servers all wore very tight fitting attire and high heels while offering only conversation… and fresh brewed coffee, of course.
Other coffee houses soon took off as did a little extra clothing in some places- ever wondered about those blacked out windows downtown!? One thing about most of these places is that the coffee is served from a bar and all the patrons are standing. So you really don’t have the relaxed, laid back atmosphere that you find in the cafes in Europe or even next door in Argentina.
But then again, Chileans seem to never have time for big, leisurely moments to enjoy a cup of coffee. Take breakfast, for instance. Back during the 70’s, Nestlé started a marketing campaign that capitalized on this fact by introducing instant coffee that could be made quickly and anywhere with just hot water at any time.
Of course today you will still see store shelves lined with Nescafé bottles and cans, but kitchens and supermarkets are starting to make room for more and more whole bean stuff (yeah!).
It’s 2012 now, and Chile’s economy is booming. Many Chileans are traveling overseas and people are flocking here. More people want to experience what they have enjoyed in other parts of the world. Now they get to relax with our favourite cup in many different cafes throughout Santiago offering different blends and preparations, and I don’t just mean the stand-up kind. Even those diehard fans of Starbucks –impossible not to miss the famous green label even here in Chile- can have their way.
My favourite places are the ones that have hidden patios and gardens that take you away from the hectic pace. There are the ones that play a great mix of music and have a nice shaded terrace. You can sit back, relax and chill.
So next time you go off on a trip, just leave room in your suitcase for other things than coffee. It won’t take you long to find a small cafetería with interesting alternatives from around the world.
If you’re in Providencia, check out:
Café Espresso-Avenida Pedro De Valdivia 1974
Nice easy going music, light snacks and sandwiches. Really enjoyed the pear and almond tart!
Café Plaza Victoria – Santa Isabel 052
Right next to the Santa Isabel Metro stop, with a little garden patio in the back. They’ve got delicious European style cheesecake made with ricotta cheese, yum!
Andes Wines
andes@andeswines.com
Twitter @andeswines
FOOD AND SOCIAL MEDIA: EVERYBODY IS ENTITLED TO MY OPINION
Andes Wines’ sweets and pastry writer Suzanne Taylor writes about how social media has transformed our relationship with food, connecting us at a whole different level with our appetite and foodies alike at the cyber-table.
I can remember when I was working in the Canadian Rockies in the early 90’s and I was told that I would have to take some computer training. At the time, I thought “Why? I have cheesecakes to bake.”
Ok – so I was just a little naïve back then; I was trying to learn my craft and understand the science behind why my eggs curdle rather than think about how to use a PC. Obviously, my crystal ball wasn’t working or I would have seen the explosion of what has become a behemoth food industry with an online audience to match.
Fast forward to 2012 and here we are in a world obsessed with food and drink. I have so much choice in where to get my information with just a click of a mouse. But perhaps technology is playing a bigger role in the guise of Facebook, Twitter, and the countless number of food blogs and apps that are popping up all time.
Fan pages from Facebook and Twitter feeds are connecting groups of people that may live at opposite ends of the earth or from their own backyards. The current wave of “food trucks” connects with its followers by sending out their GPS via Twitter. New web apps are being developed to cater to every whim in the food galaxy.
Most of the early food bloggers started out by just posing a question online or they just wrote what they loved to talk about in the world of food. “Chowhound”, for example, wanted to know about the best place to eat on the way to a particular destination. Gradually, locals would weigh in on their favourite places. That was culinary tourism in its infancy.
In an industry where a new top chef is treated like a headlining celebrity and food critics seem unapproachable, food blogging has become an area where the average person has the chance to have their say about a new restaurant or current food trend.
Some people feel slightly intimidated asking questions to chefs because it may seem as if they’ve been put on a pedestal. But each time the food bloggers write, a new connection develops between themselves and their readers. Because they tend to write as if they are talking to a friend, their readers start to connect with them on a different level. People are able to respond in a more personal and informal manner.
While reading one of such blogs, it occurred to me why a) there are so many and b) why people read them. We lead such sedentary lifestyles these days compared to say even 50 years ago. Technology has taken off to heights not imagined even 15 years ago. We are supposed to be connected and plugged in more than ever before, but perhaps there is something missing.
As much as we need technology, we need something more and that’s a human connection. Reading blogs allows us to connect with the author and vice versa. I can’t think of any other industry that has had such an impact on every day life. In a world that is turning faster all the time, what it boils down to is getting back to what connects us all- the food.
Andes Wines
andes@andeswines.com
Twitter @andeswines
HOLIDAY FEASTS, CHILEAN STYLE!
Andes Wines’ sweets and pastry writer Suzanne Taylor shares her impressions about some food traditions that surround Christmas and New Year’s in Chile, and reveals a secret about the once, the quintessential Chilean meal, that will leave many wondering…
One of the best ways to learn about a different culture is to share food and drink. Some of the Christmas customs in Chile may mirror those in the north. But then when you factor in the summertime heat, it all goes south from there, but in the best way.
Let’s start with a local must be. Throughout the year, Chileans enjoy a light snack called “once” (pronounced “own-say”) in the late afternoon. At Christmas time, this snack becomes especially important because they won’t have dinner until 9-10 on Christmas Eve. Because let’s face it, no one wants to cook a turkey when it’s sweltering outside!
Rumour has it that once started long ago when men wanted to have a drink at 5pm. Happy Hour back then was considered taboo. So they devised the code word “once” which means “eleven” in Spanish and is also the exact same amount of letters in the alcohol “aguardiente”. I see a bit of a pattern here.
Now, this same alcohol is in the seasonal drink, “Cola de Mono,” or monkey’s tail. Don’t worry; no monkeys were harmed in the making of this drink. It consists of milk, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, coffee, sugar and aguardiente; it’s the equivalent to drinking eggnog.
The typical feasts include roast turkey, chicken or beef, potatoes and crisp salads. For dessert, there are fresh fruits and Pan de Pascua. Some say it is like fruit cake, but I would say that it is a closer cousin to the Italian Panettone. It is not commonly made at home because, again, who wants to spend all that time in a hot kitchen when you can be by the pool with your Cola de Mono.
However, for me it just doesn’t feel like Christmas unless there are shortbread cookies around. So I decided to give it a try here, using local ingredients…
In my defence, I can tell you that back in Calgary, I would make thousands of cookies leading up Christmas. But of course, I had a huge mixer to help. In my rented furnished apartment here in Santiago, I had a bowl and a spoon.
All I wanted to make was a small batch of cookies! At one point I started to have one of those moments… you know, one of those What was I thinking? moments, when all I had to do was look at the butter and it would melt. Not the consistency I wanted in my cookie dough.
In the end, the cookies looked great but they had a bit of a crumble problem which I rather suspect is because of the flour difference down here. I’m sure I’ll find some volunteers for my next experiment.
There are interesting food traditions that are more common for New Year’s, as well. One is eating a spoonful of lentils, which supposedly will bring prosperity in the New Year. Considering the financial crisis over the last year, better make that two spoonfuls! Also, eating 12 grapes and making a wish with each grape. Lastly, my favourite, is bringing in the New Year with a glass of champagne and a scoop of pineapple sorbet inside! Yum!
So I bid farewell to 2011, and look forward to the delicious surprises I will write about in this hot Chilean summer. A hint: think fruit!
All the best for a Happy and Healthy New Year!
Andes Wines
andes@andeswines.com
Twitter @andeswines
SOME CHILEAN CULINARY GEMS
Andes Wines’ sweets and pastry writer Suzanne Taylor visited the VIII Andes Wines Gourmet Food and Wine Sale, the largest of its kind in Chile … and was in for a big surprise!
To many North Americans, knowledge of Chilean foods may only lead to the produce section where fruits like blueberries, blackberries, grapes and apples are abundant during the winter season. But dive a little further and you would be surprised at just how much more there is to this extremely diverse country. And why not, when you have such extremes in climate and geography from top to bottom.
You can see it for yourself at the Andes Wines Gourmet Food and Wines Sale in the Buenaventura Outlet Mall in Quilín, until December 31 at San Ignacio 500, Bodega 18, Quilicura. It was here that I found culinary gems from all different areas unique to Chile. Locally grown olive oils, cured deer meats, jams, artisan cheeses and seafood are just a few of the things you will find, not to mention amazing Chilean wine. You just have to love assignments like these!
Despite its name, the Chilean palette tends to prefer foods that are not too intense or spicy. This is not Mexico! Having said that, the indigenous people, the Mapuche, have been using their own blend of smoked dried chiles for years called “merquén.” Now this English background girl doesn’t normally appreciate really spicy things, but is has an incredible flavor that just cries out to the “asados” (barbeques in Chile.)
Because merquén is becoming more main stream, there is the introduction of other slightly spicy sauces and preserves to the Chilean kitchen such as Productos Toty. They make a wonderful chopped olive spread that comes in various levels of spiciness. This is great on crackers, in dressings for salads, sauces for roasting or with rice dishes.
Of course it wouldn’t be Chile without salt and Sal Gourmet makes a line of salt products to tempt different taste buds. Various spices, herbs or even vegetables are dried with the salt and then later ground up to produce a more flavorful and colorful salt.
Gourmet mustards, pasta de ajo, -a garlic paste that has been delicately infused with seasonings or herbs from the Island of Chiloe- as well as cebollas al Merlot (onions in a Merlot wine reduction) are just some of the examples of spreads and sauces that would enhance sandwiches, roast meats or cheese trays.
From the far south, on Isla Fresia, comes the new product of salami de ciervo from Bauser. These salamis of deer or boar would be perfect for light lunches or an enticing appetizer.
Let’s not forget the dessert course. Sweetened condensed milk or “manjar” as it is called in Chile, is almost a national treasure. It can be found in all kinds of desserts and ice creams. But the ingenious founder of Doña Vicky decided to do something different with it. She created a series of recipes that included rice, beans and fruits so that her children would eat manjar without realizing they were eating something good for them.
There are lots of preserved papayas, peaches and cherries. The day I was there, the owner of Dulce Patria was handing out samples of the syrup like dessert that has the essence of almonds with a touch of cream that just melted away on your tongue.
These were just a few of the many examples of the tastes of Chile. Being able to talk with some of the producers, you could see how proud they are of their products. The pride of Chile always comes shining through!
Of course wine is the star too, considering the 8th Wine Sale has over 35 wine brands, plus three beer brands and several spirits, tequila, vodka, whisky, etc.
Opening hours: Monday to Saturday from 10 to 20.00, Sunday and holidays from 11 to 19.00 hrs.
Location: Avenida San Ignacio N°500, Edificio 2, Bodega 18, Quilicura, with easy access coming from Autopista Nor Oriente, Autopista Américo Vespucio Norte, Túnel San Cristóbal, Autopista 5 Norte and Carretera General San Martín.
CAMPOGATE BRINGS THE INDEPENDENCE OF WINE CRITICS TO QUESTION ONCE AGAIN
Formal legal investigations and the resignation of Jay Miller to The Wine Advocate are the most recent developments in the Campogate scandal.
The debate about how independent can wine critics really be added another chapter with American critic Jay Miller leaving The Wine Advocate, and both his former employer, Robert Parker, and the Institute of Master of Wine starting formal investigations on the alleged cash payments charged by Pancho Campo MW to secure access to Miller during his visit to Spanish wineries in 2011.
Miller´s decision to leave the magazine took place a few months after Decanter wine writer Jim Budd reported that winemakers in Spain were being told to pay 20,000 euros in management fees to have Miller visit their wine cellars while he toured the country during a visit organized by the Wine Academy of Spain, institution founded and directed by Campo (to read Budd’s report click here).
Budd’s extensive investigation, which revealed the e-mails that show Campo requesting Spanish winemakers to pay these fees to get Miller for a 2-day visit to their wineries and lead a wine tasting, has brought the legitimacy of the independence of wine critics to question once again.
In a public statement, Miller insisted that his departure from the magazine had been planned well before the scandal. While announcing his resignation from TWA he reiterated that he had never “accepted (or requested) fees for visiting wine regions or wineries”. He said that up until now he had felt “constrained” to respond to his critics by being part of the TWA staff. “While the office has defended my actions, justifiably, now it is time for me to speak for myself… I leave The Wine Advocate with a clear conscience,” he insisted.
Meanwhile, the publisher of the Wine Advocate and leading wine critic, Robert Parker, has defended Miller’s performance while working at the magazine, insisting that he “clearly and irrefutably has taken no money for a wine review or winery visit.”
Nonetheless, he will await the final report of the law firm Cozen O’Connor, which he asked to “determine whether our strict policy of independence in the review and tasting of wines for publication in The Wine Advocate or posting on www.eRobertparker.com was compromised by any conduct of The Wine Advocate or any other party associated with tastings in that region.”
The Institute of Masters of Wine has opened an investigation after receiving a formal complaint against Campo, as well.
Campo has denied the accusations and insisted that the management fees were destined to organized paid speeches by Miller, an not paid wine reviews.
In his blog Jim’s Loire, Budd has insisted that his reporting of these irregularities has no hidden agendabut to demonstrate how Campo was using Miller and the TWA brand for his own benefit.
He has insisted that his investigation shows “that the bodegas are being charged both for having their wines rated and assessed by Jay Miller for The Wine Advocate/erobertparker and for the opportunity to have their wines included in the master class as well as a possible visit to their bodega”.
The wine journalist has warned that “one aspect of this scandal that has yet to be explored is whether public money was used to pay Campo, The Wine Academy of Spain and Miller’s substantial lecturing fees”.
Andes Wines’ sweets and pastry writer Suzanne Taylor shares her impressions on spending Christmas for the second time in Chile… and leaves us hanging for a delicious treat!
Christmas always conjures up many memories and, of course me being Canadian, this usually involves snow; Santa Claus and Rudolph, the Red Nosed Reindeer are usually factored in there as well.
This will be my second Christmas in Chile after last year, and I almost feel sorry for Santa Claus, known here as the Viejo Pascuero (Old Man Christmas). He doesn’t get top billing like he does in the northern hemisphere. There is a lot of other stiff competition out there that he is up against, not to mention having to wear that huge, heavy suit when it is more than 30 degrees outside. It’s like carrying around your own personal sauna.
It seems that in the past few years, stores in the United States and Canada have been stocking earlier and earlier for Christmas even before Halloween costumes have been decided on. But down here, decorations start to come out sometime in November and not to very much fanfare. There isn’t this barrage of commercials on TV trying to lure people to buy, buy, and buy some more. There is a scattering of decorated houses and apartments, but there are just too many other things to finish off before the end of the year.
People scurry around on their lunch hours; the streets are filled with tacos (Chilean for traffic jam). It’s enough for me to want to sit back and reach for a glass. Good thing there’s is plenty of choice for liquid refreshment in this country.
For Chile, the end of December does not only bring Christmas and New Year’s celebrations. This time of year also means end of the fiscal year for business, the start of summer holidays for students and other planning for family vacations and get-togethers. It always seems like there are not enough hours in the day. Well, imagine trying to organize Christmas parties and your child’s graduation ceremonies from school all in the same month.
To add more icing to the cake, a local university football team (that’s right America, not soccer!) has just won a major title, the South American Cup. This is like winning the Super Bowl, World Series and Stanley Cup all at once. I thought the New Year’s fireworks were being set off a little early after their win. Not to mention all the celebrating in the streets. Sorry Santa. You don’t stand a chance this year.
But no matter what side of the equator you’re on, one common factor always comes out on top. Getting together with family and friends is always what you will remember the most.
So I wish you a Merry Christmas! Stay tuned for my next column on Chilean Christmas holidays’ eating and drinking traditions, because there’s more to roasted turkey here. And for those feeling nostalgic, there’ll be a special treat for you: I will be making traditional Christmas desserts, Canuck style, using Chilean ingredients!
¡FELIZ NAVIDAD!
AH! THE SWEET (CHILEAN) LIFE
We introduce you to our newest addition to the Andes Wines team of writers, Canadian sweets and pastry critic Suzanne Taylor. Her mission is deliciously simple: getting to know Chile’s sweet side!
To some people it may have appeared as if I snapped and began a midlife crisis: I sold my house, fortunately at just the right time, and I quit my Baking and Pastry Arts Instructor job in Calgary, Canada, to come live in Chile. Here I am three years later, and I’m not freaking out. In fact, I am having the time of my life.
Why Chile? In my last year of teaching, it was decided that there would be a culinary tour to this long and narrow country. Something told me that I had to be on that trip. Little did I know how life changing it would be.
Initially, my plan was to go to Asia, but my first trip to Chile would alter everything afterwards. Normally, when I go on a vacation, I research the history and the area to death to make sure I understand more about the people and the culture. However, the time leading up to the end of my last school year went by so quickly that basically all I knew about Chile was that it was in the southern hemisphere, next to Argentina, and that it exports “a little bit” of wine and fruit to Canada. It would be an understatement to say that I was blown away by the rugged beauty of the landscape.
I was fortunate to see other countries in my time off, but there was that pull to keep coming back to the land of empanadas, pastel de choclo, and pisco sours.
Since that fateful first trip, I have come back several times to venture North, South and West of this long skinny country; there’s not really an “East”- you’re pretty much into Argentina then. It is a land of such extreme contrasts from the driest desert in the world in the North, to the daunting mountains of Patagonia and the mystical Moai statues on Easter Island. Every time I turn around, there is always a spot that leaves me breathless.
This time around, however, I will taste my way through Chile’s sweet side and bring my observations on the many cultural happenings that are at hand.
Because you only have to walk off the plane to notice that Chileans have a serious sweet tooth. There have been different influences throughout the years to mould the dessert scene throughout this country. Immigrants from France, Germany and Italy have brought over their style of cuisine and melded with the Chilean flavours. It seems that if there is a way to incorporate sugar into the food, the Chileans will find it. I’ll be happy to discover when they do it. So stay tuned…
Andes Wines
andes@andeswines.com
(562) 370 2997
WINE SPECTATOR EXECUTIVE EDITOR EXPLAINS CHILE´S ABSENCE FROM 2011 TOP 100 LIST
Tom Matthews, the executive editor of Wine Spectator, tells us why Chile needs not to worry about not making it to this year’s ranking.
At Andes Wines we got curious about the absence of Chilean wines from Wine Spectator’s 2011 Top 100 Wine List. This is a referential ranking among winemakers worldwide, and not being on it for the first time since 2008, when Clos Apalta 2005 from Casa Lapostolle made it to the first place, got many in the industry concerned.
Let’s go back a little. From 1988, this influential wine magazine has been reviewing wines and compiling a 100 best list reflecting significant trends, outstanding productions, and successful vintages around the world. The ranking selects four criteria: quality, value, availability, and Wine Spectator’s own excitement about the wine producer, the vintage or the region, something they call “X-factor”. In their words, “these choices reflect our editors’ judgment and passion about the wines we tasted”.
So we asked Wine Spectator executive editor Tom Matthews why Chilean wines had not raised enough passion this year. His answer was very simple and toned down: Regions rise and fall every year.
“It is not a comment on Chilean wine quality in general; it has nothing to do with the change in our lead taster; it has no larger significance at all. It reflects only our editors’ judgements about the high points in wine during the year just past. Remember, we select this list from among the more than 16,000 wines we reviewed in 2011. That’s a lot of competition for only 100 spots,” he said from his office in New York.
Matthews compared the performance of Bordeaux and Chile over the past three years to explain the situation further. “In 2009, Chile had 2 and Bordeaux had 4. In 2010, Chile had 4 and Bordeaux had 1. In 2011, Chile has none, while Bordeaux has 2. So over the three years, Chile has had 6 total wines, while Bordeaux has had 7. And in 2008, Chile earned Wine of the Year honors with Clos Apalta 2005; the last time a Bordeaux was Wine of the Year was in 2004, with a Sauternes, Chateau Riussec 2001. So you could argue that in the recent past, Chile has done just as well as Bordeaux. In the future, who knows?” he said.
There is so much the wine industry can control, adds Matthews. Much will depend on factors like vintage variation, changes in the exchange rate, shifts in consumer demand, for Chile to make it back in the list. “But I believe that Chile will continue to be a major player in the US wine market, and a significant factor in our Top 100, for many years to come”, he insisted.
Andes Wines
andes@andeswines.com
(56) 2-3702997
twitter: @andeswines
ANDES WINES PREPARES DIGITAL SPIN-OFF AND TRAVELS TO SILICON VALLEY
Digital Laboratory aims to fuel innovation in the local winemaking, food and tourism, and entertainment businesses.
After 10 years developing wine sales & marketing strategies in Latin America, Chilean consulting firm Andes Wines will launch a “spin off” project to fuel innovation in the local winemaking, food and tourism, and entertainment businesses with the use of digital tools.
To speed up the implementation of this “Digital Laboratory”, Andes Wines’ CEO, Maximiliano Morales, will be among the Chilean entrepreneurs that will participate from December 3-16 in the Silicon Valley Immersion Program California, at the University of San Francisco, after being awarded a grant by Innova Bío Bío.
The Digital Lab’s main objective is to offer a custom-made service in the design and implementation of digital tools to improve customer relationship management initiatives as well as generate and/or increase sales using the Web as a tool. A secondary goal is to develop game applications to promote brands and businesses.
Andes Wines will implement this start-up firstly in Chile and later with clients across Latin America, North America, Europe and Asia, due to the strong expansion of Chilean wine and tourism in the international markets. The firm aims to gather more than 3,000 wineries, about 4,500 wine and food traders and more than 90,000 wine consumers and leaders of opinion in winemaking, food and tourism, and entertainment industries across the ten most important countries in those regions.
The project emerges as a result of Andes Wines’ 10 years of experience in the international markets after becoming the first wine marketing firm in South America, with an office in Santiago led by Morales and in Buenos Aires, Argentina by Gabriela Luna Romano.
“We are currently making US$ 1 million in gross sales through our wine, beer and gourmet products sales, which motivated us to set up this ‘spin off’ due to our knowhow in selling, marketing and promoting Chilean wine abroad,” said Morales from Andes Wines.
Andes Wines is currently negotiating withtwo potential investment partners to finance this new area of digital business, in order to raise around US$ 2 million in start-up capital.
The company’s commitment with entrepreneurship and start-up efforts in Chile has been from the start. The firm was among the city founders of the Concepción chapter of the knowledge and business network for innovation and entrepreneurship platform First Tuesday, and is now media partner to First Tuesday Santiago.
Andes Wines also started in 2011 its own start-up networking forum under the name of Wine After Office, in order to facilitate relationships and developments in leading and emerging industries, with wine tastings as the meeting point. Among the key speakers invited to this event was James Bond´s Quantum of Solace producer in Chile, Bud Theisen. Founder and CEO of Straightforward Films, Theisen provided an insightful analysis about the challenges ahead for Chile to become a strong destiny for international motion picture filmmaking.
In that sense, Andes Wines is exploring business opportunities in the promotion of Chilean wine and beer in international movie and advertising productions; among them, the creation of a film private equity fund to attract local and foreign investment to finance international motion picture productions in Chile.
Andes Wines
andes@andeswines.com
9-2197117 / (2) 370 2997
DISCOVERING THE MYSTERIES OF WINE THROUGH HUMAN SENSES
AW International Director, Pamela Villablanca, tells I Love Chile readers how to enjoy the mysteries of wine through smell.
(Click here to read the original column)
It’s official: springtime has arrived to Chile and its vines are waking up, showing the first buds. This might mean that some of you will be looking to visit wineries or explore the vast universe of wine to choose “the one” for the coming holidays. Whichever your case is, we will cautiously dive into the secret world of smell contained in the glass in front of you. Are you ready?
Great discoveries on human senses were awarded with Nobel Prizes; in 1961 the sense of hearing and in 1967 the sense of vision. However, the sense of smell had remained a well-kept secret until 1991 when the New York Times’ science section published an article about smell. Linda Buck was searching the G-protein class in a paper about smell receptors with Richard Axel. An astounding 1 percent of human genes are devoted to olfaction and approximately $20 billion is generated every year by industrially manufactured smells.
Virtually all of these smells are made by only seven companies—the Big Boys. With wine, smell is one of the many aspects we use to recognize grape varieties, denomination of origin and even the vintage. Let’s review the scientific facts and dive into a wine glass to discover how powerful our sense of smell is.
The English scientist Malcolm Dyson in 1938 had become conscious of a specific, outstanding human power: we can smell and instantly identify the actual atoms hidden inside a molecule. Faster than our digestive system, our nose is capable of instantly identifying atoms and its vibrations. This has been key to human’s survival and evolution. Dyson wrote a paper called “The Scientific Basis of Odor,” which was inspiration for Canadian R. H. Wright’s paper in 1977.
But there is one man whose dedication and obsession led to the writing of a work that would open doors for him into the vast, secret world where perfumes are created: Luca Turin. From the French Riviera, he wrote about wave numbers and described odor as almost entirely nominative. He wrote the first perfume guide.
With hearing, there are 88 vibrations for us to notice—every combination of atom-and-bond, its tone to its one particular frequency, is what scientists call wave number and they run from 0 to 4000. Shall we apply this to a wine tasting?
First, always hold the stem of the glass and never the body. Your hand transfers temperature to the glass and its content, and temperature aspects the smell: if too cold the wine is shy, if too warm you would smell alcohol. The visual examination helps us determine variety, style and age, among other aspects. There is a rich vocabulary to describe the wide spectrum of colors. Believe me; brick red is not good enough because it depends on where the bricks are made.
Hold the glass at a 45-degree angle. Look at the rim variation and colors in the horseshoe shape of the glass. With 4,000 wave numbers or frequencies to discover, there are no bad smells, and it is definitely as subjective as color or sound. Recognizing all of these smells is the quest of a lifetime.
To do this, explore the scents of the world around you. When traveling, never miss the opportunity to visit local markets and wander in nature. Be aware of the smells on a sunny day or when it is raining, by the ocean or in the mountains. There is nothing better than linking a smell with a great story, which is the true spirit of wine.
Wine is a result of nature and culture, and therefore we should never forget the celebration of life and sharing our discoveries and experiences. We are all learning about wine, glass by glass.
THE DIFFICULT ROAD FOR WINE IN CHINA – TIM ATKIN
By Concha y Toro
It is known that China is a difficult country with big investment opportunities. The fact that this was the main message coming out from the recent Wine Future Hong Kong 2011, one of the leading wine events in Asia and the world, shows that exporters and importers of wine continue facing big challenges in their effort to place this millenary drink in this millenary culture.
Among those present in Hong Kong was one of UK´s and Europe´s leading Masters of Wine, Tim Atkin. His main conclusion after two days of analysis, comradeship and tastings is that China continues to be difficult to invest in, that the lack of regulation is not to be taken lightly, and that those in the wine business that keep thinking this is the place to be must have patience, lots of patience (read blog here).
Even more so, with China projected to grow both demographically and economically at rates that are expected –and hoped as well- to compensate a fall in total world consumption due to the recent international crisis. Among the figures juggled is that if China imported 16.5 million cases in 2010, the number it is expected to reach 22 million this year. The outlook is that the Asian dragon will surpass the 100 million mark by 2020.
However, this optimist scenario doesn´t mean the wine business should overlook issues that may end up being mere “siren songs,” warns Atkin. A customs system lacking regulation concerning wine trade is not facilitating shipments; the fact that most fine wines are sold in Hong Kong due to its condition of free trade zone is helping to smuggle wines into the mainland to avoid the 48% rate imposed on any liquor sold on central China; local wines are uplifting their packaging and image, but this doesn´t necessarily mean they better quality, a warning that goes particularly to the foreign investment funds and businesses that are trying to buy local wineries.
To Atkin, that wealthy Chinese (particularly investment funds) still prefer fine Bordeaux such as Latife, Latour or Margaux doesn´t
By Concha y Toro
mean the market is done for. This was the main point raised by the most important wine importers in mainland China, ASC Greater China and Summergate, which insisted there are still large groups from the middle and higher class that the wine business can focus on, and a price gap between local and imported wines that must be closed.
Andes Wines
andes@andeswines.com
(56) 2-3702997
VIDEO BUD THEISEN FILM PRODUCER IN CHILE
andes@andeswines.com / Gentileza de Chorrillana Estudio
JANCIS ROBINSON: AUSTRIANS THRILLED WITH 2011 VINTAGE
by Julia Harding MW
‘One of the greatest vintages in Austrian history.’ This upbeat assessment of 2011, just coming to a close, comes from Josef (Pepe) Schuller MW, founder and managing director of the Austrian Wine Academy and recent chairman of the Institute of Masters of Wine, after he had joined Willi Bründlmayer’s team to pick Riesling in the Heiligenstein vineyard near Langenlois in Kamptal.
Schuller’s passing comment to Jancis came on Friday, the same day as the official harvest report from the Austrian Wine Marketing Board (AWMB), in my opinion one of the best generic wine promotional organisations around. As with all bodies whose main role is promotion, they are inclined to focus on the positives but if Schuller is right, then perhaps the Austrians didn’t need to resort to air brushing this year.
2010, by contrast, has been described as ‘the year of challenge’ in Austria, including rain and cold during the flowering season, rain in August, cool and damp in September and wet weather at the end of October, such a crucial time for the top-quality Rieslings, dry and sweet. The result was a harvest 14% lower than average, following the very short vintage of 2009. Which is why the producers are particularly relieved to have in 2011 not only a healthy harvest but also a generous one: 2.45 million hectolitres in the cellar, a massive 41% up on 2010, and this despite the volume reduction caused by hail and frost damage in some regions.
This year the weather was far kinder: ‘Even though there were cold winter temperatures, frost damage at the beginning of May, a dry period in July and even some hailstorms, there was still plenty of optimal weather to be had. The beautiful flowering period led to a good fruit set, and the sunny and warm weather of late summer delivered a good ripening phase. The continuous lovely weather conditions allowed for the luxury of choosing a harvest day according to the ripeness sought, and of “waiting it out” periods if desired. This resulted in a varied and long harvest – for example, by the beginning of the main harvest period on the Wagram, already the first bottled young wine from the Seewinkel in Burgenland was on the table. Thanks to the dry weather, there were very few fungal diseases. There was some heavy wasp infestation in a number of regions.’
The main concern, mentioned several times in the regional summaries below, seems to have been potentially low acidity levels, making canopy management and accurate harvesting times particularly critical.
Here’s the AWMB’s round up of the regions. (The photo shows vineyards in Leithaberg, Burgenland.)
Burgenland
The weather here was similar to that in other wine-growing areas. The earlier-than-usual flowering and harvest dates as well as good weather conditions allowed for well-planned work without any of the stress that was so prevalent last year, when the danger of rot had propelled the harvesting to be undertaken in the shortest time possible.
There were some problems with regional dampness and winter frosts, the cold at the beginning of May and the hailstorms on 23 June – which hit 1,600 hectares very hard. But the sunny and dry weather nurtured the healthy, undamaged grapes that were brought into the cellars. Because of the acidity, however, good nerves were required for optimal maturation to be reached. The harvest here was status quo with an estimated 715,200 hl – up 54% from last year. This is just as pleasing as the wine quality itself: firm fruitiness and pleasant acidity accompanied by – in the red wines – a distinctive deep, dark colour.
Niederösterreich
Taking into account the varied conditions in the different regions during the year – frost and hail, for example – an average volume of 1.5 million hl is estimated. The Weinviertel and the Thermenregion are showing volumes lower than their long-standing averages (Weinviertel down 9%; Thermenregion down 3%). Throughout Niederösterreich, wasps were a very disturbing element for the grape pickers as well as for the wine quality. In fact, some of the harvest was completed early because of wasp damage. Otherwise, the acidity became the main focus, as warm temperatures sparked a partial rapid decrease – to achieve just the right balance between physiological ripeness and good acidity backbone.
Steiermark
This year, the Steiermark was favoured by the weather. There was little frost and, even despite some hail damage, the average volume increased by 19% in comparison with the five-year average. The estimated 226,600 hl reflects a 28% increase over last year. Because of the early and relatively short flowering period, also the harvest began somewhat early and was completed rather quickly in order to ‘catch’ the right acidity and sugar content. The main harvest was over by mid October, and good leaf management brought fruity and full-bodied wines.
Wien
The hailstorm on 4 June is now a bad memory for the vintners of Döbling and Stammersdorf. Damage and yield loss were left in its wake. Nevertheless, Vienna boasted very good quality and a yield just slightly below the long standing average. As in other regions, the work in the vineyards determined the high gradation and acidity content. A multi-faceted selection of fruity and bodied wines is expected.
I’m looking forward to finding out if Pepe Schuller is correct.
ARGENTINA BEATS CHILE AT SIXTH VERSION OF VINOS DE LA CORDILLERA BLIND TASTING
Argentinean wine “Gran Enemigo” received the highest score at the sixth trans-Andean wine tasting “Vinos de la Cordillera”, event organized by the Argentinean wine writer Enrique Chrabolowsky, which took place on November 5th at the Viña del Mar Sheraton hotel.
The tasting gathered around 75 wine professionals from Chile and Argentina who sampled a total of 24 wines in an original online blind wine tasting that used a sophisticated software that recorded the reviews and scores of each participant.
Andes Wines was among the wine makers, agricultural engineers, journalists and writers who tasted 12 samples from Chile and 12 from Argentina selected by Chrabolowsky and Cristina Pandolfi from the National Viticulture Institute (INV) in Argentina, and Chilean wine journalist Mariana Martínez from Planeta Vinos together with a wine panel run by Martínez.
This gathering is held in Chile and Argentina alternatively every year, and in this case the location chosen was Viña del Mar, in the Valparaiso Region, in order to promote cool climate wines produced in the area.
Gran Enemigo, produced by wine makers Alejandro Vigil and Adriana Catena, was awarded a score of 92 points. Other Argentinean wines that received 91 points are Bodegas de Belasco de Baquedano, Lindaflor y Trapiche. Chilean wines Tabali, Casas del Bosque and Morande received 91 points each as well.
The fact that very few wines received above 90 points caused great debate among the participants. The rules at the Vinos de la Cordillera contest state that the samples that receive less than 90 points are not mentioned in the final review, while the judges who award the highest and lowest scores must explain the reasons behind their decision.
Wine journalist Mariana Martínez commented that “the tight scores awarded since the contest began in 2002 and the quality of the varietals sampled in each occasion, show that both South American countries must continue working on the quality of their wines, but at the same time act as one great South American wine bloc”.
SCORES:
92 (Arg.) Gran Enemigo Malbec 2008, Mendoza
91 (CH) Tabali Reserva Especial Ensamblaje 2009, Limarí
91 (Arg) Bodega Belasco de Baquedano Swinto Malbec, Mendoza
91 (CH Casas del Bosque Gran Reserva Sauvignon Blanc 2011, Valle de Casablanca
91 (Arg) Lindaflor Malbec 2006, Mendoza
91 (Arg) Trapiche Single Vineyard Villafañe Malbec, Mendoza
91 (CH) Morande Edicion Limitada Golden Harvest Sauvignon Blanc 2007, Casablanca
90 (Arg) Kaiken Mai Malbec, Mendoza
90 (Arg) Cheval des Andes Malbec-C/S-PV, Mendoza
90 (Arg) Bodega El Esteco Cabernet Sauvignon Serie Fincas Notables, Cafayate
90 (CH) Kankana del Elqui Syrah, Elqui
90 (CH) Bressia Profundo Malbec-C/S- Merlot-Syrah, Mendoza
90 (CH) San Pedro 1865 Cabernet Sauvignon, Maipo
90 (Arg) Cobos Bramare Chardonnay Marchiri Vineyards, Mendoza
90 (CH) ConoSur 20 Barricas, Valle de Casablanca
90 (Arg) Alta Vista Premium Torrontés 2011, Salta
Andes Wines
andes@andeswines.com
(56) 2-3702997
MOVIE LOGISTIC EXECUTIVE AT III WINE AFTER OFFICE IN SANTIAGO
This November 7th the story of StartUps & Expats doing business in Chile will premiere at the networking and entrepreneurship event III Wine After Office. The event will host a very special guest, James Bond: Quantum of Solace logistics producer and owner of boutique film production services company Straightforward Films, Bud Theisen.
Theisen will provide a first look about his experience as a logistics and executive movie producer and his role as promoter of the country in the international movie scene. He will also talk about the pros and cons of filming in Chile, providing behind the scenes scoops about the challenges the film crew had to face when filming Quantum of Solace in the Antofagasta desert.
Entrepreneurs and business executives from the financial, real estate, gastronomy, tourism and winemaking sectors are invited to this third edition of Wine After Office, which aims to develop and strengthen new platforms for business in Chile.
More on Bud Theisen
Theisen is a Bsc in Computer Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign who arrived in Chile in 1997 to work as an English teacher. Later on he began to work for the Economics Department at the University of Chile. He was introduced to the film industry by one of his students who happened to be a movie director at the production company Rojas Films.
At present he is focused on promoting Chile as a film destination for great international motion pictures productions.
Date:
Monday, November 7th at 19:30 hrs.
Venue:
Gran Central, Las Urbinas 44, Providencia.
Price:
Pre-sale at $ 7.000 (chilean pesos)
$ 10.000 on the day of the event. (chilean pesos)
Includes 2 wine glasses for each guest
Sampling of venison and wild boar from Bauser
SPONSORS:
- First Tuesday Santiago
- ACTI (Asociación Chilena de Empresas de Tecnologías de Información A.G.)
Andes Wines
andes@andeswines.com
(56) 2-3702997
WINE MEETS START-UP BUSINESS IN SANTIAGO
The latest entrepreneurial effort in Santiago brings Chilean wine, beer and gourmet food to the internet, in a fortuitous pairing with Start-Up Chile graduates.
Chilean wines partner with online business.
Three Chilean entrepreneurs are a step away from launching the next big website to sell their country’s wine, beer and gourmet products online, thanks to a push from a pair of Start-Up Chile alums from Portugal.
Chileans Pamela Villablanca – the international director at Andes Wines – along with José Miguel Sotomayor and Maximiliano Morales are heading the new company, which will be launched in collaboration with the online store Vendder.com.
The new Andes Wine spin-off represents the type of international, technology-based entrepreneurship that Chile has become famous for in the past few years, earning it the label of “The Silicon Valley of Latin America.”
In this instance, the Chilean entrepreneurial effort is being supported by the two Portuguese entrepreneurs who started Vendder.com: Tiagos Matos and Filipe Conçalves, each with a masters degree in software engineering.
Matos and Conçalves came to Chile last year as part of the pilot project of the now-famous Start-Up Chile program. After working the requisite six months in the capital, they decided to abandon their plans to return to Portugal and relocate permanently to Santiago, where they can continue to work shoulder to shoulder with other entrepreneurs attracted by the Chilean government’s innovative program.
The project with Andes Wine will provide personalized service to online customers looking for some of Chile’s hottest wines, best beers and most delectable gourmet foodstuffs, making use of Vendder.com’s international platform and tri-lingual hosting services in Spanish, Portuguese and English.
“We made up our minds and decided to work with Vendder.com thanks to their vast international experience, as well as the fact that they are well-positioned in Chile, which makes us feel sure that we are working with a leading company in electronic commerce,” said Morales of Andes Wines.
Originally posted at: http://www.thisischile.cl/7196/2/wine-meets-start-up-business-in-the-chilean-capital/News.aspx
Wine journalist Jamie Goode of wineanorak.com gave a presentation earlier this year at a London wine conference that included the advice, “Social media is not magic, nor is it just a fad.”
Though they can’t solve all your problems, Twitter and Facebook are here to stay (at least for the foreseeable future), and wine producers, importers and vendors can use these tools to add some personality to an otherwise often intimidating…and dare I say, stuffy…business.
Yet Goode’s presentation also highlighted something that can be difficult for businesses investing time and money on maintaining a Facebook site or building up a following on Twitter. “It resists measurement,” Goode says. And: “You can’t do social media well under the pressure of achieving results.” Okay, but we’re bound to ask next: isn’t “achieving results” the purpose of any marketing strategy?
The strange thing about social media, though, is that it’s not just a marketing strategy, nor is it just branding. Social media, as it functions in the business world (and, arguably, in the personal world), is some sort of branding-marketing-communications-outreach hybrid for which we don’t yet have rules (weirdly quoting “Fightclub,” Goode also tells us, “The first rule is, there are no rules). That makes people very excited and very nervous at the same time.
In wine, more than most other industries, traditional tastemakers such as famous critics (Robert Parker, etc) and established news sources (Wine Spectator, the New York Times food and drink page) have long dominated opinion. But social media evens the playing field; all of a sudden, anyone can have their say—and people just might listen.
According to a 2010 study by Seattle social media marketing firm Lift9, there are over 7,000 wine tweets a day and over 1,300 wine-focused blogs. In addition, 700,000 people watch wine-related videos each month, though most are of the humorous variety, like “Borat’s Guide to Wine Tasting.” So there are a lot of folks out there looking to learn about wine and share their own experiences. What does this mean for wine producers, importers, and vendors?
In one sense, it’s an advertiser’s dream: self-selecting consumers receive targeted information that leads them to your company’s website, your company’s news, and your company’s products. And for those who believe in the power of branding, social media is the ideal way to turn your brand or store into an online entity that communicates with its costumers, press and others in the field in a way that reflects its own “personality” and ethos. As Goode says: “People get a more rounded view of who you are.”
But in the wine industry, this all plays out a little differently. The most important wine-buying sector—baby boomers—isn’t the same sector that’s spending all their time on Twitter and Facebook (namely, college students and twenty-somethings). But establishing a presence in social media now will not only lure in a new generation of wine lovers, but it will also make it easier later on as the platforms become more crowded and those for whom Facebook is more natural than face-to-face age, and presumably, start buying wine.
Founder of UK supper club “The Underground Restaurant,” Kerstin Rodgers, (also known as Ms. MarmiteLover and named one of London’s 1000 most influential people this year by the Evening Standard), encourages social media users to expand outside their own industry. “Don’t just talk to people in the same business as you,” she says. “Make your tweets varied and cultivate people who are geographically local to you.”
One drawback—a drawback I don’t necessarily see people discussing in their articles hailing social media as the future of all communication—is social media’s constant demand and rather addictive nature. At what cost to their marketing and communications employees are wineries “building a virtual buzz?” Rodgers also writes: “The best blog posts are often written at 2am in your pyjamas.” For those of us who’d rather be sleeping at two a.m. in our pajamas, this 24-hour schedule of around-the-world updates can be difficult to keep up with.
If you leave the office at five p.m. and don’t tweet until the next morning at 9:30 after settling in at work, you’re certainly missing some important conversations and updates. (Those in Napa Valley may feel especially behind when the workday in France is long gone by the time they arrive!) But if you do bring your work home with you, social media style, you’ll end up feeling like you’re never finished. There’s always one more person to tweet at, one more post to “like”… Building an online presence is time-consuming, but it shouldn’t be life-consuming.
The main point of all this: businesses like rules, and social media doesn’t quite have them—yet. It’s better to have personality on Twitter and Facebook, but too much personality can make those in charge of your “brand” very nervous. In the wine world, the main audience isn’t as “plugged in” as in many industries—but that doesn’t mean social media is unimportant. Remember Twitter isn’t just a marketing tool, so don’t use it that way. Finally: once you do “plug in,” remember to unplug every once in a while, too. Maybe leave the two a.m. blog posts to those who are doing that for a living. You can comment and re-tweet it in the morning.
Written by Erin Becker, Research and Innovation for Andes Wines, graduated with a degree in literature and creative writing from the University of North Carolina, where she was also co-founder and editor-in-chief of Campus BluePrint magazine and co-founder of an Arts and Cultural Policy think tank.
Andes Wines
andes@andeswines.com
(56) 2-3702997
twitter: @andeswines.com
21 COUNTRIES AND 280 BEERS COMPETE IN INTERNATIONAL CONTEST
“Copa Cervezas de America” awards 64 medals and has become a key part of the Latin American beer world
The contest, held for the first time in Chile, has become one of the most important beer industry events in the region. Brands from Belgium, Brazil, the Netherlands and Chile all won gold medals in the competition.
SANTIAGO, SEPTEMBER 9 – Beers from Belgium, Brazil, the Netherlands and Chile all won gold medals at the awards ceremony of the international beer competition “Copa Cervezas de America 2011.” The event brought together 21 countries and 280 beer brands, which were tasted and evaluated by an expert jury. The cup was organized by the magazine Alma Cerveza and Maltexco, and was also sponsored by Pro Chile, Duoc UC, Mundo Cervecero and Puracerveza.cl.
Gold medals were won by the Belgian beer “Blonde Ale,” made by Augustinj; “Weizenbier” from the Brazilian company Cervejaria Bamberg; “Dubbel” from Dutch company La Trappe; and “Stout” from the Chilean brewer Cuello Negro.
Among the 64 awarded medals, Chilean brands won first place due to 31 awards, among which included Cervecería Guayacán, which one a silver medal with its stout; Cervecería Szot, which won a bronze medal with its Negra Stout and Rubia al vapor; and Cervecería Kross, which won a bronze medal for its stout, Maibock, and golden ale.
During the five days of the competition, in Duoc UC (Antonio Varas headquarters), the competition also held nine seminars with the aim of analyzing specific themes of interest to beer producers. These were led by well-known brewmasters and beer-world authorities, such as Asbjorn Gerlach, Kevin Szot, Jay Brooks, Matthew Brynildson, Lyn Kruger, Martín Boan, Rodrigo Sánchez and journalists from Mundo Cervecero, as well as other industry experts.
Andes Wines
andes@andeswines.com
(56) 2-3702997
twitter: @andeswines.com
FROM AC/DC TO LIL JON: WHY CELEBRITY WINES ARE HERE TO STAY
By Erin Becker, Research and Innovation
The recent announcement that AC/DC will be releasing a series of wines based on their famous singles (“Back in Black Shiraz,” “You Shook Me All Night Long Moscato,” and “Hells Bells Sauvignon Blanc,” among others) has led to both ire and fascination in the wine community. What will come next? The audacity! Does anyone think they can make wine? They say money can’t buy love, and it seems it can’t quite buy prestige among winemakers, either.
Yet this is far from a recent phenomenon. In fact, celebrity winemaking goes a long ways back. And AC/DC’s move isn’t unprecedented: Kiss, Motorhead, and Whitesnake all have wines of their own.
For some, it’s a labor of love. The family of Francis Ford Coppola, for example, has a long history of winemaking. British singer Cliff Richard has always been a wine enthusiast and used his massive earnings and celebrity clout as an opportunity to explore this passion. For French actor Gerard Depardieu, wine is a vocation, while the screen is just an occupation. Depardieu is involved in all aspects of production and business dealings for his wine label; in fact, his passport lists him not as an actor as a vigneron.
Unlike Coppola, Richard and Depardieu, other celebrities are simply wine dilettantes, exploring the enological world simply because they can. Sting, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Johnny Depp, and David and Victoria Beckham all own vineyards and wine estates strictly for personal use. They’re growing wine grapes the way most of use grow chives.
There are also a good number of celebrities producing wine as a charity venture. Former 49ers quarterback Joe Montana partnered with Ed Sbragia of Beringer to make the Cabernet Sauvignon Montagia, initially raising $210,000 for a charity auction that transformed into a successful yearly project. Like Mike Ditka, who simply owns a brand rather than a winery or an estate, Montana’s main contribution is in promotion and name recognition rather than the technicalities of winemaking. He does, however, work with the “vision” of the wine, as well as participating in blending and tasting trials.
And of course, there’s also a business side to all of this. Rather than producing wine themselves, some celebrities lend their name or image to a wine label—for a small fee, of course. Among stars that have allowed a special one-time wine to bear their name are Carlos Santana and Bob Dylan. Martha Stewart, in a similar set-up, collaborated with Gallo to produce a series of low-cost wines for K-mart, but has little oversight in the winemaking process.
But let’s return to Coppola, who was dubbed by Forbes “The Godfather of Grapes.” The Hollywood director/producer is now selling more than 750,000 cases a year, and a few years backed was ranked the number two table wine by Information Resources. He also produces premium wines through a separate venture at Rubicon Estates.
Other notable celebrity wine names include: Mario Andretti, Dan Aykroyd, Antonio Banderas, Drew Bledsoe, Mick Fleetwood, Arnold Palmer, Jeff Gordon, Wayne Gretzky, Terry Hoage, Lil Jon (the rapper is re-imaged, rather humorously, as the owner of the upscale Little Jonathan Winery), Madonna, Dan Marino, Dave Matthews, Olivia Newton John (owner of Australian label Koala Blue).
For those who doubt the quality of celebrity wine, it may be interesting to note that Lil Jon’s Central Coast Chardonnay won a silver medal at the L.A. International Wine & Spirits Competition just two years ago.
However, for those who doubt the wine’s class, a subsequent tweet by Lil Jon may confirm your suspicions:
“FOR ALL YALL SUKKAS THAT WERE HATING ON MY WINE CHECK THIS OUT!! WE WINNING AWARDS TWITT!!! GET U SOME.”
Yet his winemaker, Alison Crowe, says there’s more to “Jon” than he lets on: “Let me just say that Jon is one complex man and is not to be underestimated—like the wines we make together!”
Can anyone make quality wine? Probably not. But if we swallow our pride and buy it, we may be pleasantly surprised by the number that can.
Erin Becker, Research and Innovation for Andes Wines, graduated with a degree in literature and creative writing from the University of North Carolina, where she was also co-founder and editor-in-chief of Campus BluePrint magazine and co-founder of an Arts and Cultural Policy think tank.
Andes Wines
andes@andeswines.com
(56) 2-3702997
twitter: @andeswines.com
LIEB FAMILY CELLARS: THE FINE LINES IN “CAUSE” MARKETING
By Erin Becker, Research and Innovation
In case you haven’t heard—and if you follow any US wine blogs, you surely have—Lieb Family Cellars is selling a 9/11 Memorial Commemorative Merlot and Chardonnay to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. The wine retails for $19.11 per bottle and a portion of the proceeds will help support the National September 11th Memorial and Museum through the September Mission Foundation.
A quick Google search of “September 11 wine” is enough to demonstrate the outrage this act of kindness/marketing move is causing. Out of 472 million+ results, the top few are “Is a 9/11 wine in bad taste?”; “Memorial 9/11 Wine?!? WTF?!?”; “NY Vintner Releases 9/11 Wine to Give Back, Critics Cry ‘Distasteful’”; and “9/11 wine leaves bitter taste in many.”
9/11: A CASE STUDY OF MARKETING AND CHARITABLE CAUSES
Many of the articles are actually more nuanced than the headlines suggest. Salon.com makes an especially good point—Lieb is not the first to do something like this, nor will it be the last:
“In the days after 9/11, seemingly faster than the New York City police started letting people back downtown, a cottage industry of memorabilia sprang up on the streets. The air, still thick with dust, was thick with consumerism as well, as vendors began hawking flags and ‘United We Stand’ T-shirts.”
The list of September 11th gear is lengthy. Event supply and flag store flagandbanner.com has “9/11 Tribute” listed under holidays, next to California State Birthday and WNBA Playoffs. Among this holiday’s products: a printed stars and stripes polo shirt, a pull-down purple and black mourning flag, and a bald eagle beanie baby. And remember those American flag pins? Someone must have made a buck off of those.
All advertising appeals to emotion of some sort; mourning, pride, and anger can motivate people to purchase, just like happiness or desire. Perhaps the guy selling flags on the street corner on September 13, 2001 felt it was his patriotic duty. But it’s more likely that he just wanted to make some money. Lieb’s wine is really no different, except a portion of the proceeds is helping the memorial products. In a special released statement, their hearts seem to be in the right place:
“Having lost friends and colleagues in the tragic events of September 11, 2001, we at Lieb Cellars feel strongly that it is everyone’s responsibility to support the 9/11 memorial. […] We appreciate all of the kind support we have received this past week from first responders, active duty military, families of the victims of September 11th and the public in general, and very much look forward to the opening of the September 11th Museum and helping to preserve the memory of those lost.”
NOT JUST LIEB CELLARS: A SURVEY OF CHARITY WINE
The fact lost in much of this discussion is that Lieb Family Cellars is far from the first company to make a buck off 9/11, or the first winery to sell wine for a cause or partially for a cause. At greaterpurpose.com, for example, you can buy wine knowing that 55% of the profits will go to fight hunger in places like Haiti and sub-Saharan Africa. The wine says “GREATER PURPOSE” in giant pink-and-white letters vertically down the black label. When you tease out the implications, this, too, creates some discomfort. While we are worrying about pairing, there are people out there who don’t even have food, the wine reminds us. Does that make the wine distasteful, or can we drink it a little easier knowing we’re at least doing something to help? In the end, that depends on the person holding the glass.
And the list of charity wines goes on, some partially for profit, some 100% for their causes. The owners of Rivera Vineyards in California give all their wine to charities, from United Friends of the Children to the John Muir Health Foundation, who auction them off to raise money for their respective non-profits. Charity Wines gets sports stars to lend their images to wine labels and then donates the proceeds to a charity of the athlete’s choice. At ONEHOPE Wine, you can buy a Zinfandel to support the troops, a Merlot to fight AIDS, or a Pinot Noir to help children’s hospitals.
Lieb Family Cellars itself also sells a limited edition Syrah at their winery, which helps support kidney disease research at the NYC Animal Medical Center. They also at one point sold a white Merlot to raise money for breast cancer research.
Lieb has been raising money for the 9/11 memorial with their “September Mission” wine since 2002, yet it’s only in the last few weeks that people have decided this is an “outrage.” Rather than Lieb acting in bad faith, this public scolding by the media seems to be a question of timing. With the tenth anniversary of 9/11 just around the corner, wounds still feel a little fresh. It’s an extremely sensitive topic, even more so this time of year. If many New Yorkers aren’t in the mood to uncork this wine, that’s certainly their prerogative.
Yet on Lieb’s part, it was a miscalculation and nothing more. As interest in both wine and the non-profit sector grows in the US, we’ll probably see more and more wine-for-a-cause. One person’s philanthropy is another person’s opportunism, but knee-jerk reactions and name-calling do no one good.
Erin Becker, Research and Innovation for Andes Wines, graduated with a degree in literature and creative writing from the University of North Carolina, where she was also co-founder and editor-in-chief of Campus BluePrint magazine and co-founder of an Arts and Cultural Policy think tank.
Photo from liebcellars.com.
Andes Wines
andes@andeswines.com
(56) 2-3702997
twitter: @andeswines.com
ANDES WINES LAUNCHES WINE PRIVATE EQUITY WITH PAN AMERICAN REAL ESTATE GROUP
In a joint venture with Pan American Real Estate Group, Andes Wines, a Santiago-based strategic wine management and media company, is launching the first wine private equity service in Chile.
The objective of the venture’s first stage will be to allocate $20 million of private investment dollars to Chilean vineyards with medium-term growth potential, strengthen the vineyards through strategic management over a period of two to five years, and then sell them at a higher value. This process will benefit investors, vineyards and the larger Chilean wine market, growing the prestige of this already-burgeoning industry.
Investment strategy will be headed up by Sebastián Hoppe, investment director of Andes Wines, and Pamela Villablanca, international wine manager of Andes Wines. The company was founded 10 years ago by general manager Max Morales and has since gained a reputation as a significant player in several aspects of the Chilean wine industry.
“We are very excited about our relationship with Andes Wines,” Matt Scoggins, marketing consultant at Pan American Real Estate Group, said. “Timing is everything. With the continued growth of the region, as well as the expanding global market for quality grapes and wine, we believe our clients will be properly positioned to take advantage of this exciting and unique opportunity.”
Andes Wines will offer multiple methods of investment, including “turnkey” investments in existing vineyards and “start-up” investments in vineyards that are just getting off the ground. Investors will be able to put their money into multiple aspects of the vineyards, from the land to the varietal, making the opportunity entirely personalized to each investor’s convenience.
Morales underscored the attention and expertise that Andes Wines will offer to investors. More than just another addition to the client’s portfolio, the company will provide support during all parts of the process.
“This is not a transaction; it’s a partnership,” Morales said.
Scoggins believes this venture will be of special interest to his clients who are looking for an opportunity off the beaten path.
“Chile is an extremely ‘hot’ market right now,” Scoggins said. As an emerging market, Chile’s budding growth is exciting for investors. Scoggins is keen to share that potential with his clients. “We have the ability and desire to market this unique investment opportunity, and marry some of our investors with Andes Wines.”
Scoggins added: “This is truly something special.”
Andes Wines
andes@andeswines.com
(56) 2-3702997
twitter: @andeswines.com
THE BUZZ ON START-UP CHILE
Plus: AndesWines soon to debut expat networking group By Erin Becker, Research and Innovation
Start-Up Chile has been in the news lately thanks to Vivek Wadhwa of Harvard and Duke. Wadhwa had initially thought that growing Chile’s tech start-up industry so rapidly was impossible, due to cultural and economic constraints. But now he is pleased with the rapid transformation that this country has been able to make, due to what he praises as “an open economy and a vibrant democracy.”
Start-Up Chile is a government program here in Santiago that sponsors foreign and Chilean entrepreneurs who want to start their companies in Chile. It’s designed after the philosophy of former minister of economy Juan Andrés Fontaine: “Instead of changing the world through revolution, we can change it through innovation.” The idea is that entrepreneurs use Chile’s business-friendly economy as a platform to “go global,” which is both good for Chile and good for the start-ups. The ones who make it through the admissions process received $40,000, a work visa, and access to key business and social networks in Santiago. The program hopes to have 1,000 participants by 2014.
Wadwha is especially pleased with Start-Up Chile’s focus on the innovators rather than just the innovation. He makes a good point: “buildings and industry don’t make innovation happen—people do.” Though he acknowledges it is “too early to declare success,” Wadhwa is pleased with the people-centric aspect of the program.
The story was picked up by US radio station NPR (National Public Radio) and re-broadcast by at least six other local US radio stations. Rather than just praising Chile, NPR focused on Wadhwa’s not-quite-implicit critique of US immigration policy that came along with his kind words for the start-up program:
“Chile has been taking advantage of American stupidity,” says Vivek Wadhwa, a visiting scholar at the University of California, Berkeley, where he studies the economic impact of immigrant entrepreneurs.
The articles all report that Chile’s economic climate and open-arms attitude to international entrepreneurs make it a perfect place and time for a program like Start-Up Chile. According to the World Bank, Chile’s economy grew by 5.5 percent between 1985 and 2009. The World Economic Forum ranks it the most competitive economy in Latin America, Portfolio.com reports.
Of course, all these media accolades don’t mean the program can count its chickens before they’re hatched—and of course they won’t. Well-connected, well-respected, well-funded and with an awesome website to boot, Start-Up Chile knows that in the end the true measure of a program like this is ultimately how many of the start-ups become more than just that. Yet it’s nice to get the buzz going—and keeping it going will be key.
AndesWines plans to stoke this culture of networking and entrepreneurial chatter by launching an expat-networking group. The group will meet monthly or more often for good wine, good conversation, and to make connections with other foreign entrepreneurs, expats working in Chile, permanent travelers and all others who have found themselves living in Santiago.
Check back into AndesWines.com and AndesOne.com soon for more information as the expat group gets under way. We’ll also be featuring a continued conversation about entrepreneurship in Chile.
The international buzz on Start-Up Chile: National Public Radio says:
Andrew Nicol is a young entrepreneur who was born in Australia and attended law school in the U.S. After graduation, he got an employer-sponsored visa that allowed him to work in New York. But when Nicol wanted to leave his day job and start a company, he was stymied. Leaving his job meant losing his visa.
So Nicol decided to go to Chile.
“I’m basically leaving New York to come to Santiago to start a business that targets New York consumers — just because it’s so much easier to do it from here, and there is so much more support from the government here,” he says.
Portfolio.com says:
Some facts to consider: According to the World Bank, Chile’s economy grew by 5.5 percent between between 1985 and 2009. The World Economic Forum ranks it the most competitive economy in Latin America. And Chile’s corporate income tax rate is normally 17 percent, but has risen 20 percent in 2011 (it will lower to 18.5 in 2012 as part of the country’s earthquake reconstruction program), one of the lowest corporate income tax rates worldwide.
Washington Post says:
“When I arrived in Santiago, I found that Start-Up Chile entrepreneurs were holding nightly meetings to review one another’s business plans and product ideas. They were teaching one another skills, and were building the friendships and global networks that stand to increase their chances of success. The gatherings could easily have been mistaken for ones in Silicon Valley.”
Nearshore Americas Blog says:
Three months later, Wadhwa’s perception has undergone an incredible change. Tweeting from a Start-Up Chile meetup this week, the professor was decidedly glowing in his remarks. He told us that “When I advised the Chilean government to try something like this, I was optimistic that we could do a pure “people play”—in other words, focus the entire investment in people rather than infrastructure and industry as is the norm for regions. I am totally blown away—as are the Chileans—with its success.”
Erin Becker, Research and Innovation for Andes Wines, graduated with a degree in literature and creative writing from the University of North Carolina, where she was also co-founder and editor-in-chief of Campus BluePrint magazine and co-founder of an Arts and Cultural Policy think tank.
Andes Wines
andes@andeswines.com
(56) 2-3702997
twitter: @andeswines.com
7TH WINE & GOURMET SALE IN BUENAVENTURA PREMIUM OUTLET
Attention wine lovers and connoisseurs: Until September 17th, Andes Wines will host the 7th Wine and Gourmet Products Sales in the Buenaventura Premium Outlet. More than 19 national vineyards are participating and will offer a wide variety of wines from all the winemaking valleys of Chile. In addition, Andes Wines will sell a myriad of gourmet products, wine accessories and beauty products, including wine therapy, snail and Chilean mosqueta products.
According to Patricio de la Cruz, sale manager of Andes Wines, “We have wines from every valley, including Bio Bio, Cachapoal, Casablanca, San Antonio, Colchagua, Curicó and Maule, and some of the participating vineyards include Balduzzi, Casas del Toqui, William Fevre, Portal del Alto, La Rosa, Anakena, Villalobos, AguaTierra, Encomenderos, Via Wines, Casa Donoso, Bisquertt and Nerkihue.”
Guided wine tastings will also be held for restaurant buyers who are buying products for their menus or special packs for the upcoming Independence Day.
As for accessories, the sale will offer wine glasses of all kinds, decanters, corkscrews for both wine and champagne, and furniture made from French oak barrels.
Highlights of the gourmet products include Agroches (sheep and goat cheece), Oliva Bogaris olive oil, De Camacho (garlic pastes), De Pampa (lamb), Directo del Productor (fruit infusions), Los Montes (tuna), Majo (chutney and jams), Nahual (pate and quail eggs), Nobleza Artesanal (artisan mustard), Omni Nuts (dried fruits), Rayún (spreads and chuntey), Rucamalal (chocolates), Sofruco (natural juices), Doña Vicky (manjar and jam), Los Tilos (special cheese), Pulltex (wine accessories), Scandik (glasses and decanters), Apisu (gourmet honey), desserts from Dulce Patria, pate and carpaccio from Emú, smoked lamb shanks, sugar-free jams and preserves, and soda from Frutas Francesas and French beer.
The sale format is based in boxed of 6-12 bottles, in addition to individual bottles for varietal, reserve, and grand reserve wines. The wine ranges from $1.200 to $50.000 per bottle. For the gourmet products, the discounts run from 20% to 30%, in boxes or packs of 3-4 products, in addition to being presented without frills (as contrasted with the average supermarket shelf).
PARKING AND HOURS
The mall has a modern infrastructure, parking spaces for more than 1600 vehicles, and an ample security system included a fenced-in perimeter, guards, security cameras and a partnership with the police for constant guarding.
Hours are: Monday through Friday 10am-7pm, Saturday 10am-8pm, and Sundays and holidays 11am-6pm.
Location: Avenida San Ignacio 500, módulo 9, in the industrial neighborhood Buenaventura, in Comuna de Quilicura. Easy to access from the Autopista Nor Oriente, Autopista Américo Vespucio Norte, Túnel San Cristóbal, Autopista 5 Norte and Carretera General San Martín.
Andes Wines
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THE WORRYING SITUATION OF ARGENTINEAN WINE IN THE US
AndesWines.com news analysis
For many months, there have been worrying signals coming from foreign markets—especially the US—about the condition of Argentinean wine sales.
Although, according to official statistics, sales are increasing and the median price has been relatively stable, this doesn’t tell the whole story. The sales statistics only apply to shipments, not sales figures from buyers and consumers. And currently, many distributors’ warehouses are building up an alarming stock of economy-price wine from wineries that have opted to enter the market at the lower-end price range.
Thus Argentinean wine, according to some specialists, is beginning to follow the pattern set by Australian brand Yellow Tail. The label dramatically increased its exports, to the point where it couldn’t sustain its median value. The price dropped dramatically, which of course affected Yellow Tail, but also affected the country’s image as a quality wine producer, as well as the image of Syrah, as discussed in another report by AndesWines.com.
The worrying figures that should have set off Argentina’s alarms include that generic bottled wines fell by 19.8% while bulk increased by 695%, according to http://www.areadelvino.com/articulo.php?num=22637. This sends a clear message about what’s going on in the foreign market for Argentinean wines. It’s crucial to intervene before a complete meltdown affects even the most select of Malbec wines.
In many specialized wine stores in the US, you can see lots of wines that were formerly $9.99 selling for $7.99 or $6.99. This is a worrisome trend. This situation is compounded by the economic crisis in the US, which has caused problems for many American distributors and importers.
“To think that the Malbec varietal enjoys some kind of special protection is a fantasy,” Pamela Villablanca, International Director of AndesWines, said. “The number-one selling wine in the US is Franzia, and the second is Santa Margarita. Unemployment is growing and the unemployed are going to opt for Franzia. Major players in the wine industry can market wines by increasing the stock in their bodegas and lowering prices, in order to regulate sales and ensure that they rotate all of their product clusters. But what’s been happening since 2008 is that Argentina, naively, just continues to increase their volume.”
Villablanca, also a specialist in Latin American wine sales, continued discussing possible solutions to Argentina’s problem.
“I made a call to the trans-Andean Export Managers, in order that they begin formulating a plan to protect the branding of Argentina and Malbec. It’s crucial to support importers and distributors, given that many medium and large wineries are forgetting the Three Tier System. The system inevitably involves three actors to make each sale. This is controlled by mantaining a balance in volume and price, ensuring the wine is on sale for only a limited time.”
By Pamela Villablanca Pamela Villablancaworked for 6 years in the US as a Brand Ambassador for Veramonte, which is owned by Huneeus Vintners. She traveled through the US conducting branding and wine education programs and positioned Veramonte Sauvignon Blanc as the number one “on premise” wine, as noted in the home page of Wine Spectator. Later, she served as Sales Manager in California for an importer and distributor of South American wines.
Translated by Erin Becker Erin Becker, Research and Innovation for Andes Wines, graduated with a degree in literature and creative writing from the University of North Carolina, where she was also co-founder and editor-in-chief of Campus BluePrint magazine and co-founder of an Arts and Cultural Policy think tank.
Andes Wines
andes@andeswines.com
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CATA Y VINO EVENT AT HOTEL W
Cata y Vino 2011 will bring together more than 40 wine labels in its 12th wine tasting event coming August 26th and 27th to Hotel W. In a new and improved version of this viniculture fair, more than 40 Chilean wines and gourmet brands will come together in the halls of the Hotel W Santiago. In another new feature, the event will also be streaming live online.
The new edition of Cata y Vino will start at 4:00pm on August 26th and 27th in Hotel W. One distinguishing feature of this year’s event is that the fair began in July with the Noches Gourmet, a series of evenings of wine pairings premiering the event’s wines, which were planned by The Wine House. Featured restaurants included Zinnia, Casa Mar, Sukalde and Tierranoble. With this early premier, more than 200 people were able to try to wines that will be featured at the fair, which were accompanied by menus designed by well-known chefs.
Cata y Vino 2011 will include more than 40 national wine labels, demonstrating its evolution into an important event for the industry, where each vineyard has an opportunity to display its new wines and vintages.
This year, as in last year’s bicentennial edition, the Cata y Vino will host a tasting in which people from the wine industry will judge the wine of their peers and reward the best with prizes. A week before the event, the jury, which will include one representative from each winery and which will be led by journalist Alejandro Jimenez, editor of the magazine WAIN, will meet in the Hotel W to taste close to 300 samples and vote for the winners.
Medals will include Gold, Silver, and Bronze, in addition to Best Value.
“The results of the contest will be announced at the beginning of the fair, so that visitors will know which are the best wines at the exposition,” said Marí José Zañartu, commercial director of The Wine House.
In this event, as in all previous versions of Cata y Vino, there will be tastings of sparkling wine and gourmet products, in addition to hors d’oeuvres that visitors can enjoy alongside the wine.
Wine lovers can also watch the show live via live streaming at http://www.nirvino.cl, a specialized wine and gastronomy site by foodie journalist Daniel Greve.
If you want all the Chilean wine news in one place, you can’t miss this new version of Cata y Vino 2011.
Ticket sales begin August 10 in WAIN, El Mundo del Vino, and through distributor El Cielo, and can also be purchased directly at Hotel W on event day.
Program Cata y Vino 2011
Place: Level -3 Hotel W Santiago
General Admission $15.000
General hall, includes one cup Riedel
Friday August 26th 4:00pm-11:00pm
Saturday August 27th 4:00pm-12:00am
Premium Admission $25.000
General hall and wine icon hall, includes one cup Riedel
Friday August 26th 7:00pm-10:00pm
Saturday August 17th 7:00pm-11:00pm
Andes Wines
andes@andeswines.com
(56) 2-3702997
twitter: @andeswines.com
INDIA LEADS THE WAY IN THE IWSR’s FASTEST-GROWING SPIRITS BRANDS LIST
PRESS RELEASE 3 JULY 2011
The top five fastest-growing spirits brands in volume terms are Indian and all are sold almost exclusively in their domestic market, according the The IWSR’s fastest growth spirits brands list, published in the August issue of The IWSR Magazine.
ABD’s Officer’s Choice whisky tops the list, closely followed by UB India’s McDowell’s brandy; both brands grew by more than 2.9m nine-litre cases in 2010. UB India is the leading producer in India and owns four of the five largest growth brands and eight brands in total in the top 25. The continued growth in India is attributed to its population growth, its increasingly important status in the world economy, and the consequences this has had on personal wealth.
Ten whiskies feature in the top 25 largest growth spirits brands, eight of which count India as its lead market. The leading market for Diageo’s Johnnie Walker, ranked 14th in the list, is duty free/travel retail, although at just 11% of its total sales Johnnie Walker is the most international brand featured in the top 25. Suntory whisky, whose main market is Japan, also features in the top 25.
Vodka also features heavily with eight brands in the list. As with whisk(e)y, the leading growth brands were concentrated in one area, in vodka’s case – Russia, the Ukraine and Poland. Synergy’s Belenkaya vodka is ranked sixth, having grown by more than 2.1m cases in 2010.
Belvédère’s Krupnik vodka is the fastest-growing vodka from Poland. Stock Spirits have two vodkas in the list, Zoladkowa Gorzka and Stock Prestige, both with Poland as their key market. Also, Stock Spirits’ low-strength flavoured vodka range Lubelska ranks 19th in the list. The success of Lubelska is derived from its appeal to younger consumers, although it is said to have also attracted regular vodka drinkers.
The article in the August issue of The IWSR Magazine also includes the following lists:
Top 25 fastest growth whiskies
Top 20 fastest growth vodkas
Top 15 fastest growth flavoured spirits
Top 20 fastest growth rums
Top 10 fastest growth brandies (including Cognac)
Top 5 fastest growth gins
Top 5 fastest growth tequilas
“[…] drinking alcohol has been an extremely important feature in the production and reproduction of ethnic, national, class, gender and local community identities historically, and there is little prospect that this will change. In many societies, perhaps the majority, drinking alcohol is a key practice in the expression of identity, an element in the construction and dissemination of national and other cultures.”
In this way, the article says, drinking—and even not drinking—is inherently a cultural statement.
Lining up a few pictures, we see how true this really is. A Panama hat and a Cuban mojito; a fine glass of Bordeaux in the shade of a French chateau; a keg and red cups in an American frat-house basement; a rich Italian red, spaghetti on the side; a mug of Guinness in Dublin; a rowdy post-rugby pint in an English pub.
Each of these images is integral to our vision of life in a particular society. I say Ireland, and you say pub. I say France, you say fine wine. Expanding past the realm of no-frills tradition, which could be traced back to the days when we simply made alcohol with what was at hand, these cultural-practices-turned-stereotypes have become a crucial part of what the marketing world calls branding.
With travelers (and drinkers) tightening their purse strings, the tourism market is transforming into an evermore-competitive bid for the traveler’s dollar. Locales and alcohols with a strong positive association in the consumer’s mind have a distinct advantage. Wilson calls it “the construction and dissemination of national and other cultures,” but a marketing expert would simply call it good business.
In his book “The Significance of Branding Within German Beer Culture,” Benjamin Marienfeld reports that a large portion of citizens from Germany’s neighboring countries answered the question “What is German?” with the simple reply: “Beer.” This reputation is deserved; he reports that Germany has by far the most breweries of any country worldwide, including 75% of the total breweries in the EU.
And this association has not gone unnoticed here in Chile: we see Austral emphasizing its German roots by publicizing the story of its German founder José Fischer, and Kunstmann playing up its German-ness with a yearly “Bierfest” in Valdivia and its slogan “Das gute Bier.” So, if Chile is capitalizing on Germany’s long-held association with good brewing, what does Chile itself have to offer as a “brand”?
In their article “Country Image in National Umbrella Branding,” Nina Iversen and Leif Heim explain more about what “country image” actually is. They define it as a commonly held “structure of knowledge” about a country that can include widely believed stereotypes, which affect a consumer’s response to products from that particular place. For example, a Swiss-made watch will be perceived as higher-quality than an Australian-made watch, simply because that is what we expect from the Swiss. For countries like Chile, with small populations, relative global anonymity and a penchant for exporting raw materials rather than final consumer goods, capitalizing on this phenomenon is more difficult.
Yet more difficult does not mean impossible. A steadily developing reputation as a solid New World wine producer, as well as an accidental leap to international notoriety with a non-fatal mining accident—and, as some say, any press is good press—means that people worldwide have been talking about Chile. ProChile’s slogan “All Ways Surprising” is not perfect, but at least does try to get the most out of on that “unknown” element of the country at the edge of the map. With no associative equivalent to Argentina’s tango and beef or Peru’s Machu Picchu, Chile resorts instead to what it does best: geographical diversity and a sense of exploration.
Unlike German beer, Russian vodka and Swiss chocolate, Chilean wine has to fend for itself, and earn a loyal consumer base with quality and, yes, a little bit of branding. Wineries would do well to market themselves internationally with stunts like 2005’s Carmenere Adventure, where Chilean wine lover Cristián Muñoz took a 21,000-mile motorcycle trip from Santiago to New York City, three-liter bottle of Carmenere in hand.
Chile may not have the pub scene of England or the wine aristocracy of France, but a country stretching from the Atacama to the Torres del Paine can more than make up for that with the ancient allure of adventure.
Erin Becker, Research and Innovation for Andes Wines, graduated with a degree in literature and creative writing from the University of North Carolina, where she was also co-founder and editor-in-chief of Campus BluePrint magazine and co-founder of an Arts and Cultural Policy think tank.
Andes Wines
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WINE SPECTATOR CARMENERE ADVENTURE HIGHLIGHTS
Wine Spectator, in their “Unfiltered” section, recently highlighted the arrival of Carmenere Adventure 2005 to New York. Cristián Muñoz, who was the driver of the CA 2005, completed the unbelievable trip around the American continent in 77 days, all to promote the Carmenere varietal.
A section of the Spectator article reads: “He made it. Three months and 21,000 miles later, wine fanatic Cristián Muñoz has completed his journey from Santiago to New York on an 1150cc BMW motorcycle, accompanied by a 3-liter bottle of Carmenere. His mission: to raise awareness of Chile’s unique varietal. The journey began on July 4, and finished on Chile’s Independence Day, Sept. 18.”
The Carmenere Adventure 2005 was the first international campaign organized by Andes Wines to promote Chilean wine abroad. The route through the Americas, from Santiago to New York City, was completed singlehandedly by Muñoz, a commercial engineer.
Muñoz presented the emblematic Chilean varietal Carmenere in a series of promotions as he traveled, beginning a new phase of marketing by launching the wine in many of the countries he visited. The Adventure’s mission: that importers, retailers and distributors will begin to look at Chilean wine as a wine with history, passion, and a sense of adventure—a crucial branding for the Chilean product.
The journey of 30,000 kilometers (about 18,650 miles) passed through Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, and many cities in the US. After beginning with optimism on July 4, the “Road Marketing” expedition ended successfully on the intended date, Chile’s national day September 18.
In New York, a group of American motorcyclists escorted Muñoz as he entered the Big Apple, which ensured this “epic journey” would have the visual impact to get Americans talking about this wine.
Once inside the city, the schedule of meetings and visits began with two official photographs, one in front of the Statue of Liberty and the other in Tribeca Grill, the latter with sommelier David Gordon, Jorge Perez, and Thomas Byrnes, owner and president of Tedward Wines Ltd.
Before New York, in Washington D.C. Muñoz had been received by the ambassador of Chile to the U.S., Andrés Bianchi, who gave a clear signal about the importance of this campaign in influencing the country’s image.
Earlier, in Texas, Muñoz had prepared for the last section of this journey, which included more than 8,000 kilometers (about 5000 miles) through the cities of Montgomery, Miami, Atlanta, and finally D.C. and New York.
And there had also been many interesting steps along this way. In the Mexican capital, the magazine “Motociclismo,” together with a motorcycle club, received Muñoz and helped him change his tires and perform the necessary maintenance to carry on to Texas.
Earlier, in Bogota, the motorcyclist was greeted by a special reception. In Maracaibo, Venezuela, he dared to take the Amazon route, which definitely had its ups and downs.
In Brazil, the Carmenere Adventure 2005 had an unforgettable experience. Muñoz participated in interviews for radio and press alongside Daniel Geisse, commercial director of Cave de Amadeu, which is owned by Chilean winemaker Mario Geisse of Colchagua Valley.
In Uruguay, the land of tannat, the motorcyclist visited H. Stagnari Vineyard and together with Jeannie Fontaine, executive producer of Montevideo’s Channel 10, analyzed the importance of this emblematic varietal of Uruguay and the Chilean varietal Carmenere.
And on July 5 in Mendoza, the Carmenere Adventure celebrated its first stop at Argentinean vineyard Tapiz, which hosted a tasting of their wines, like that of the Carmenere of the Aguatierra Vineyard in Limarí Valley.
It’s also necessary to highlight this adventure’s central character: a three-liter bottle of Magnúm Carmenere. The three-liter bottle is the enologist’s chosen method of bottling a wine to ensure great aging potential, due to the smaller oxygen-to-wine ratio.
This bottle accompanied Muñoz throughout his entire journey and was a crucial part of the allure of this campaign, as the first bottle ever to participate in an adventure like this.
As an historic testament, the bottle was signed by important members of the wine world all along the Adventure’s route. In this way, the varietal Carmenere ensured that our country is known as a destination that’s safe, adventurous, and home to top-quality wine thanks to a huge diversity of valleys and terroirs.
For the first time, Chile has developed and pulled off a unique promotion, innovative and with high commercial impact, despite a market crowded with well-known countries like Australia, Spain and South Africa.
Right now Cristian married a wonderful Colombian Girl that met in this incredible adventure and lives in Chile.
The event was sponsored by Revista America Economía y Vendimia
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WEEKLY WORLDWIDE WINE REPORT III
Weekly Worldwide Wine Report
8 August to 12 August
The continued instability in the US economy is likely to slow the country’s wine consumption. Imported wines are especially vulnerable; Australian wine already experienced a decline of 12.5% in the last year.
New legislation will allow wineries to host events and tastings on property that is zoned as exclusive farm-use land, and allow large wineries to have restaurants on their land if they meet certain requirements. Some smaller wineries complain this legislation will hurt them while favoring bigger businesses.
Ren Acquisition Inc., owned in part by billionaire Alejandro Pedro Bulgheroni and Argentine wine name Carlos Pulenta, will purchase the financially troubled California winery for $6.95 million.
The sale of Landmark Vineyards has launched a tumultuous dispute about who originally founded the vineyard. Both the Mabry family and the Calhoun family, descended from the Deere family of John Deere, claim status as the founding family of the vineyard.
The North Coast farm industry, which relies heavily on the labor of both legal and illegal immigrants, is concerned about a new proposal by Congress Republicans, which would require employers to electronically verify their immigration status. Farm and vineyards owners are calling for an ag-jobs program to bring legal workers from Mexico to be implemented alongside this proposal.
According to Luis Michel Liger-Belair, president of the Union of Burgundy Grands Crus, 5% of makers had been using machines, and were giving the rest a bad image. The law only applies to the five monopoles, but is expected to set an example for smaller producers.
New York Senator Charles Schumer reported new simplifications in the currently complex label-approval process for wines in New York. Sometimes taking months to approve new or slightly altered labels, the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau has said they will streamline their process.
—–Consumer
U.S. Wine Consumption Continues to Increase
Believed to be related to the improving economy, wine consumption in the U.S. increased 2.1% in 2010, reports the Beverage Information Group. This growth is aided by consumers also returning to dining out more often.
As demand for fine wine as a sign of social status grows in China, a counterfeit vintage wine market has surged. Demand for French wines and Bordeaux is especially high, and there is now more Lafite 82 in China than was actually produced by the winery.
Jose Pizarro, Spanish chef who recently opened a tapas and sherry bar, is opening a Cava bar in London that will focus on introducing the UK market to quality Cava and Spanish food beyond tapas.
Eric Asimov says it is not the packaging but what’s inside that has been a problem: the bag-in-a-box method is ingenious, but most boxed wine in the US has been of low quality. Asimov says this is changing, and notes especially Wineberry Boxes of Wineberry America and From the Tank of Jenny & Francois Selections.
Vintner can teach bureaucrats a thing or two about wine
Don Cayo of the Vancouver Sun defends boxed wine, despite the fact that any wine that’s boxed in B.C. will lose its quality certification. He especially underscores the value of boxed wine for consumers, who can choose the amount they want to drink without oxidation worries, and also notes the lower greenhouse gas consumption of boxes versus bottles.
—–Events
Eighth international Cool Climate Symposium
Jancis Robinson reports that registration is now open for the Cool Climate Symposium for Viticulture and Oenology, where academics and winemakers from the US, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the Netherlands, and France will meet in Tasmania to discuss theory, opinion, and research on cool climate vineyards.
Ind. wines win 223 medals in Indy wine competition
While Indiana wines won 54 gold medals and 223 overall, the top prize in the Indiana festival’s competition went to a 2009 Riesling from Wilamette Valley Vineyards in Oregon. For the second year in a row, California’s E&J Gallo Winery won winery of the year.
—–Blogosphere
Insider’s picks from the Wine Bloggers Conference
Foggy Ridge Serious Cider, which must have been refreshing in the sweltering heat at Monticello, and Barboursville Vineyards’ inaugural bottling of Vermentino (a native Sardinian grape) were among the favorites of bloggers who congregated in Charlottesville.
Andrew Jeffords of Decanter believes that wine critics should be allowed, and encouraged, to give a wine a bad review if deserved. He suggests that blind tastings are the best method for doing this, so that no critics can be accused of favoritism or bias.
Compiled by Erin Becker, Research and Innovation at AndesWines.com
andes@andeswines.com
twitter: @andeswines
CHILEANS STUDYING WINE AND TERROIR ABROAD
There are many professional Chileans that are always searching for new work opportunities. This is the reason that some decide to study abroad and specialize in diverse themes relating to wine, in order to return and contribute their newly acquired knowledge. We interviewed three students studying in New Zealand and South Africa. A fourth had already returned and gone to Campus Chillán to study at the University of Concepción’s enology program. Here is our interview with Patricio Mejias, Ignacio Serra and Leonardo Erazo.
AndesWines.com Exclusive
Patricio Mejias Barrera
Right now, Patricio is studying for four years for a PhD at Lincoln University in New Zealand, in the south of Christchurch, a city in the south island. He highlights that the university has its own vineyard and winery, where they conduct tests for the pre and post-grad theses. What’s more, the university has a direct link to vineyards located throughout New Zealand. It has a world-class faculty, who almost all have PhDs or another post-doctorate degree in either viticulture or enology. Its programs include both the PhD and a Master of Horticultural Science.
Why New Zealand? What does it offer, in comparison to the US or Australia?
I decided to study in New Zealand for many reasons. New Zealand, despite being an island, has many similarities to Chile from the winemaking point of view. The quality of life here is enviable (6th to 7th best standard of living in the world) and this is a very important factor when deciding to study outside Chile. The greatest difference that tipped the balance in my decision to continue my studies at Lincoln University was that it’s the first school in the English-speaking world exclusively dedicated to cold-weather viticulture research and instruction. Here, the universities aren’t a “potpourri” of careers and specialties like in Chile. Each is dedicated to their own field in an almost exclusive manner and Lincoln is the viticulture specialist. Lincoln is a pioneer at the world level in cold weather viticulture research. When you read articles related to the topic in Chile or the rest of the world, usually one or more of the authors are from this university. Studying here, you have the possibility to converse and discuss with the scholars that, from Chile, seemed distant and unreachable. The concept of a demigod scholar who won’t receive anybody doesn’t exist here; to the contrary, the people who have achieved the most academically are often the ones most interested in conversing with you.
The difference with the rest of the world’s viticulture schools is a big topic, complicated to explain. Everything depends on your professional focus. I like the winemaking on the ground, with my feet in the mud. Lincoln is the best school for this. If you like, for example, studying the genome of the grapevine, American schools are the best for this.
Australia has a great difference from Chile or New Zealand—the climate. The winemaking zone in Australia is warm compared to both countries, which made it a less attractive option for studying. The global trend of growing in cold areas, with a winegrowing almost nonexistent 30 years ago transforming into a modern and respected viticulture now, makes New Zealand the country for studying cold weather viticulture. Incidentally, the country has other problems with respect to the traditional kind of winegrowing and therefore has different cultivation techniques. On the other hand, the Spanish and French schools are more traditional, and in those there’s not much of a place for innovation or new techniques.
What is your principal challenge in returning to Chile? Do you think finding a job will be easier because of your studies? And what area do you think you’ll work in?
I still don’t have a plan for when I return, because there’s still a lot of time between now and then. The biggest challenge is to try to contribute to the development of the Chilean industry in viticulture topics that are still nebulous or sort of like shooting in the dark. We have worked a lot with trial and error and this process must be fine-tuned a bit.
Contributing to successful, already-consolidated projects is another way to return, but as I said, it is still a long ways away. I don’t know which will be the career path I take within the field when I return. Right now, I haven’t made any promises to companies or institutions in Chile, which gives me peace of mind since I can sit down and talk to any player in the industry and decide late which path to follow.
In addition, New Zealand is a country that has been built on the recruitment of foreign talent. I’ve been told that after you arrive you soon begin to get offers for you to stay. Therefore, my future is uncertain. Right now I am dedicated to studying, to making wine, and of course, drinking it.
Leonardo Erazo
Leonardo, for his part, is focused on the study of terroir. He told us that, with his studies, it is necessary to integrate various specific areas of viticulture and winemaking, with the eventual goal of understanding zoning. To achieve this, he must understand many different disciplines.
Tell us more about your studies in South Africa.
The collaboration between professors of soil, climate, of the understanding of the physiology of different cultivars, of the resulting composition of the berry at harvest time and even more interaction between all these factors requires, of course, a huge cooperative effort. My thesis, in conjunction with two other students, plus with the support of various specialists, formed part of a project to begin to zoning of an area of the western cape of South Africa. My part was to focus on the important properties of the soil that affect the root’s growth in this area and its influence on the plant’s vigor, as well as the consequences for the sugar accumulation on the berry.
The project was let by Dr. Victoria Carey and co-supervised by Prof. Alain Deloire, within the viticulture and enology department in the University of Stellenbosch, in Stellenbosch, South Africa.
Why did you decide to study in South Africa? What does it offer in comparison to the US or Australia?
The differences in potential of each different association between soil, crop and climate, for determining certain styles of wine, is a subject I’m passionate about. As for zoning in both South Africa and France, scientific efforts have been made for a long time, and from different approaches and degrees of collaboration, in order to understand these complex interrelationships.
In South Africa, particularly in the last 80 years, there has been a lot of emphasis put on the soil-root system. A strong soil department and its proximity to the department of Viticulture and Enology has resulted in important achievements having to do with the relationship between the root and the vine and the properties of the soil. This added to the efforts of Bonnardot and Carey, whose work has determined the zoning of the Stellenbosch area.
My arrival in South Africa was the fruit of something that started with a great curiosity, and later meeting Dr. Victoria Carey made up my mind. After one year working in New Zealand, I went to South Africa to join the study team she was leading and to begin my studies.
The comparison with other countries is going to depend primarily in the research of the scholars at each university. In Australia, the U.S. (California), and Germany there are very good universities, but they don’t focus strongly on many areas of viticulture and enology. The choice of university is determined by the interest of each person.
What will be your biggest challenge when returning to Chile?
Chile has already begun a very important process determined by the challenge of discovering new areas, a process that has been initiated by the current generation of enologists, professors and consultants, a concept that should be continues and consolidated by our generation that is now entering the industry. But another big challenge that remains will be to promote zoning that’s more specifically based in climate and terrain criteria. This will be supported by all the sectors of Chilean winemaking, including the universities, governmental departments, and the wineries.
This process should include many new cultivars, just as it highlights the importance of conserving traditional grapes, the wine heritage of Chile. A viticulture of 500 years has created a huge vineyard estate in our country and this must be rescued and rediscovered, a challenge of our time to enhance to diversity of Chilean wine. This growing diversity promises to be the greatest tool for making our country stand out.
Ignacio Serra
Tell us what you’re studying in South Africa.
I arrived in South Africa in 2008. First I got my master’s in viticulture, studying the roots of the vine. Now I am working to get my Doctorate in Viticulture, researching efficient use of water in the Department of Viticulture and Enology (DVO), in the faculty of AgriSciences in the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa.
Why did you decided on South Africa? What does it offer in comparison to the U.S. or Australia? What scholarship did you receive?
First, I was interested in the work that was developing in terroir. Also, I liked the idea that it was a less traditional destination, which made the challenge more interesting. What’s more, when I arrived I realized that the famous “Flying Wine Doctor” Richard Smart received the title DScAgric in Viticulture in this university. I also realized that South Africa was the country that began the research on the relationship between the growth and function of the aerial part of the vine, the development of the root system and the soil properties.
The U.S. and Australia both have excellent universities where you can study enology or viticulture. Nevertheless, one of the positive aspects of Stellenbosch is that within the same department, you have groups that study viticulture and enology as well as an Institute of Wine Biotechnology. This means that in the same physical location there’s an interdisciplinary group, which can confront winemaking problems from the production of the grapes to the wine, including looking at a molecular level.
South Africa is a country where many different cultures coexist and is also visited by many people from all over the world, which makes it easier to learn, build relationships, and make friends that last over time. What’s more, this country is privileged with the flora and fauna it has. In the vineyards, I found chameleons, baboons, porcupines, small deer and even a caracal (a cat similar to the bobcat), to name a few.
I came to study with the support of a scholarship from the Ministry of Education, through MECESUP from the program MECESUP2, and also with the support of the University of Concepción and the University of Stellenbosch.
What is your principal challenge in returning to Chile? Tell us more about how what you’re studying will serve you.
I think that the viticulture and enology areas will face a big challenge in transforming the areas of Bio Bio, Itata and Aracanía into quality wine producing regions, in a sustainable manner that respects the environment as well as achieving its economic goals. Obviously, these objectives can only be achieved with the cooperation and work of the producers, the regional governments, and the research institutes.
To achieve these goals, I hope to be able to apply what I’ve learned about the efficient use of water to design strategies that will develop the viticulture in a context that is more challenging due to the effects of climate change. To confront these challenges, we have to use all our creativity and work in groups that integrate people with different capacities and visions. I think that the multicultural and interdisciplinary environment in the University of Stellenbosch has helped me in this sense.
Terroir and Wine Technology Center in Bio Bio
Leonardo Erazo, who has already arrived in Chillán, is focused on the Terroir and Wine Technology Center, and Ignacio Serra will soon arrive to give its progress another boost. The aims of the center are to establish technical criteria for the management of vineyards in cool climates, to study and characterize terroir in the Bio Bio region, and also to assess the suitability of different strains and clones to the climate of south central Chile.
Andes Wines joined this challenge with the Faculty of Agronomy of the University of Concepción, Chillán Campus, with the support of Dean Raúl Cerda and economics professor Dr. Alejandro Chandía.
ENDURANCE HORSE TRAINING IN CURACAVI
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IN THE SKI CENTER
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THE ROAD FROM VALPARAÍSO TO MENDOZA
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THREE TIER SYSTEM IN THE US: US DRINKS CONFERENCE
Wines of Chile recently held the “U.S. Drinks Conference in Chile.” The initiative has been one of the most sensible and useful discourses in the wine industry since the financial crisis of 2008.
John Beaudette, Mike Ginley and Steve Ray, the first round of speakers, provided a foundation for understanding the U.S. market. They talked about the history of wine and the consumer, based on hard numbers about the growth, strengths and challenges within today’s market. In the afternoon, a group of five different North American importers—Sarah Lanzen, Johann Meissenheimer, Glenn Albright, Brad Ish and Cesar Bistue—shared their experiences and what they had learned during their time in Chile. They called for all those in the industry to write a story of success, together.
The complex story of U.S. legislation concerning wine, alcohol and tobacco began in 1933 after a series of regulatory laws. The government established a federal regulation entity, now known by the acronym TTB. This group established the precedent of having only three to four main players in wine marketing. Today, the most important thing to note about regulation is that, because of the large cuts expected in the government’s budget, all export formalities should be cautiously completed in advance. The change in label approval procedures will be particularly significant.
It’s crucial to understand there are three types of states in the U.S where wine regulation is concerned. While designing and export plan of action, a company must understand clearly the requirements of every state where they’re sending their wine and what steps they must follow. It’s because of this that the choice of and relationship with the importer is so important. The importer is the guide who helps foreign companies understand the regulations of each specific market. The importer becomes the vineyard’s eyes, ears and hands. Working together and, above all, continuity is what will make for a fruitful relationship.
One of the biggest lessons of the financial crisis has been the large number of vineyards that abandoned their importers and closed their commercial offices in the U.S. This has translated into an interruption in the continuity of the market exposure of many brands. The saying “out of sight, out of mind” has proved itself true, not only in relation to the consumer but also the strength of a brand’s sales. A Brand Ambassador can absorb these changes by establishing links to both sales channels and consumers.
The U.S. is the number one country in consumption (though the Vatican is still holding out as the leader of consumption per capita.) Yet being the leading market in consumption and concentrating 25% of the wine consumers throughout the world doesn’t necessarily mean you are the leader in average price or sophistication. The highest-selling wine in the U.S. is boxed Franzia. Santa Margherita, too, is noteworthy: thanks to a millionaire media investment, profits grew 52.3% from 2009 to 2010.
The countries that lead in importing are: Italy, Australia, Chile, France, Argentina and Spain. The year 2010 saw 137 new imported wines. During the first quarter of 2011, Chile has shown a growth of 20% in volume and 25% in value.
The question we’re all asking is: what is the consumer looking for right now? If we base our answer on both retail and restaurant sales, the answer is, in this order: price, variety and origin.
The current consumer in the U.S. breaks down into one percent that are well-educated in wine, and another 99% that may attempt to read the label correctly. Only 50% of U.S. citizens have a passport, which brings us to the small percentage that will ever visit South America or Chile. To talk about origin today is a luxury. The focus is instead on the critical mass. How are we going to invest our time and money in this market, open a dialogue about wine and—ideally—build loyalty to our brands?
The message of the importers was very clear. They sell the first bottle, but they need the vineyard-supplier to sell the second. How to achieve this? Market presence, which will involve tastings, educating consumers and, finally, building a brand. How we invest, who runs the company, how we get returns and how much we get: these are all valid questions. And it’s been proven that working with a Brand Ambassador facilitates the growth and strengthening of the brand, which will aid in all aspects of building a loyal consumer base.
Today’s consumer looks for luxury brands and products and a fun new experience. Despite country and varietal trends, Chile’s prevailing benefit is the level of confidence it inspires. Our greatest difference from our neighboring country is the consumer’s confidence in us. An uncertain future influenced by changing price structures and the concentration of large wine groups, as well as the troubling volatility of the stock market, has not yet shown its colors. Careful preparation is more useful than panic.
What is certain is that today, when we want to participate in the largest market in the world—and therefore the most competitive—we need a clear strategy and a steady direction. This is one of the oldest businesses in the world. Just as always, it’s crucial to be accurate, authentic and committed, not only to the product but also to all those involved in the marketing chain. Today, the industry looks for capable professionals who can generate elite-level messages and links to the wine’s turnover in its major sales outlets.
Written by
Pamela Villablanca
International Director
Translated by Erin Becker
Research and Innovation
AndesWines.com
Andes Wines
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WEEKLY WORLDWIDE WINE REPORT II
Erin Becker, our Research and Innovation Consultant prepared the global review of wine news around the world.
Weekly Worldwide Wine Report
Week of: 25 July to 29 July
—- Business
Foster’s does not rule out takeover talks with SABMiller
Australian brew company Foster’s didn’t rule out selling to SABMiller, although they did say the offer of $10.4 billion was too low to even discuss. CEO John Pollaers rejected SABMiller’s initial offer and instead says Foster’s is focusing on restoring their position in a declining Australian beer market.
Napa-based ‘flash’ website sells world’s wines at discount
Cory Wagner of Napa founded Last Bottle, a website that sells wineries’ excess wines at steep discounts in 24 hours or less, and says the purpose of his company is “moving large amounts of wine, quietly.”
New York’s wine industry growing, but faces challenges
Despite rapid growth and a solid #2 placement in wine-producing states (with California far ahead, producing 90% of US wine), producers believe business can improve, and are looking for ways to enhance their image and garner national and international respect. They are also lobbying to make it legal to sell wine in grocery stores in New York.
Mollydooker withdrew its press release, which had said over $1 million of wine had been smashed in a forklift accident, saying a revised release will be issued later.
Calistoga in Napa Valley is considering requiring that 75 perfect of the grapes used by a winery must be grown in Napa County, which would echo the area’s decades-old Winery Definition Ordinance.
After two months of hail and extreme heat in the Douro Valley, port producers report damaged berries and sunburned plants. They say that though yield will be down, the quality of what is produced should remain the same.
Ray Walker is the first American (and African-American) to make Le Chambertin, although he had never drunk one before making his own. With small finances, no connections and very little experience, he successfully began a small winemaking business, Maison Ilan, in the Cote de Nuits. The notoriously insular Burgundy community has been welcoming and helpful to this passionate, self-taught outsider.
Christian Vanneque, a French collector and restaurateur, bought the 200-year-old Sauternes, one of the most famous “Comet vintages” (harvested in the year of the Great Comet of 1811), from the Antique Wine Company. The bottle is now the most expensive white wine in the world.
Wine Matches Beer in U.S. Drinker’s Preferences This Year
Researchers in the Group of Sensors and Biosensors at the Universtat Autonoma de Barcelona created an electronic tongue that can differentiate between wines by analyzing the sugar content. It also has the ability to learn and train to identify new properties.
Many companies are hiring sommeliers to train their employees in how to make good wine selections when dining out with clients, partially to keep them from purchasing the most expensive wine on the company credit card.
—–Events
The ‘Los Angeles Times and Food & Wine’s The Taste’ Announces Its Lineup of Industry Panels, Tastemaker Interviews and Culinary Talks
The September series of events will include LA Times food editor Russ Parsons, wine experts Belinda Chang and Justin Warner, chefs Roy Choi, Sang Yoon, Jet Tila and Mario Alberto, among others.
This festival will be held on the coast in New Jersey this weekend, and its hosts include the Food Network, Caesar’s Atlantic City, Harrah’s Resort, Bally’s and Showboat.
Richard Jennings’ critique of the Virginia wine conference questions the percent of the program spent promoting sponsor wines, and starts a discussion on the merits and flaws of the current conference format.
Top 10 Takeaways From the Wine Bloggers Conference
Mary Orlin of the Huffington Post shares what she learned at the VA conference, including that Viognier is the grape of choice for the best VA wines, and that Twitter is perhaps becoming useless in the wine blogging world.
—- Business
Treasury wine appeal wanes as strong Aussie threatens $585 mil hit
The strong Australian dollar may cause Treasury Wine Estates to lower the stated book value of its assets by up to $585 million, dramatically lessening to price potential buyers would be prepared to pay for the company. Foster’s group declared that for every 1 cent rise in the Australian dollar against the pound or the US dollar, the company’s assets fell by $45 million.
US winemakers see trouble fermenting in Ontario election
US vintners are closely watching the Canada election for signs that politicians would give Canadian vintners an unfair advantage on foreign rivals with alcohol sale reform. Conservative candidate Tim Hudak would increase market access for wines made from 100% Ontario grapes.
Dan Jago, head of Tesco beer said that despite consumer demand, the number of wines in the under-£5 price range is getting smaller. He still wants to use promotions to introduce new consumers to wine, but they may be in the form of Clubcard points, rather than cheap prices.
France loses US market share but is most discussed online
Over the last year, France’s share of the US market has fallen significantly, while Argentina, New Zealand, and Germany have gone up. Despite this, France continues to generate more online “buzz” and conversations than any other wine region. Chile, Argentina, Spain and Portugal also generate more buzz in proportion to their sales.
Sim Staples, who is the sales and marketing director for Berry Bros & Rudd, spoke out in defense of high Bordeaux 2010 pricing at a recent tasting. When asked about the mass of UK consumers priced out of the market, Staples said, “That’s life.” Summary of price surge here
The agreement will re-open long-haul trucking between the U.S. and Mexico and should have a boosting effect on California agricultural exports. The U.S. hopes this will be followed by a decrease in grape tariffs in Mexico, which were increased from 0 to 45% in retaliation to the cancelation of a pilot program to allow Mexican trucks into the U.S.
Rexam believes that canned wine could be appealing to a younger crowd, especially for outdoor events. A UK survey of 1000 showed 58% of 18-34 year olds were keen on the idea.
—–Winemaking
Millions of California wine bottles now certified with SIP seal
The SIP, or Sustainability in Practice seal, means that CA consumers can select wines made from grapes grown my eco-conscious, community-minded grape growers. The criteria addresses both human and natural resources.
Wine Spectator is rating CA’s 2009 Pinot Noirs and, due to the near-perfect growing season of the 2009 year, more than 50% have already been ranked “outstanding.”
Winemakers are increasingly monitoring for climate change, though Terry Hall, spokesman for a Napa Valley vintners group, emphasized that there is no indication that climate change has affected the area’s wine. Due to a geographical quirk, higher temperatures in the regional could eventually make Napa Valley cooler, affecting grape growth.
John Bonné of the San Francisco Chronicle thinks CA vintners should: take white wine seriously; stop establishing so many American Viticultural Areas; “let the Pinot thing go”; redefine the estate; and simplify.
Decanter columnist Andrew Jefford says natural winemakers should still use some sulphur dioxide. Decanter will feature a 6-page spread on natural wine in its September issue.
—- Consumer
Wine alcohol strength ‘systematically’ understated on labelling
A study of 129,000 wines has revealed many vintners deliberately market wine as less alcoholic than it is; the average alcohol content was 13.6%, while the average reported strength was 13.1%. Bottles from Chile, Argentina and the US were the worst offenders.
Raymond Vineyards loves Raymonds; resveratrol good for sedentary people; more wine crime
Anyone named Raymond can join a free club at Raymond Vineyards that gives them free wine tastings, a $1 half-bottle of Raymond Cabernet, and an invitation to a Raymond-only annual barbecue. An American journal published a study saying sedentary rats given resveratrol, a chemical in red wine, did not experience negative side effect likes their counterparts did; and the winery Terroir Al Limit in Spain was vandalized.
The San Francisco Chronicle reviewed boxed wine. Whites fared better than reds, and recommended wines include: 2009 Big House Cardinal Zin Beastly Old Vines California Zinfandel; 2009 Black Box Central Coast Shiraz; 2010 La Petite Frog Coteaux du Languedoz Picpoul de Pinet; and 2010 Trinchero Family Estates Wine Cube California Sauvignon Blanc.
I don’t want to get involved; that’s why I drink rosé
Wine Spectator columnist Matt Kramer defends the subtly and simplicity of this oft-chagrined wine, and especially recommends Spanish rosado made from the Grenache grape, and Italian rosés, as excellent wines for the summer.
Grape variety hits number 1 slot consumer wine choice
For the first time in three years, grape variety is one of the first factors UK consumers use when purchasing a wine, according to a Wine Intelligence report. Shortly after the financial crisis, promotions had become more important than variety.
—–Events
National Wine Month UK 2012 to kick off with major event
Ian Harris, chief executive of the Wine & Spirit Education trust, said the 2012 campaign would be launched at a stakeholder meeting later this month. A celebrity—not a wine personality—will “start the ball rolling earlier” to allow major retailers to plan ahead.
The men of Vinexpo, France’s biannual wine bonanza
France just wrapped up the biannual Vinexpo, which is calling itself the world’s leading wine exhibition. There were 50,000 attendees. BlackBook interviews some notable attendees, including the mayor of Bordeaux, who, with Philippe Massol, is soon opening a wine culture and tourism center in his city.
—–Blogosphere
When a wine fails to age, who’s to blame?
Robert Parker, leading US wine critic, suggested that synthetic cork producers could have liability issues if the closure is the cause of a wine failing to age. DrVino.com hosts a discussion on the matter.
Facebook campaign for natural cork reaches more than 50,000 fans
Coverage of the 100% Cork campaign has also reached 60 million in circulation by the media. Campaign aims to education consumers about the benefits of natural corks.
Week of: 18 July to 22 July
—- Business
Napa Valley Wine Never Cheaper as Buyers Circle Foster’s Spinoff
Treasury Wine Estates Ltd. is selling at less than 80 cents on the dollar, and earnings have fallen in the past two years due to lower demand and the Australian dollar’s growth.
Sparklingenglishwine.com was launched this week to showcase high-quality English sparkling wine. The site will vet producers through blind tastings, and will provide a place for smaller producers to market their wine without creating their own marketing team.
Bankers talk of farmland bubble, but jury still out
As farmland values continue to soar, some bankers are worried a bubble similar to that of the 1980s could be forming. Yet, a healthy agriculture economy may signal this time is different.
South Africa, in a new wine marketing initiative, wants to demonstrate the country’s quality and diversity of wines in the premium sector. The initiative includes a retail sampling promotion in various small chain restaurants, store and gastropubs, and will begin next week.
New Zealand vineland value drops 60%, but no takers
Though NZ vineyard prices have significantly fallen the last four years, the market remains stagnant, and some vineyards have been on the market for eight or more years.
—-Winemaking
Oops! Forklift smashes $1M worth of Australian wine
Sparky Marquis of Mollydooker Wines is “gut-wrenched, shocked and numb” after losing more than $1 million of his Velvet Glove shiraz in a forklift accident that destroyed all but one of the 462 cases to be exported to the US. The wine was insured.
Andrew Jefford, after visiting Clos de Tart and noting the vintner’s humility, reflects on how winemakers in places like Burgundy can rely on modesty, while developing vineyards in newer wine regions must have courage and determination.
San Francisco Wine School Approved by Society of Wine Educators
The San Francisco Wine School (SFWS) was launched in the Bay Area by Master Sommelier David Glancy to help meet the growing demand for higher education in wine.
Million-acre Argentinean estate for sale, vine potential in doubt
Savills Estate Agents are offering the Estancia Punta del Agua in San Juan for £6 per acre, and with two rivers and 300 days of sunshine, government agronomists have said it would be suitable for vines. But Alejandro Sejanovich, consultant winemaker and owner of the Manos Negras winery, also in San Juan, says a water analysis is necessary, and thinks the land would only produce low-quality grapes.
—–Consumer
Are Italian Wine or Swiss Chocolate Really Better? A Revealing Taste Test
The experiments of Keith Wilcox and colleagues at Babson College showed that people like wine better when they are told it is from Italy, and chocolate better when they are told it is from Switzerland.
Restaurant Wine Programs Earn Mixed Reviews in Consumer Study by Sommelier Journal
Sommeliers, service and restaurant wine received mostly good reviews, but wine pricing, by-the-glass programs and staff wine advice received poor reviews in a study by Sommelier Journal. Other notable areas include a strong desire for notes on wine lists and pairings built into the food menu.
A UK committee wants to find out what the government’s guidelines of a maximum regular 2-3 drinks per day for women and 3-4 drinks per day for men are really based on.
—–Events
Coppola to speak at WineFuture conference in Hong Kong
Francis Ford Coppola will speak at the November conference, in addition to other speakers including Robert Parker, Jancis Robinson and James Suckling. Coppola’s speech will address his restoration of his Napa Valley estate, which he is re-naming to honor its historic name Inglenook.
Virginia Welcomes National Wine Bloggers Conference
This weekend, 330 US wine bloggers will travel to Charlottesville, VA for a three-day symposium including wine tastings, winery visits and discussions on the wine industry and its relationship to new forms of media. Special guest speakers are Eric Asimov, chief wine critic for the New York Times, and Jancis Robinson, Master of Wine.
—–Blogosphere
Passion and Knowledge at the Wine Bloggers Conference
Tom Wark reflects about the passionate people he is meeting at the conference in Charlottesville, and gives some advice to prospective wine bloggers: start with great content, post frequently, use all forms of media, write for consumers, and promote.
Erin Becker
Research and Innovation
AndesWines.com
Andes Wines
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WINE INVESTMENT CIRCLE IN CHILE
Enjoy the photos of the launching of Wine Investment Circle of Andes Wines. The event was sponsored by Revista City, Revista Platos & Copas, Atton el Bosque, Tuesday Santiago, Blue Company, Nirvino.cl, Labuenavida.cl y Boldlab.com
In a report focusing on the Chilean wine sector, Rabobank reported that Chilean wine exports seem healthy, with bottled wine exports up 17% and pricing up 7% during the first four months of 2011, as compared to those same months of last year.
While U.S. fine wine auction prices, as measured by the Wine Spectator index, dropped slightly in the second quarter of 2011, Hong Kong auction profits continue to soar, with the second 2011 quarter in Hong Kong increasing 80% over its corresponding quarter in 2010.
Paul Craven, who had been selling non-existent Bordeaux through Bordeaux Wine Trading Ltd, was convicted by Saint Albans Crown Court in a unanimous verdict. He had been spending investors’ money on cars, Cartier watches, luxurious vacations and cocaine.
A columnist says that though farmland investing is “hot” in the US right now, the business can be volatile and not always as profitable as predicted. If commodity prices were to decline, it could become a replay of the troublesome times of the farm crisis in the 1980s.
Oregon wine industry nearly doubles in four years, to $2.7 billion
The wine business of Oregon adapted to a recessionary economy and managed to almost double its contribution to the state economy over the last four years. Now the wine grape has become the state’s leading value-added crop.
CellarPass Reservations up 250%, Consumer Traffic up 63%
CellarPass, a major company allowing consumers to book and share Napa Valley wine country tour experiences, has announced record numbers of reservations for appointments booked in April-May 2011. Their new Concierge Interface has become increasingly popular with hospitality professionals.
—-Winemaking
Congress’s Man of the Vines, Including His Own
The New York Times wonders whether Representative Mike Thompson, Democrat of California, has a conflict of interest as both a winemaker and a legislator, as he grows 20 acres of sauvignon blanc in Napa. Thompson denies the claim, as he made only $18,000 in profits from his small vineyard in 2010.
At Kenya’s only commercial vineyard, Leleshwa, manager James Farquharson is trying to produce a quality wine at high altitude and almost on the Equator. The wine is described as “light,” “summery,” and “Kenyan,” and is selling locally for around $6 USD a bottle.
Oldest known wine-making facility found in Armenia
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-12158341
Archeologists say they have discovered the world’s oldest winemaking facility, in Armenia, complete with a wine press, grape seeds, dozens of dried vines and fermentation jars from 6,000 years ago. The seeds were vitis vinifera vinifera, the same type of grapes still used in winemaking today.
Global warming could significantly alter the US premium wine industry within 30 years, say Stanford scientists
Increasing temperatures could alter the climate of California winegrowing regions and hurt the quality of the harvests within in the next 30 years, says a new study by Stanford climate scientists. Premium grape-growing areas in Northern California could shrink by 50% by 2040 due to a possible two degrees Fahrenheit temperature increase, according to the study.
SAC Packaging and Design launches new post pack
http://www.winebiz.com.au/dwn/details.asp?ID=5600
The first completely recycled, environmentally friendly, re-usable post pack, for use by cellar doors and retailers, was launched this week by SAC packaging and design.
—–Consumer
Jefford on Monday: Understanding Young Palates
Andrew Jefford of Decanter discusses how tastes change as we age, and decides that Merlot and Tempranillo are the best grape varieties for younger wine-drinkers who may not appreciate bitter or active-extract flavors. He asks for reader input on the topic.
Portugal remains faithful to domestically grown grapes while other European countries look to international varieties. Jon Bonné of the San Francisco Chronicle recommends Granadeiro Tapado do Barao and Quinta da Pellada Saes.
The Miami Herald says that Merlot, as the “other” red wine, goes better with the “other” white meats like roast pig or pork chops. It is the “wine of moderation,” and this column recommends Bonterra Merlot, Shafer Merlot, and La Jota Vineyard Merlot.
The UK has experienced one of its few wine successes of recent years with growth in the sale of pink wines. According to Jancis Robinson, rosé is now a “valid” wine style, and Provence makes the best of any region.
Dan Berger of the Napa Valley Register says we are serving our wines at the wrong temperatures. Reds should be slightly cooler than room temperature, since often rooms can actually be quite hot; whites should not be kept in the same fridge as produce cold, as it makes them too cold; and rosés should not be too hot, nor too cold.
The Homemakers Wine Event will be held July 16 in St. Helena, a tasting of the wine of 50-60 home winemakers, which has been called a hearkening back to old Napa Valley. It is the event’s 29th year.
—–Blogosphere
Being Proud of Your Country’s Wine Doesn’t Mean Anything if You Don’t Drink It
Vinography laments the decrease in French wine consumption over the last two generations, and worries about its implications for the French wine industry.
Erin Becker
Research and Innovation
andes@andeswines.com
(56) 2-3702997
twitter: @andeswines.com
WINE UNIVERSITY NETWORK TO BE LAUNCHED
In an effort to index all theses and studies related to viticulture and oenology worldwide, the marketing company AndesWines.com calls for all professionals with viticulture degrees and universities with wine-related programs to become part of the Wine University Network. This unreleased international registry began developing last year, and is now earning its place as a crucial database for the integration of all institutions and entities with wine-related programs. Its goal is to generate an improved exchange of information and strategies, for the benefit of all involved.
The WUN will create opportunities for the development of new studies and research that will easily transfer to all aspects of the wine business. Rather than remaining in University libraries, these studies will influence the industry at large, efficiently and profoundly.
This week, AndesWines made contact with all Latin American universities that have programs in agronomy and oenology. Next week, the company will continue its mission by contacting programs in Europe, the U.S., and Oceania.
The thesis summaries will be published in their original language in http://www.andeswines.com. When published, the site will become the first online registry of winemaking and wine research, all freely available to participating members.
To participate in the site, researchers must send a Word document with a summary or abstract of their findings (2 pages or less), including their name, e-mail, degree and university to andes@andeswines.com.
The countries invited to participate are: the U.S., Canada, Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, France, Italy, Spain, Greece and Portugal.
Erin Becker
Innovation & Research
Andes Wines
andes@andeswines.com
(56) 2-3702997
twitter: @andeswines.com
RESULTS OF THE CHILEAN BEER & DRINKS EXPERIENCE
Thirty-four Chilean and four non-Chilean artisan beers were put to the test in the “Chilean Beer & Drinks Experience” on June 28. The judging process and awards ceremony aimed to demonstrate Chile’s potential as a powerful producer of craft brews.
The judging panel included many names from the beer world: Daniel Trivelli of Maltexco, Franco Alarcón, sommelier with a specialization in beer, Antonio Aravena of the magazine Alma Cerveza, Jaime Ojeda of conespuma.com, Lucie Drahosava, head of Cervecera Checa, and John Holl, U.S. columnist specializing in beer and other drinks, who has written for a wide range of publications, including Ale Street News, Beer Connoisseur Magazine, craftbeer.com, and BeerBriefing.com, as well as working as the beer correspondent for the New York Times.
The results were:
LAGER DIVISION
1. Austral Lager
2. Volcanes del Sur
PALE ALE DIVISION
1. Austral Pale Ale
2. Rock Classic
3. Guayacan
BOCK CATEGORY
1. Kobold
2. Volcanes del Sur Chocolate Bock
HONORABLE MENTIONS
Kross Abby Ale, golden strong ale
Austral Calafate, fruit beer
Cerveza Leyenda British Bitter
Tubinger Honey Ale
BEST NON-CHILEAN
Holsten Festbock
With the Twitter topic #chileanbeerexperience and @andeswines and the participation of attendants, the event generated a real-time discussion about the Beer Experience, which spread information about the entire community of Chilean craft beers. Among the highlights of the social media participation were Mariana Martinez, journalist from the well known Planetavino.com, food writer Rodrigo Martines, and Tatiana Hirsh of the magazine Platos & Copas.
The participating beers were: Desertica (Antofagasta), Vaguada Costera (San Antonio), Kona, Volcanes del Sur, Austral (Punta Arenas), Quimera, Kobold (Quintero), Kross (Curacaví), Kunstmann (Valdivia), Rock, Yungay, Bundor (Valdivia), Cervecera del Puerto (Valparaíso), Guayacan (Valle de Elqui), Insular (Isla Robinson Crusoe), Leyenda and Tubinger.
As part of the Artisan Beer Strategic Plan, initiated by Andes Wines, the event announced the creation of the first map of Chilean artisan beer. The map will feature the geographic location of 100% of the microbreweries and breweries in Chile, serving to support and encourage the development of the beer tourism industry, according to Maximiliano Morales, general manager of Andes Wines and creator of the Chilean Beer & Drinks Experience.
Among the companies, institutions and media that supported the event were Maltexco, Prochile, Atton el Bosque, Revista Alma Cerveza, Revista Platos & Copas, Revista City, Tomocerveza.cl, labuenavida.cl, conespuma.cl and Nirvino.cl.
Andes Wines
andes@andeswines.com
(56) 2-3702997
twitter: @andeswines.com
ANALYSIS LOGOS WINES OF ARGENTINA, BRASIL, CHILE, URUGUAY, GERMANY, SPAIN and PORTUGAL
The world has never seen such great and fast evolution of visual elements. A wealth of images associated with countries and companies fills the Internet and copyright records. The speed at which companies hire specialists and obtain a logotype is intimidating to aesthetic professionals. In the context of wine and export initiatives, there is an added challenge: countries and wineries must represent themselves with international promotion. It is in this sphere that we have seen the best commercial teams working with designers and advertisers. Here is a tour, in alphabetical order, of South America and its representative images.
Wines of Argentina recently changed its logotype. It left behind an image that included the colors of the Argentinean flag and moved toward a more modern style using two different typographies for the letters “A” and “W.” Visually, the effect is unsettling, since the perspective created in the triangle at the center is shifted. The prolongation of the outside triangle (the inside of the letter “A”) shows different widths and styles that attract the eye to the sides rather than making a strong natural center of attention.
The pink color does not seem to be suitable, especially because it is not neutral enough to represent both the red & white varieties. Finally, there is an aura of the pretentious, with a less-than-subtle allusion to a highly respected fashion design house that for the young followers uses the letters “A” and “X.” They are dancing at the edge of copyright law.
In contrast, Wines of Argentina achieved something great with the logotype for “Malbec World Day.” Everything happens around a wine glass: the blue color hearkens to the clear blue sky of Patagonia or the sky above the mountains and the image draws a map from the southern hemisphere as a geographic context. The two fonts and colors are a great choice considering the target audience of these events.
In the quest to find the image representing Brazil, we encountered the classic debate for the right translation: Wines of Brasil vs. Wines from Brasil. Just as expected from a Brazilian company, here we find the distinctive colors of the flag. The image includes a corkscrew, playfully inviting the consumer to open a bottle of wine.
The corkscrew is made with a light-hearted freehand drawing and the spiral serves as the axel element. The phrase they use, “open your mind” or “abra e se abra,” is provocative. If we already associate Brazil with soccer, Formula 1, Carnaval and beaches, clearly our expectations of their wines are the highest with this slogan, which capitalizes on these associations. The simple, modern and suggestive design reinforced with a phenomenal slogan (with a proper and contextualized translation) is a safe achievement. Brazil now has the great challenge of fulfilling this promise of offering quality and consistent wine to the international market.
The logotype for Wines of Chile is easily understood but is also naïve. It integrates the map showing the country vertically, which allows for a dynamic reading. The colors are modern and echo topographic and climatic maps, thus reinforcing the message of diversity in climates and elevations. Yet there must be a change. The entity and wineries have a huge challenge ahead due to the natural growth of the wines’ reputations. A change in the image is vital to support the initiative of increasing the presence and exports of medium and high range wines. It is imperative to develop a graphic concept that supports the increase of the price for the case of wine.
It is no secret that in the past few years, Chile has bet on making a difference. Wineries are applying strategies to avoid overstocking markets and therefore avoid the devaluation of these goods. There is a clear call for a mature image that matches this growth in prominence and price. A useful example of this is the logotype of the brands Swatch and Rolex; both watches work with precision and perfection, but their branding couldn’t be more different. Chilean wines are far from naïve. They require an image that shows this.
Wines of Uruguay is trying to deliver its message with a freehand drawing that lacks any structure. It is a loose and fluffy image that does not represent the potential of its producers and wines. The glass could establish a powerful axel with a more rigid and classic line. The blue color version is heavy and dark. It simply does not work for wine because it is monotonous and boring. The white version makes the sun look better and it is easier to recognize the location on the map.
There is another, totally different version of the logo that gives me serious doubts. It uses an empty bottle as a caramel-colored filter into a sunrise/sunset on the beach and handwriting that reads “Wines of Uruguay.” These are colors and ideas that could have worked three decades ago, but Uruguayan wines in the international trade are way ahead of that style. That image might work in tourism but does not support export initiatives to promote wines. The logo that has achieved the Uruguayan message most effectively is the one for the grape variety “tannat.” In this logo, a harmonic line draws a glass of wine and at the same time serves as the letter “T” at beginning and end. Together with “anna” in the interior, it creatively completes the word.
Germany
German design has been, and continues to be, a model of effective communication. This logo reinforces our positive preconceived notions about the country. The colors remind us of the country as a whole, rather than committing themselves to a particular region or variety of wine. Clear and raw, the image would even work without the text.
The text is written in an unpretentious font that does its job communicating and reinforcing the concept, identifying the entity and product it represents. Simply put, this is a design that’s complete, precise and functional.
Spain
The message of a Spanish fiesta is more than obvious; we just need to open the bottle! The words “Wines of Spain” are clear and achieve a successful dialogue amidst the two fonts and two colors, a bold risk that paid off. The text’s character integrates harmoniously with the solid color of the bottle, as though it extended directly from its surface.
The content is suggestive. The bottle’s position, as though it were being served, invites us to feel as though it is ours. The vibrant colors are representative and applicable to many white and red varieties. Flowing and pausing, the form achieves a rhythm. It seems someone applied a golden sheen—and gold was called “divine” by the Greeks. This bottle manages to represent all the wine regions of Spain, united as one country. It reinforces the consumer predisposition to think of Spain as happy and festive. A success, although my purist eyes would perhaps separate the black text and only permit the red to overlap, since the colored italics have always had a bit more permission to break the rules.
Portugal
The contents of the letter P evoke vegetable growth, a world of growth, complete with climbing vines and an invitation to sit on a balcony and enjoy the wine. The majority of the buyers must be women; clearly the feminine image is targeting that important segment that ultimately makes purchasing decisions.
This logo is an echo of the evolution of both Portugal’s labels and its styles, and the slogan “a world of difference” puts into words both the aesthetic and sensory experiences of the wines. The font is a success, with its first letter “W” playing at growing like a vine to put the dot on the letter “i.” To sum it all up, the design is understated, feminine, elegant and alive. The vintage style isn’t “in” in Portugal. Nevertheless, this distinctive line was inspired by those antique balconies, where one could sit and watch the sea and the vineyards, a view both romantic and evocative.
Though the world of images seems limitless, there are key concepts to delivering the right message. First and foremost, there are basic considerations of composition, color and shape. It should be enough to just take a look at the classics to begin to understand. By classics, I mean icons in the arts that have gathered international attention and acclaim: da Vinci, Rembrandt, Rosetti, Goya, Mucha, Constable, Turner, Monet, Picasso, Dali, Rauschenberg, Beuys, Klee, Miro, Warhol, and Mondrian, as well as many movements like Bauhaus and Art Nouveau, to name just a few.
In addition to these artistic masters, studying the shapes of nature and reviewing the Greek concept of the “golden ratio” can reveal some fundamental ways to add soul and power to a design. We invite those interested to review the solid world of images from Europe, the Middle East and Asia, so we can all understand the task we have ahead of us in the region.
The Author:
Pamela Villablanca studied Art in Universidad Finis Terrae, Diplomados at Universidad Católica de Chile and the Cinema School of Chile. Pamela is a Chilean professional who has worked in the United States since 2002 leading business missions for both premium wine companies and prestigious tailor made tourism. Pamela Villablanca performed various tasks in 20 Estates and nearly 60 cities as Ex–Brand Ambassador for Huneeus Vintners, Family group owning Veramonte in Casablanca Valley and Quintessa in California among other properties. She was recently the Estate Sales Manager for a Napa based start-up company importing and distributing South American wines in California.
AndesWines
andes@andeswines.com
Translated by Erin Becker
Graduate of the English and Creative Writing Program
University of North Carolina
WINE INVESTMENT CIRCLE IN CHILE AND CALIFORNIA
The creation of the Wine Investment Circle was announced this past week and will be officially launched at the II Wine after Office event July 7th. The company Andes Wines launches the initiative to generate a wide range of business around wine, tourism, cinema and gastronomy. Operations will start this month in Santiago and in August San Francisco to open United States.
The event is sponsored by Diario Financiero and Capital magazine, being the main motivation the creation of the first “Wine Private Equity” in Chile. This fund will work through a plan of attraction of private investors and will be activated in the United States thanks to the join venture with Pan American Real Estate Group which is leaded by US investor Matt Scoggins. The areas of interest are wine, energy, boutique hotels and Chilean movies.
The objective of the “Wine Private Equity” in a first stage is to administrate USD$ 20 M together to buy a set of vineyards in different valleys. These vineyards must have a great potential of growth on a medium term, so the company can make use of their potential, work on the value through an intelligent management for 2 and up to 5 years to then sale it for a higher price.
The Wine Investment Circle and the Pan American Real Estate Group have already generated a great opportunity to invest in the area of Chilean cinema, thanks to the contact provided by Andes Wines to link a local producer and an investor to analyze the ways of financing this type of projects.
The II Wine After Office event will launch the “Wine Investment Circle” starting at 8pm at the terrace & bar from Atton El Bosque Hotel and the sponsors are First Tuesday Santiago, Blue Company & Boldlab.com The media partners are Revista Capital, Diario Financiero, Nirvino.cl and labuenavida.cl targeting communication to executives of the stock market, equity funds, wealth management and finance offices from the real estate, energy, gastronomy, tourism and wine trade.
The hosts of the II Wine After Office will be Pamela Villablanca, International Director of Andes Wines, former Veramonte Ambassador for Huneeus Vintners, family owner of Quintessa & Veramonte among other properties; Maximiliano Morales, C.E.O of Andes Wines; and Sebastian Hoppe, Director of Investment for the company, who will share the initiative of the “Wine Investment Circle” and steps to follow in Chile and USA.
Dynamic of the II Wine After Office
The event is open to the community with the purchase of a rechargeable card for wine which will allow the entrance to the event, and also gives access to taste a great variety of wines available in the wine dispenser at Atton El Bosque Hotel. Tickets are available for purchase prior the event, contact us to arrange details of reservation and payment to the info below.
Assistants will select their Wines among a 16 red Wines at the modern “Wine Dispenser”, the card is sold for $ 7.000 and is charged so you can have pours of either 25, 75 or 150cc. Some of the wineries that offer their wines at the dispenser are Anakena, Botalcura, Lagar de Bezana, Casa Marin, La Rosa, Sutil, Miguel Torres, Nerkihue, Chocalán y Lafken del Valle de Maipo Alto.
Andes Wines
andes@andeswines.com
(56) 2-370 2997
twitter: @andeswines.com
JOHN HOLL: TECHNICAL VISIT TO MALTEXCO
Technical visit of John Holl to Maltexco Plant in Chile
andes@andeswines.com
US INVESTORS THIRST FOR CHILEAN WINE PRIVATE EQUITY
After 10 years specializing in the wine sector, the strategic management and marketing company, Andes Wines, has decided to create the first “wine private equity” in Chile. The plan to attract private investment will begin in the United States thanks to a joint venture with Pan American Real Estate Group in order to attract investors through diverse strategies such as contact with “family offices,” real estate investor and technology networks, who are looking to expand their investment portfolios.
In the first stage, the objective of the “Wine Private Equity” is to administer 20 million dollars in conjunction with a local bank to buy vineyards in different valleys that have medium term growth potential to leverage and strengthen them through management for 2 to 5 years and then sell them at a higher value.
To support this strategy and consolidate the growth of Wine Private Equity, “Wine & Investment Circle” was created and will operate in Santiago through regular meetings at the Hotel Atton el Bosque and after June in San Francisco, California in the United States. Convened for the purpose of investors, investment funds and hedge funds will provide a portfolio of the projects for sales that are managed by Andes Wines such as vineyards in Casablanca, Maipo, Colchagua and Limarí.
The investment determination strategy will be headed by Sebastián Hoppe, Investment Director and Pamela Villablanca, International Wine Manager of Andes Wines-USA and Former Ambassador of Huneeus Vintners Wine, a family owned property in Veramonte in the Casablanca Valley and Quintessa.
“We are very excited about our relationship with Andes Wines”, says Matt Scoggins with the Pan American Real Estate Group, Panama City, Republic of Panama: “We have been working closely with Max Morales and his group over the past several months to marry our relationships and investors with the unique opportunity being presented in the Wine Private Equity venture. We strongly believe in the leverage being created by the leadership and experience that Max, Pamela and Sebastián bring to the table. Timing is everything, and with the continued growth of the region, as well as the expanding global market for quality grapes and wine, we believe our clients will be properly positioned to take advantage of this exciting and unique opportunity. We are confident that this initial step forward with Andes Wines will be followed by additional and equally impressive ventures.” – Matt Scoggins, Pan American Capital Corporation
“We will offer a comprehensive management and consulting service for the investor, which could range from establishing a new vineyard to produce wines from a premium terroir, or alternatively, acquiring and operating an existing vineyard. That is why we are receiving a wide variety of properties and wineries interested in being offered through wine private equity.” Maximiliano Morales, CEO of Andes Wines.
Andes Wines
andes@andeswines.com
twitter: andeswines
ENOLOGO DE CATENA ZAPATA ALEJANDRO VIGIL
andes@andeswines.com
INTERNATIONS WINE AFTER OFFICE SANTIAGO
InterNations Wine After Office
WINE AFTER OFFICE
Wine Dispenser at Wine After Office InterNations
WINE MARKETING: THE STORY OF ANDES WINES
Andes Wines Communications is a strategic wine marketing company, in addition to a wine marketplace in itself as well as the only wine and tourism site that’s in English, Spanish, Portuguese and Italian. We operate in more than 15 countries, generating innovation and social networking on a global scale.
One of our main strengths as a company is our implementation of socially responsible projects through AndesWines-RSE. Another great strength is our ability to attract foreign capital in the wine and real estate areas.
After eight years of Andes Wines, the sister company AndesOne.com was born. With AndesOnes, we cover high-impact entrepreneurial projects happening worldwide.
AndesWines’ greatest challenge and greatest success was earning the confidence of more than 600 media and wine contacts throughout the globe. Through a consistent flow of news and exclusive analyses about wine, investment, and start-up companies, we gained credibility as a crucial source of information for entrepreneurs and winemakers. We also report on high-impact wine marketing campaigns, which are of great interest to our import and distribution contacts in more than twelve different countries.
Since 2003, Gabriela Luna Romano has been our representative in Argentina. With clients like Freizenet, Bodegas Barón, Escorihuela and Fitz Roy, she has organized large-scale events where wine and sparkling wine are the guests of honor. In 2009, Ezequiel Mones-Ruiz joined the team as Polo consultant for Andes Wines.
Andes Wines achieved a big part of its credibility with the Carmenere Adventure 2005-USA, a wine promotion campaign in which commercial engineer Cristián Muñoz traveled through the American continent on a motorcycle, bottle of Chilean carmenere in hand. Enologists and wine celebrities from each country he passed through signed the bottle. The total press gained by this promotion was valued at more than $1.5 million.
Another huge point of growth for Andes Wines was the Eighth Wine Salon in Concepción, an international wine show that brought together more than 23 vineyards from Italy, France, Hungary, Argentina, the US, Uruguay, Spain and Chile. We got to know people like the ambassador of Hungary, Dr. József Kosárka, member of the Hungarian Wine Academy; the enologist Elza Brulez from Louise Brison champagne; the consultant enologist Francois Massoc; and many wine representatives who had come from Uruguay, Argentina, and France. The event was a great marketing feat for the region.
AndesWines.com is in direct contact with importers, distributors, retailers and wine consumers, as well as tourism operators and agencies in 15 countries. These contacts receive our newsletter in English and Spanish, which currently reaches more than 95,000 contacts in the industry, reaffirming that direct international marking is one of the company’s greatest strengths.
INTERNATIONAL CONSULTING
The last few years, Andes Wines has begun strategic consulting and international marketing for companies and prestigious wine labels like Conde Italiano Francesco Marone Cinzano – Reserva de Caliboro from Perquilauquén; Dorcia en Italia by James Pryor, US owner of the only organic and biodynamic vineyard in the Limarí Valley; and Viña Quintay, owned by well-known economists Felipe Larraín, Felipe Morandé and the attorney Edmundo Eluchans, among others.
In the tourism world, we’ll highlight our consulting project for the National Geographic Endeavour and Explorer cruise, which is managed by Linblad Expeditions and a group that includes Carlos Cardoen of Viña Santa Cruz and Hotel Santa Cruz Plaza. Recently, they began the challenge of implementing and marketing the Vino Tiffara Cruise. This features a yacht anchored in Puerto Montt that is used for business trips or charters through the Patagonian channels, for a maximum of ten people.
Our challenge was to organize the first “bilateral” wine tasting between Argentina and Chile and choose wines that would be tasted by the passengers. This activity has been repeated twice in recent years, reaffirming the relationship between and joint mission of wineries in both countries.
We helped entrepreneur Carlos Cardoen achieve his goal of internationalizing the Colchagua Museum and the area’s hotels and spirits, in order to disseminate the strengths of the area’s tourism to a dozen countries in six different languages. We also aided him in organizing the sixth and seventh version of the Wine Salon at Hotel Santa Cruz, expanding to include wines from Australia, New Zealand and Argentina, which were promoted in the Colchagua Valley.
For Grupo Arauco, Andes Wines has developed a social responsibility project through the Book of Itata Vineyards, a history of five centuries. In addition, we aided in the design of the wine label for Arauco’s corporate wine, Casa Velenunque.
Andes Wines was responsible for developing strategic plans for vineyards in the Limarí Valley, including organic and biodynamic vineyard Aguratierra, Viña Itata, and Viña Casanueva, which produces Cavas Submarinas.
MARKETING STRATEGY
Thanks to the internet, the site’s good positioning and our ability to incorporate multiple languages, Andes Wines has a plethora of visitors who come to the site each week, including consultants, investors, vintners and importers. Visitors are looking for information about potential business deals, as this business platform has transformed into a source of ongoing consultation in addition to being a new source about articles and unpublished reports in the wine industry.
Because of this, attracting investors to the Chilean wine industry is another challenge that Andes Wines has recently taken on. We have already launched the first round of land and cellar investment, which has achieved integration into the specialized “wine marketplace.” Since launching, we’ve received offers to buy vineyards in closed consultations from abroad, and constant consultations about capital movements in the domestic industry.
In January 2009, Andes Wines organized the first Olfaction Session in South America (Chile and Argentina) by the Fresh perfumer, Alexandre Schmitt, who now works at the Faculty of Enology in Bordeaux, educating prestigious winemakers and wine professionals from Spain, Portugal, France and the US on the art of aroma.
Another area in which we’ve successfully developed is our “Wine Head Hunter and Wine Industry Job” service, which currently hosts over 500 resumes of winemakers, agronomists, commercial engineers and sommeliers from Chile, Argentina, Italy, France and Australia who are looking for work.
ANDES WINES WINE AND GOURMET PRODUCTS SALE
Andes Wines also works in the area of wine sales, consolidating a new sales channel for wine, liquor, and gourmet products in the “Venta de Vinos y Products Gourmet,” currently celebrating its sixth version.
This business model took almost a year to develop, and has evolved into a marketing service for Reserve and Grand Reserve wines, adding to its original sale of export wines. With time, the sale also added niche gourmet products from various regions of southern Chile, from Bio Bio to Aisén.
The great strength of this initiative is that it has managed to bring together producers with limited production of goods like lamb ham, prosciutto, jams, wine jellies, Merck, and other delicacies from various towns in southern Chile, and help them to sell quickly at very competitive prices.
The format is based on sale prices with discounts between 20% and 50% for wines in boxes of sixe to twelve bottles, as well as individual bottles for Reserve and Grand Reserve wines. Prices range from $1.300 to $60.000 CLP per bottle. In the case of the gourmet products, discounts range from 20% to 30% in boxes or packs of three to four products. Also, the packages are simple, unlike their highly adorned counterparts on supermarket shelves.
The target consumer for this sale is the wine buyer who follows offers in supermarkets and wine sales from vineyards, in addition to event producers and restaurant owners who are searching for convenient prices per box. We’re also catering to collectors and wine lovers who belong to wine clubs and are looking for interesting offers.
Andes Wines
andes@andeswines.com
(56) 2-3702997
twitter: @andeswines.com
VINOGRAPHY.COM WHERE ALL THAT WINE IS GOING
I swear I’ve seen something like thirty news headlines in the last two weeks announcing “Americans Now Drink More Wine than Anyone Else.” This is clearly not true. But what is true, apparently, is that for the first time ever, more wine was shipped into this country (and/or shipped within our borders) last year than any other country in the world.
What this actually means, well that’s a complex answer. Anyone looking to simplify that complexity (and who wouldn’t when you’re trying to make generalizations at the scale of the global economy) could reasonably say that America consumed more wine last year than any other country.
I gave my own little cheer when I read the news stories, but then I started to wonder at the real story behind the numbers. Certainly, shipping volume can’t be denied as an indicator of commercial activity, and a derivative of commercial demand. But where are all those boxes of wine going? And are they really being consumed when they get there?
What has happened to wine inventories in the past year in all those big warehouses around the country where the boxes end up when they cross our shores? According to some folks I know who spend time in those warehouses, they’re not exactly emptying out at the rates they were several years ago.
And then there’s the little problem of per-capita consumption in this country, which is still dismally low compared to almost all other countries in the world. We Americans drink only 9.6 liters of wine a year per-capita. That’s less than Macedonia, and only a bit more than the United Arab Emirates, where alcohol is pretty much illegal.
The good news is that our consumption, no matter how you measure it, is on the rise. Our per capita consumption in 2008 was up 14% (thank you recession), and I expect it to keep on rising, though it will take us a long time at even a 14% annual increase to approach the per-capita consumption of France, at 53 liters of wine a year.
This of course means that some of us (we know who we are) seem to be responsible for vastly more than our fair share of wine consumption in this country. Nothing wrong with that, of course, but that’s a gap not unlike the income inequality gap in this country. Sobering. Or just the opposite, as the case may be.
So forgive me if I don’t get too excited about this recent milestone in our country’s history of global wine commerce. It’s an achievement to be sure, but there’s much more to be done to get wine on more tables in this country, more often. And of course, there’s much more wine to be drunk.
Andes Wines International implemented the program “Wine Ambassador”. The objective is to support wine importers, distributors and sales channels in their performance to achieve goals together with the wineries from Argentina, Chile, España, Brasil, Uruguay, Grecia and New Zealand among others. This initiative will allow develop a strategy of intelligence to support press, promotion, positioning and wine sales in Latin America, North America, Oceania, Asia and Europe.
Among the services of the Wine Ambassador program we consider three main assessments like the search and penetration of a winery in a particular market, performance of sales strategies and branding, and also direct support and coordination with the export manager of particular wineries in target events & meetings.
Some of the many tasks Andes Wines International offers is to assist define markets and niches, support importers and distributors, implement strategies of press and communication, support sales initiatives to educate and incentive the distributor and accounts, schedule visits to the markets to work on brand positioning, lead sales meetings for audiences of trade or consumers and in general to implement a great data base to follow up and strengthen commercial relationships with all the participants of the sales chain.
The base for the international operation will be San Francisco, California where Pamela Villablanca will be in charge of the office and operations. Pamela is a Chilean professional who has worked in the United States since 2002 leading business missions for both premium wine companies and prestigious tailor made tourism. Pamela Villablanca performed various tasks in 20 Estates and nearly 60 cities as Ex–Brand Ambassador for Huneeus Vintners, Family group owning Veramonte in Casablanca Valley and Quintessa in California among other properties. She was recently the Estate Sales Manager for a Napa based start-up company importing and distributing South American wines in California.
PAMELA VILLABLANCA
Pamela Villablanca is a Chilean wine professional who initiated her education with the Court of Master Sommelier & the Society of Wine Educators, both in California.
Her vast experience performing public speaking educating about wines, denominations of origin and food pairing, translates into a fun and educational dialogue. Audiences have range from individuals to 200 people in languages Spanish, English and German.
Among the companies that have ask for her assistance are wineries like Veramonte(in the US) , Errazuriz (intl distributors and press) and Vinos Concha y Toro (Chile’s Foreign Affair Office); companies like Aguas Andinas for the Spanish Royal visit, Central Bank of Chile for World Bank visits, Banco Santander, Yamaha International, Derco, Nestle, ING, Falabella among many others.
Among the highlights and strengths of Andes Wines International program, is the support with a global network of communication and wine networking. The office provides wine trends & information periodically to more than 750 specialized journalist and critics, together with 2200 importers, distributors and retailers worldwide, and more than 600 media contacts in more than 15 countries.
The year 2010 Andes Wines closed Gross Wine Sales in Chile higher than US $ 650,000 that generated in three sales events of one month each for Wine and Gourmet products, and we hope to pass one million dollars in sales for the months of May, September and December 2011.
Andes Wines
andes@andeswines.com
JANCIS ROBINSON PRIMEURS 2010 WHEN TO PUBLISH?
Authorized to publish by Jancis Robinson: Even later that day – Robert Parker is sympathetic but argues it’s too late to change the status quo and that critics acting co-operatively would smack of ‘collusion’ – though admits it may be his lawyer’s training kicking in. ‘I prefer to remain independent of both the wine producers and the wine journalists….thanks for sending…’, he signs off.
Later that same day, from Thomas Matthews, executive editor of Wine Spectator – ‘I enjoyed reading your thoughts on reviews and pricing with regards to Bordeaux en primeur, and the comments they have generated. However, I am not so convinced that critics ‘are effectively used by the Bordelais to hype demand and inflate prices.’
‘My point of view is that the Bordelais attempt to persuade — even to force — the wine trade and, ultimately, consumers, to purchase their wines en primeur; that is, while they are still in barrel and relatively inaccessible to the majority of purchasers. Many in the wine trade do travel to Bordeaux to taste the wines on site before making their purchasing decisions. But for most consumers, that’s not possible. So consumers — your readers, and ours — are in a position where wines are offered for sale, but the only evaluations of their quality come from interested parties — the sellers, whether producers or traders. I don’t see that as a fair balance of power.
‘The critics who take it upon themselves to visit Bordeaux to taste the wines en primeur are, in my opinion, acting as advocates for those consumers. Critics taste the same wines the producers are pricing and the trade is offering, but give consumers an independent assessment of those wines’ quality. Then, when consumers are faced with the option of buying Chateau A at $X, or Chateau B at $2X, they can make judgments informed by some expert opinion that is not invested in either the châteaux’ reputation or the price levels.
‘I won’t argue that the critics are perfect advocates. Not all are expert, experienced tasters, for one thing, so their evaluations may not be reliable indicators of true quality. Barrel samples are difficult to interpret, may be falsified, will generally change in character before bottling — for these and other reasons, even expert tasters may not be able to predict accurately the quality of the bottle the consumer will purchase. And in my opinion, when the critic accepts the hospitality of the châteaux’ and the trade, conflicts of interest may act on unconscious levels, especially if/when wines are not tasted blind. Still, an honest critic starts from a position of relative independence.
‘You worry that high scores from critics tempt producers to set higher prices than, perhaps, they had intended or, in some measurable way, than the wines are worth. But critics are supposed to give honest evaluations. Frequently the scores are lower than the producers believe are fair; then critics are exerting downward pressure on prices, to the benefit of the consumer. So how, in that situation, are critics being ‘used’ by the wine trade?
‘Wine Spectator makes every effort to ensure independence and objectivity in our en primeur tastings. We pay for our travel and lodging expenses and the services of the negociant who hosts our tastings. We solicit samples from our own list of châteaux, our own staff organise the tastings, and the reviews are blind with regard to producer (and, of course, price). Where a review results from a visit to a château and/or a non-blind tasting, that will be disclosed, and we attempt to keep those to a minimum.
‘So I stand by the credibility of our reviews, and feel confident offering them to our readers, to use as they see fit in making their purchasing decisions. When the wines are poor, low scores will warn our readers to be cautious before buying. If a good vintage and successful winemaking result in wines that receive high scores, so be it, and so much the better for those of us who love fine wine.’
23 Mar – I published this hand-wringing plea on Purple pages yesterday in our comment section, Don’t quote me. Members clearly feel very strongly about this issue and we have so far had about 30 responses from around the world in this thread on our Members’ forum, of which roughly one tenth advise us to wait before publishing, and several suggest that we publish notes but not scores before prices come out. Unfortunately this last could be difficult for merely technical reasons.
Some Purple pagers make the excellent suggestion that we Bordeaux critics should try to act in concert and I certainly intend to contact many of my peers about this issue.
One of them, Anthony Rose of The Independent in the UK, suggested on Twitter that I should share the article below with a wider readership so I am publishing it today in our Free for all section.
It looks, against all odds, as though Bordeaux may just have another sought-after vintage on its hands with the 2010s (see Vintage reputations – the struggle for truth). Asian markets, with the tragic exception of Japan, seem to be on fire for classic, investment-grade wines. The Americans look ready to come back into the picture for Bordeaux primeurs, having sat out 2009s to a great extent. Many economies are in a much healthier state than the British one, and even in the UK there is no shortage of potential investors with, for example, bonuses burning to find an amusing home. No wonder the UK’s fine-wine traders are in such fine fettle. This year they don’t even seem to be bothering to demand reasonable pricing from the top Bordeaux proprietors – who are currently rolling in cash, as any visitor to the Médoc and its myriad building projects can attest.
I have already tasted some 2010s and can see that there will be considerable interest in them. I am going back to Bordeaux twice, once at the end of this month and once at the beginning of next, to taste this embryonic vintage as thoroughly as is possible as usual, but I really do wonder what to do with my tasting notes.
In the past, thanks to considerable hard work, not just on the part of my palate, but on the part of those such as Julia Harding MW and Tamlyn Currin who have processed and edited my tasting notes with incredible speed and efficiency, we have tended to publish the Bordeaux primeurs tasting notes as soon as possible on the basis that they might be useful to you.
But there is another side to all this. Of course the American critic Robert Parker, whose detailed tasting notes on each Bordeaux primeur vintage tend to be published slightly after mine in late April, is by a long way the taster with the most influence on the subsequent opening price of individual wines. But presumably château owners take notice of other opinions too, and have been known to use any enthusiastic note and score to justify a hefty price. Stepping a long way back from the whole business of being a diligent reporter, I can see that I play a part in a process that really does not benefit the consumer.
Setting aside for the moment the vexed, complex and extremely important question of the validity of primeur samples and how closely in each case they are likely to resemble the finished wine that is bottled so long after the primeurs showings, I do increasingly feel like a pawn in a game designed to part you with as much money as possible. At least when I publish my burgundy primeurs tasting notes, most of the prices are already fixed. And Burgundians operate in a world very distant from that determined by scores. In Bordeaux we commentators publish our assessments weeks and sometimes months before opening prices are eventually decided upon, after long discussions between all parties involved (see How the most expensive vintage ever was sold). Although of course some other factors are used to determine individual prices, we commentators have become part of the bait. And it’s a game played by the proprietors, the courtiers, the négociants, and not least by those who sell you the wines using our scores.
I sat next to Anthony Hanson MW of Haynes Hanson & Clark and Christie’s the other day and he was strongly urging me to hold off publishing individual notes and scores until the prices had been announced. ‘That way you can advise your readers what’s a good deal and what’s not. You could be a real consumer advocate.’ There is certainly a strong appeal to this approach, even if it would be fiendishly difficult to accomplish, given that the prices tend to come out in dribs and drabs over a period of at least two months. As the one Purple pager to whom I happened to mention it commented, ‘Great idea in theory, though I suspect hard to implement given staggered price release strategy of Bordeaux châteaux and the pace at which they subsequently get snatched up. You can either be the enabler of the Bordelais’ evil, score-driven opportunism or an irrelevant lonely voice that opines after all the action has happened. Either way, you can’t win!’
Pamela Villablanca – Harvest in Casablanca / andes@andeswines.com
ANDES WINES INTERNATIONAL OPENS NEW OFFICE IN CALIFORNIA
After 10 years developing wine sales & marketing strategies in Chile and internationally, Andes Wines confirmed the opening of international communication, sales & brand operations in California, in the United States. The company will become a strategic partner for Chilean wineries exporting wines and also an attraction platform to attract investment into Chile.
The initiative will be achieved using California offices as the base for international business missions in the different countries defined by our clients. Through the implementation of a successful model for special sales, business missions and market blitz, Andes Wines will offer boutique wineries an extraordinary support for their healthy growth in sales and presence in the market.
Andes Wines International already started finding an answer to the demand for specialized professionals when and where they need them addressing specific targets. “We are looking to generate excitement in the media, educate consumers, find niches and create new concepts” says Pamela Villablanca.
One of the most important missions for 2011 will be the invitation to foreign micro-investors operating their assets and looking to invest USD$ 2 to 5M in tourism or wine industry in Chile, in a boutique hotel or winery. The meetings will take place in San Francisco, California in the month of May by Andes Wines International– USA.
The target will be Millennial investors in ages between 30 and 45 who are taking over “family offices” and, investor networks from the hi – tech industry looking to expand their investment portfolio due to the market’s volatile condition. Andes Wines International will offer a complete support in the administration and management of the investments, thanks to a professional multidiscipline team in Chile.
The operations of Andes Wines International in California will be in charge of Pamela Villablanca, Chilean professional leading business missions for both wine and tourism companies in the U.S. since 2002.
Her solid performance as Ex–Brand Ambassador for Huneeus Vintners, Family group owning Veramonte in Casablanca Valley and Quintessa in California among other properties. She was recently the Estate Sales Manager for a Napa based start-up company importing and distributing South American wines in California.
Andes Wines connects more then 700 specialized journalist and wine critics + 600 media & communication contacts + 5500 wineries in the world
Andes Wines business core is the organization of Wine Sales in Santiago selling over 16 different wineries and gourmet products.
Andes Wines
andes@andeswines.com
RENOWNED AMERICAN BEER & DRINKS COLUMNIST VISITS CHILE
Award winning American journalist and craft beer columnist John Holl, regular contributor to specialized media such as the Ale Street News, Beer Connoisseur Magazine and the online site Craftbeer.com., will be the special guest at Andes Wine’s “Chilean Beer & Drinks Experience”, a three day beer and drinks tasting event beginning in May 26th.
The event is part of an advertising effort to position Chilean craft and industrial beer production in the international market, together with local brands of pisco, rum and whiskey.
A graduate of Seton Hall University, Holl has been writing about craft beer and the American drinks industry since 2003, and worked as a reporter for the Star-Ledger and the Indianapolis Star.
He’s a regular columnist for NewJerseyNewsroom.com and also writes for AndesWines.com about United States trends and culture. His visit to Chile to witness what the local industry has to offer, by invitation of Andes Wines, is part of Holl’s broader search of topics regarding the “culture of drinking”.
During the “Chilean Beer & Drinks Experience” Holl will assess craft and industrial beers currently brewed in the country. At dinner time, the event will hold a special food-and-beer pairing, occasion at which guests will enjoy some of the best Chilean gastronomy. Visits to local breweries to learn first-hand about the innovations on Chilean craft beer production and a rum-pisco-whiskey tasting with specialized journalists, will complete this Chilean drinks experience.
Holl’s visit to Chile is part of the Strategic Craft Beer Plan sponsored by Andes Wines and sommelier Franco Alarcón. Launched in 2010, the plan comprehends a series of tastings and to advertise Chilean brands in the national and international markets and also support local production.
He will write about his Chilean experience on his website BeerBriefing.com and is available for exclusive freelance work from publications interested in highlighting the rapidly changing and dynamic Chilean drinks scene.
This visit is sure to be the start of a great introduction of Chilean beer brands into the American market.
andes@andeswines.com
twitter: andeswines
CIGAR TASTING OF ANDES WINES
AndesWines.com organized an exclusive Cigar Tasting lead by Cuban Lesmy Torres at La Biferia in Providencia, Chile. The Cigar Circle started to develop events for companies and private groups.
AndesWines.com organized an exclusive Malbec Tasting of Argentina at Atton el Bosque Hotel in Las Condes County in Santiago-Chile.
Among the wineries that participated were .Kaikén (Montes), ViBO (Viu Manent), Finca el Origen (Santa Carolina), Tupun and Altos las Hormigas, and was guided by the Sommelier Franco Alarcón.
Among the guests were Juan Valenzuela, Sergio Miranda, Juan Valenzuela, Carlos Chávez, Diego Meyer, Catalina García, Emily Williams, Bárbara Cavagnola, Patricio Saavedra, Alex Zahlhaas y Señora, among others.
AndesWines.com participated in the Wine Night of Las Condes County in Santiago-Chile at Casona Santa Rosa de Apoquindo. Among the wineries were Santa Rita, Falernia, Canepa, Casablanca, Carmen, Córpora, Los Vascos, Terra Andina, Concha y Toro, Emiliana, Cono Sur, Santa Carolina, MontGras, Maycas, El Aromo, Balduzzi, Valdivieso and Portal del Alto.
The event was organized by Vinos de Chile and Las Condes Municipality.
CHILEAN WINES FROM EXTREME REGIONS SEDUCE WINE CRITICS
Chile is known for producing wines considered “best value”. However, this “good, nice and cheap” label is being slowly challenged by the rise of a new type of winemaking: old and new wineries experimenting with terroirs found in remote areas within the country, with lot of history in winemaking in the past when the Spanish arrived while conquering the country like Itata next to Bio Bio, Maule and Elqui.
The key to this new trend is finding a unique agro climatic area with complex soils that allow efficient grape growing depending on the chosen wine variety to grow, reports AndesWines.com
This search for new frontiers already has a worthy sprout, the Carignan in Maule Valley where you can find 100 years old vines that are producing premium wines that are conquering wine critic´s and importers heart by the singularity and uniqueness of the wines. Together with the country’s signature wine, the famed Carmenere, are positioning the Chilean brand in the Premium wines market.
WORD IN THE STREET
These vineyards and wines are already getting international attention. That is why 2010 will be remembered as the year when most wine experts and critics visited Chile, many of them invited by Wines of Chile but also by local wineries, to attend the launch of new cellars and new brands.
Most visits considered trips to these extreme wine regions– Elqui, Limarí and Aconcagua in the north, Leyda in the coast and Bío Bío in the South- to show the efforts by Chilean wineries to produce much fresher wines with less alcohol content and a unique typicity.
Two of these key visits were Alder Yarrow from Vinography.com, one of the most influential wine blogger in the US and journalist Elin Mccoy from Bloomberg, who were surprised by the amount of Chilean winemakers and wineries willing to innovate in new terroirs and grapes.
A whole new chapter in the evolution of Chile´s wine industry started few years ago based on the old vines of “Pais” variety brought by Spanish when they started the colonization.
Right now, thousands of hectares in Maule and lately Itata Valley over 100 years old are being scanned by winemakers to produce a local and unique wine that is seducing wine critics like Tim Atkin MW who have said recently that is something Chile should develop right now to recover part of the wine roots and history of the country.
This fact is supported also by the Wine Book recently written by the historians Armando Cartes and Fernando Arriagada under an AndesWines wine project called “Viñas del Itata, una historia de cinco siglos” “Vineyards of the Itata, a story of five centuries” where was established the traditional winemaking story of Chile with more than 500 years of history.
Renowned British wine writers Jamie Goode, Peter Richards, Chris Losh, David Williams and Emma Wellings, recently witnessed in situ this new trend in wine making and are already writing impression in their respective wine blogs, columns and editorials.
Just back this week in the UK, Jamie Goode had great comments about his last Chilean visit. He was especially impressed with the size of these new vineyards–60 hectares in average, something difficult to find in other wine countries, a good example of how these winemakers are taking their chances in their search for innovation.
He described as “serious” and “exciting” the Syrah, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc he got to enjoy, and underlined the fact that many of these winemakers have overseas experience and that the aim is for wines with definition and freshness, shunning over-ripeness.
Goode also had a word of advice for some of these newcomers: many are growing Pinot Noir when they would be better off with Syrah. “What Chile needs is to show the world that it can produce world class Pinot Noir and cool-climate Syrah. I think it can. I’m very excited by some of the wines I tried: they may be a work in progress, from young vines, but I’m going to buy a few of them. I’ll tell you which ones later”, he said in his wine blog.
Finally, the wine writer Tim Atkin MW just visited Chile and definitely the Chilean wine industry will be expecting his comments and suggestions in the next couple of weeks.
Some of these projects have renowned winemakers and wine consultants behind them, reports Andes Wines. That is why is to be expected that many leave the experimental state and become round businesses thanks to the growing interest in the international markets for new types of wine, trend being led by Chile thanks to its climate and soil diversity.
Andes Wines
andes@andeswines.com
twitter: andeswines
BIGGEST WINE SALE IN CHILE BY ANDES WINES
Attention wine lovers and connoisseur: The Fifth Andes Wines Wine, Beer and Gourmet Food Sale is taking place from now until December 29 in Mall Paseo Quilín, Santiago. The event is displaying a great range of fine wines at very convenient prices from vineyards such as La Rosa, Via Wines, Portal del Alto, William Fevre, Nerkihue, Geo Wines, Errázuriz Ovalle, Casa Marín, Junta Wines and organics from AguaTierra in Valle de Limarí.
According to Andes Wines, the sale promises to be the biggest in Chile by offering discounts that range from 10% to 50% in export quality wines, foreign private brands and new harvests, in boxes of 6 and 12 bottles. There are also individual bottles for varietals, “reserva” and “gran reserva” for all types: Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Merlot, Carménére, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Gris, etc.
The opening hours are from 11.00 to 21.00 every day except December 29th
With this Fifth version, Andes Wines has become an effective wine and gourmet products channel for different producers in the country that trust our managing skills to sell their goods in Santiago. Thanks to this, foreign vineyards are also trusting te company with their products, such as the Brazilian sparkling wine producer Cave Geisse.
The venue also offers a wide variety of delicatessen food such as different styles of olive and sunflower oil, gourmet cheeses, merkén products, pink Bolivian salt, artisan beer and both national and foreign sparkling wine brands.
Andes Wines
andes@andeswines.com
twitter: andeswines
SOCIAL MEDIA AND WINE
From the beginnings of social media and digital media marketing, the wine industry has seen and felt the impact these communication trends are generating in society.
Industry actors such as sommeliers, winemakers, grape growers, wine amateurs, wine dealers, importers, wine writers, specialized journalists and retailers, have set up accounts in Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, but without having a clear idea on how these tools can help them either communicate their passion for wine or promote the products they sell. The aim is simple: to be there because everybody else is!
Most of the time, it is journalists or PR officers who manage a winery´s social network sites. Some other times, it’s the chief enologist or even the owner of the winery who uploads the information.
According to data compiled by AndesWines.com, most of these “community managers” do not handle confidential information on the vineyard they work at, therefore limiting themselves to just answer general queries and give basic information on the products.
Some wineries have been successful in the use of social networks and transcended frontiers with their Facebook and Twitter accounts, attracting a variety of new wine buyers. Therefore, the responsibility in managing these accounts have been given to professional communication agencies, a move that has encountered many challenges. Usually the person in charge of transmitting the information at those agencies has little knowledge of the dynamics of the wine business, has never been to the vineyard itself, or simply doesn’t know anything about wine, as AndesWines.com points out.
Keeping up the information flow is a process tiring by itself, and it has left many people behind. But there are those who are still standing; their persistence has open up the doors to new buyers and followers of a specific winery.
That being said, we must understand that social networks are a great alternative in keeping in touch with new and old clients and fans, in positioning the products and generate brand recognition, but is very difficult to measure how many of them actually buy the products because of this interaction. Nonetheless, it is a good way to receive feedback and suggestions to improve the message and learn what the consumers want, adds AndesWines.com
The flexibility that social networks provide has allowed the surge of a series of “spin offs” such as the theme groups in Twitter and Facebook about wine. A good example are the “winetuiteros”, a group of 15 professionals or more, -from journalists to wine growers- that exchange ideas and critiques about wine through Twitter, meeting once a month in different restaurants in Santiago, Chile, to share impressions on different brands, bringing the bottles themselves in each occasion.
As wine marketing experts, at Andes Wines understood the need to incorporate these tools into a business strategy, so they offered a social network management service based in their expertise in wines and wine tourism. It seeks to generate different digital marketing approaches and alternative ways to communicate with users, both in English and in Spanish, depending on the market the company is aiming at.
Translation by Marta Lillo Bustos
AndesWines
andes@andeswines.com
twitter: andeswines
CHILEAN WINEMAKER LEADS GREEK WINERY PORTO CARRAS
From the ancient lands of Greece, Chilean winemaker Freddy Grez, current production manager at the famed winery Domaine Porto Carras, shares with us details about the challenges he has faced settling in and working in this distant country.
Grez now works at one of Greek´s most important vineyards thanks to Andes Wines “Job Wine Search” service, which provides assistance in the search of job opportunities in the competitive wine industry all over the world. After months of intense lookout, his efforts certainly paid off, running today one of the key cellars in Greece.
Tell us about your current responsibilities at Domaine Porto Carras.
They gave me total control over the cellar. Among my tasks as enologist, I survey the production of the new wines, oversight of the entire chain of production, manage the personnel, the selection and acquisition of the materials, cost control, productivity, sales, etc.
I’m also in charge of controlling the level of grape maturity. In whites we have right now Malagouzia, Athiri, Assyrtico, Roditis, Sabbatiano,Sauvignon Blanc and Viognier. While in the reds we are working with Limnio, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Syrah and Cinsault.
What’s it like to work with Greek grapes?
I had never worked with Greek grapes before, so I had to learn from scratch about the varieties and apply all my previous experience in vinification. Everything has worked out fine so far and the new wines produced under my charge, according to sommeliers and my own impressions after tasting different harvests, are of a superior quality compared to previous years.
The whites are more fresh, fruity, smooth and balanced, while the reds are more mature, softer and have rounder tannins, very pleasant and much more balanced than previous productions. In general Greek wines, and the ones used to be produced in this cellar in particular, are of very rustic taste and too dry, very different from the Chilean varieties. So I can say with much pride that Domaine Porto Carras is back in producing fine wines.
What wines are you currently producing?
In reds, the production is lead by Chateau Porto Carras, Syrah, Limnio, Limnio Cabernet and a Nouveau. While in whites you have Malagouzia, Assyrtico, Athiri, Blanc de Blancs, Melissanthi, Amathouse and a Rose.
On November 8, the wine journalist Dimitris Koparanis introduced two of our whites 2010, Malagouzia and Amathouse. He was very impressed by the quality of both, and highlighted the new style and categories of wines we were starting to produce; even predicted that once our competitors started tasting our wines, it was very likely that different cellars would start reaching out for some assistance.
What are your plans for 2011?
I was invited to be juror at the “11th International Wine Competition of Thessaloniki”, which will take place between March 8 and 10 next year in the city of Thessaloniki. This will be a test but also an acknowledgment of the silent work I have accomplished here in Greece.
Andes Wines
andes@andeswines.com
twitter: andeswines
ARGENTINA LOSES 25-30% WINE GRAPES DUE TO FROSTY CONDITIONS
For the past week, an icy situation has been worrying many growers in key Argentinean wine valleys: the much feared zonda and later frost. According to experts, this current climate event could generate losses in production of wine grapes from 25% to 30%, reports AndesWines.com
The latest reports show that micro wine growing regions Agrelo, Sur de La Consulta, Ugarteche y Altamira have resulted affected in specific areas.
This year’s frost has been the largest one in years, say local growers. Nonetheless, AndesWines reports that enologists and wine producers are expecting grape prices to stay below record levels because of last year’s price spike, especially in the areas that produce Premium grapes.
Familia Catena’s chief enologist, Alejandro Vigil, explained to AndesWines.com that the frost destroyed many recent sprouts and that the weather conditions drew humidity of the zones, allowing the rime to stay longer.
The CEO of Bodega Melipal, Santiago Santamaría, added that operations in Agrelo, region with a small frost history and where the company’s head operations are located, will register small losses in Merlot, while some Malbec lots will also have to be downsized.
The chief enologist from Bodega Kaikén, Eduardo Alemparte, explained that the current frost episode was more intense and longest than in previous years, with temperatures dropping to -4°C in some areas.
Alemparte insisted that “the previous frost did not affect us so much, because for many of the varieties, at least in the first region and in the Uco valley, the vines hadn’t blossomed yet. I think there will not be a setback to the sprouts, they will recover but we will have to wait to
see if there were any damages to the fruit. I do believe it’s highly unlikable because they were in a pre-blooming state”.
Andes Wines
(56) 9-9 219 7117
twitter: andeswines
Grapes are good…wine even better!!
RESULTS ARGENTINA AND CHILE TASTING IN MENDOZA
This past weekend, the classic wine tasting “Vinos de la Cordillera” in Mendoza, Argentina, not only put to the test both Chilean and Argentinean brands, but also raised some key issues regarding the quality of Andean wines.
The 24 wines that participated in this judged wine competition –half from Argentina, half from Chile – were assessed by a panel of 78 experts, among them wine connoisseur journalists, wine producers, enologists, growers and sommeliers.
The fact that Argentinean tasters doubled the number of Chilean tasters was a key influence in the results, notes AndesWines.com “Having most of the judges from Argentina allowed us to identify a specific taste preference, and therefore the selected Chilean competitors offered a great variety of grape types and put forward a broader set of aromas and flavors such as Carignan, Sauvignon Blanc, Malbec, Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon, in a blind tasting that went on for five hours”, says Maximiliano Morales from AndesWines, one of the experts in the panel.
From the 24 wines being assessed, 18 received scores over 90 points, of which ten were Argentinean and eight Chilean. With 93 points Black Tears Tapiz 2006 Malbec was the winner and great smiles and fun among the participants ocurred.
From Argentina the wineries that got over 90 points were Trapiche, Cuvelier Los Andes, Cobos, Lagarde, Magdalena Toso, Terrazas de los Andes, Vistalba, Altavista and Tapiz. Meanwhile, from Chile the highest scores were Errázuriz, Montes, Polkura, Casas del Bosque, Los Vascos, Tabalí, Viu Manent y Ribera del Lago, all of which come from diverse terroir backgrounds and locations in the valleys of Limarí, Aconcagua, Colchagua, Casablanca and Maule in Chile (with over 900 kilometers of distance between them).
Technology was also an attraction at this event. All wine tasters used a top of the art software which, through Wi-fi connection, showed in a public screen the reviews and scores for each brand, allowing an immediate interaction with the public. The judges who gave the highest and lowest score would also explain the reasons behind their decision.
“Vinos de la Cordillera” was brought up by Argentinean journalist Enrique Chrabolowsky, Wine editor at Cuisine & Vins magazine, with the help of prestigious wineries and members of the wine community. Its first version was held in October 2006, after which its following versions took place in the Colchagua Valley, returning to Mendoza this year.
Also, wine writer Mariana Martinez, was in charge of coordinating the participation of the Chilean wineries and special guests in this key event.
Scores:
93 Argentina: Black Tears Tapiz 2006 Malbec
92 Chile: Tabali Payen Syrah 2007 , Limari
92 Argentina: Cobos Nico Corte Unico 2008
92 Argentina: Cuvelier los Andes Gran Vin 2007
91 Chile: Los Vascos Sauvignon Blanc 2010 Casablanca
91 Argentina: Finca Las Palmas Trapiche Chardonnay 2007
91 Chile: Casas del Bosque Gran Reserva Sauvignon Blanc 2010
91 Chile: Polkura Malbec Colchagua 2008
91 Chile: Montes Alpha M 2007 Colchagua
90 Argentina: Henry 1 Lagarde 2007
90 Argentina: Magdalena Tosso Blend 2006
90 Chile: Viu1 Viu Manent 2007, Colchagua
90 Chile Errazuriz Don Maximiano Cabernet Sauvignon Aconcagua 2007
90 Argentina: Afincado Malbec Terrazas 2007
90 Argentina: Nicasia Catena zapata 2007
90 Argentina: Altavista Alizarine Single Vineyard Malbec 2008
90 Chile: Ribera del Lago Laberinto 2007, Maule
90 Argentina: Tomero Syrah 2008 Vistalba
Andes Wines
andes@andeswines.com
twitter: andeswines
FOREIGN WINE EXPERTS WILL TASTE CHILEAN AND ARGENTINEAN ICON WINES
A team of Chilean, Argentinean, Spanish, Peruvian, Brazilian, French and American wine experts were selected to participate in one of the most influential wine tastings in both sides of the Cordillera de los Andes, the renowned Fifth Wine Tasting called “Vinos de la Cordillera”, which will take place between October 29 and 30th in Mendoza, Argentina says AndesWines.com
Renowned enologists, sommeliers, wine journalists and winemakers of some of the most important wineries in Chile and Argentina, will be among the 90 guests attending this event, joined up by experts from Spain, Perú, Brazil, France and the United States.
Top of the line tasting
A total of 24 different brands from Argentina and Chile -12 from each countries- will be the main attraction of this blind wine tasting, where the selection of the bottles will be completely random, under regulation of the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV).
Among the Chilean wine tasters participating will be enologist Grant Phelps from Viña Casas del Bosque, Brett Jacskon from Valdivieso, Cristobal Undurraga (former Viña Undurraga) from Koyle, José Miguel Sotomayor from Santa Cruz, Felipe Ramirez from Nativa, Viña Santa Rita, among others.
The selected panel of experts is composed of some of the most influential professionals of the wine industry, therefore the 24 wines that will be put to the test will receive a much larger recognition among the public, says Patricio de la Cruz from Andes Wines.
But this event will not only have wine as its main attraction. Technology promises to be a leading character. All wine tester will keep record of their findings thanks to a sophisticated software that, through Wi-fi connection, will make the process of keeping score more efficient.
The software will provide average scores, graph the development of the 24 marks and will highlight those wines that receive more than 90 points.
“Vinos de la Cordillera” event was brought up by Argentinean journalist Enrique Chrabolowsky, Wine editor at Cuisine & Vins magazine, with the help of prestigious wineries and members of the wine community. Its first version was held in October 2006, after which its following versions took place in the Colchagua Valley, returning to Mendoza this year.
Wine writer Mariana Martinez, will be in charge of coordinating the participation of the Chilean wineries and special guests in this key event.
andes@andeswines.com
DOLLAR DROP PUTS ON ALERT CHILEAN WINE INDUSTRY
Report of Andes Wines: The income of wineries is less since the dollar started to drop and this created an reengineering process of the wine strategies of sales and commercialization that could help them to face better this period of time.
Topics like the rescue of the miners, the change of image of Chile like a modern and effective country are helping to raise the orders of wines near 25 % in several countries, and in most of the cases, wineries are mantaining or increasing the prices due to new wine categories of better quality and exclusive productions. One of the decisions is to raise the prices of export – for several years the vineyards and wine associations have criticized that the Chilean wines have very low prices for his quality – and today it is probably the perfect point of inflexion to change it and to correct it towards an upward path, as says AndesWines.
This can be achieved by creating wines with character, terroir and unique personality for example from extreme wine regions like Bio Bio, Itata, Leyda, Elqui or Limari valleys, where there has been verified that wines are achieved with less alcoholic degree, unique personality, flavors and own aromas of these new productive areas of the country.
This means to select grapes of certain sectors of the vineyard and if they add a wine marketing work from the soil and up to label, it is possible to generate the interest on the international market.
In the meantime, for some other wineries they must focus on the domestic market to overcome the lower dollar rate. Inside the country the competition is furious with a great diversity of brands and qualities of wines. On this way, they can compensate the losses for the type of change; focusing in the area of restaurants and small shops being a real option for small and medium size wineries.
An effective strategy to improve the sales of wines on the domestic market is by the organization of wine events and actions where the consumer could taste new brands and types of wines.
An example is what Atton Hotel in Santiago is doing with the wine campaign called “Drink a glass of wine with us” thanks to an exclusive dispenser of 24 wines (red and whites) of new and traditional brands like Anakena, Lagar de Bezan, Gracia, Casa Marin, Viu Manent and Casanueva. In this case, the consumer will be able to taste wines by choosing with a card preloaded with money.
Andes Wines
andes@andeswines.com
Beer Tasting of Belgium and Chilean Beers
The wine & Beer Circle of Andes Wines organized a Beer Tasting in Chile at Restaurant Santiago Colonial incharge of Sommelier Franco Alarcón. The tasted beer were Duvel, Maredsous Brune, Capital Indian Ale and Ambar Ale, and Kunstmann Trigo, Miel Gran Torobayo, Lagar sin filtrar and Anwandter.
August 24th the Wine Circle of Andes Wines will celebrate a Carmenere Wine Tasting in English at Restaurant De Cangrejo a Conejo desde las 20,30 a 22,30. To participate write to andes@andeswines.com
#winetuiteros started at Baco in Santiago. Agronomist, winemakers and wine lovers started a myth and a monthly meeting. We tasted Icon Wines from Ossa (La Rosa), El Incidente (Viu Manent), Payén (Tabali), Pinot Noir Starry Night, Sauvignon Blanc (Tabali)
First #winetuiteros meeting in Santiago
andes@andeswines.com
FOREIGN WINES TO BE SOLD IN CHILE AS A EFFECTIVE STRATEGY
In Chile several consumers like Chilean citizenships, foreign residents and tourists are willing to buy and taste foreign wines like Malbec from Argentina, French Wines, Italian Wines, Tannat from Uruguay, Brazilian Sparkling Wine or Australian Syrah, however the sale strategies have not been focused to promote the exit of many of these wines that are immobilized in the country.
This fact motivated the wine marketing company of Andes Wines to include foreign wines in their future sales starting in August due to the fact that many current clients requested them these type of wines.
“We will invite all the foreign wineries that have wines in the country to join our next wine sale in August, considering we finish this week our third wine sale in Mall Paseo Quilin with total sales of over U$120.000 for only 30 days. The majority of the clients have asked us if we will have foreign wines for the next event and we decided to have 30% of wines from countries like Spain, France, Italy, Argentina, Brasil, Australia or any interested, indicated Maximiliano Morales, General Manager of Andes Wines.
In the last months the sales of Andes Wines were consolidated as an effective channel of commercialization of small and medium size producers of delikatessen and wines from all wine valleys from north to south, all of them with limited productions and from high standard quality with very competitive prices.
The wine prices go from U$2 up to U$25 dollars the bottle that is why we believe that it is a great business niche for the foreign wineries that have their stocks immobilized in Chile.
The wineries that are participating in this last wine sale are Von Kremser, La Rosa, EOV, Santa Cruz, Valle Secreto, Calyptra, Portal del Alto, Lagar de Bezana, Terramater, Spanish Berries Pacharán, Olive oil and Avocado Oil, and the handcrafted beers The Capital and Edelstoff.
andes@andeswines.com
MATCHING CHINESE FOOD AND WINE, ONLINE
Author of the oldest continuous Chinese-language wine column in the world, Poh Tiong Chng of Singapore, was at last week’s Bordeaux MW Symposium and announced that he was just about to publish a major work on matching Chinese food and wine, 108 Great Chinese Dishes Paired. Apparently, in printed form it is, like Jeannie Cho Lee MW’s Asian Palate, a particularly handsome tome.
But the great thing for us – and for the planet, obviating the need to ship substantial fractions of whole trees thousands of miles – is that it has also just been published, free, online at www.108chinesepairings.com.
Poh Tiong explains that it was inspired by the same number of outlaws in the Song Dynasty (960-1279 AD) literary classic, Water Margin, and the dishes have been selected from throughout China. He promises the following discoveries:
China’s greatest dish, named for a calligrapher, poet, painter and twice-exiled beloved scholar official (page 18)
Which wines pair best with Peking Duck (page 34)
Whether Fujian Province invented the sandwich before the Earl of Sandwich came up with the idea (page 66)
Why dried abalones are measured in ‘heads’ and why this precious delicacy deserves a creamy Chardonnay (page 90)
Why a dish called Two Face Yellow means no offence at all (page 100)
The visual beauty of Huaiyang cuisine’s cold and warm starters (page 140)
That the most famous fried-rice dish in the world is a fraud perpetuated daily across our planet (page 152)
The Englishman who created China’s first foreign joint-venture winery and who is buried behind the vineyard (page 186)
Why the Chinese government abuses chickens every day (page 202)
We do listen. One very strong message from our members’ survey feedback was that the single most popular feature on the site, the Tasting notes search that gives you access to our 46,000 tasting notes, should be just one click away from the home page.
Tarrah!! Kindly note two changes to the home page.
Firstly, Tasting notes is the default choice in the general search box in the top-right-hand corner of the home page and this will take you straight to the Tasting notes search. You can still scroll through the other choices in the drop-down menu to search the Oxford Companion to Wine, the Members’ forum and the rest of the site.
And secondly, if you’d rather reach it via the horizontal menu along the top, then just clicking on ‘Tasting notes’ top left (just right of ‘Home’) will also bring up the Tasting notes search immediately.
Here, just to remind you, is a recap on how our tasting notes search works. And I am delighted to pass on to those who commented that they preferred the search on erobertparker.com that at last week’s Bordeaux MW Symposium, the sainted Eric LeVine told me he thought ours was superior. Sorry if that sounds like a great big raspberry…
How to use our Tasting notes search
Here is how to get the most out of our database of 46,000 tasting notes.
The easiest (but not the only) way to find tasting notes is to use the general search box on top right of any page and choose the default, ‘Tasting notes’, from the drop-down menu. Just key in the salient words, eg ‘Coche Dury Corton 1998′ for a specific wine or ‘Talbot’ for a set of tasting notes on that château over all vintages. Clicking on ‘Go’ or simply hitting the ‘Enter’ key will bring up all results, which can then be sorted as you wish (see below).
If you click on ‘Advanced search’ instead of ‘Go’, you will be taken to the detailed options explained in the next paragraph.
If you want to search for a narrower set of tasting notes, you can click on ‘Tasting notes’ on the horizontal menu along the top of any page. This now takes you directly to our Tasting notes search. You will see lots of boxes in the right-hand column. Just fill them in to be as specific as you wish.
Most important point: When the results come up, you can order them as you wish by clicking on the headings. So if, for example, you want the most recent tasting note first, click on ‘Date tasted’. If you want to order them by vintage, click on ‘Vintage’. If you want to order them by score, guess what… And you can order them alphabetically by Producer, or Wine name. You can change which way they are ordered (for example, oldest to youngest or youngest to oldest) by clicking on the title again.
Using all permutations available, it is very easy to see tasting notes on a particular wine over lots of different vintages, or vice versa, or, say, all Bordeaux 1998 over a certain score, or all of them ready to drink from 2012, or all notes published in 2005. It’s just a question of filling in the relevant fields, and then ordering the results as you wish.
CALLING ALL YOUNG WINE WRITERS BY JANCIS ROBINSON MW
Applications are invited for the annual Young Wine Writer Award competition, open to all ambitious UK-based under 30 year olds. As we learnt from the recent subscriber survey, that category may account for only 5.4% of Purple pages members, but perhaps the other 94.6% can help spread the word!
As a sage 31 year old, I am sadly ineligible, but as a previous runner-up (twice, in 2007 and 2008, the 2008 near miss being described here and pictured above), I can offer some perspective on its impact. For a start, it is the only competition I am aware of aimed specifically at young talent – although having said that, the 2010 Louis Roederer International Writers’ Awards includes an ‘emerging wine writer’ category for the first time. Results will be announced, for both competitions, in September.
The Young Wine Writer Award represents a unique opportunity to garner some recognition. Wine writing has always been a challenging career option, and while the web gives everyone the opportunity to be read, writing of any sort is hardly a guaranteed path to riches. A very in-depth discussion of such matters can be read in Jancis’ speech Wine journalists – endangered species?, given in Australia last year.
So the Young Wine Writer Award is a real chance to ensure that new writers are fostered and encouraged, and it certainly helped me even though I didn’t actually win. After I heard that I had narrowly missed out, I decided to strike while the iron was hot, and so contacted Jancis out of the blue to see what she thought of my entry. As I was working a vintage in McLaren Vale at the time, she asked me to pitch something about life as a cellar rat, which led to my first article on Purple pages, over two years ago.
Last year’s winner was Nicola Cornelius, who works for UK importer Liberty Wines. Since winning, she has been enjoying the benefits of a year’s membership of the Circle of Wine Writers, and the opportunities for tastings and travel that brings, whilst keeping the all-important day job.
The winner in 2007 was Ray O’Connor, who now works for the International Wine Challenge, writing their annual World’s Best Wines guide and their blog, as well as a monthly column in Scan magazine, and features in Harpers, The Irish Times and Drinks International. ‘Winning the award really opened up doors’, he says, ‘and I definitely got opportunities that I wouldn’t have otherwise enjoyed’.
Rebecca Gibb won in 2006, and she speaks also of doors, telling me ‘the Young Wine Writer award opened the door to a wine-writing career, but it’s all about pushing those doors open – and that’s up to the individual. I took the opportunity to do a two-week work placement at Harpers after meeting the then editor, Christian Davis, at the awards. I was then offered a full-time (paid!) role, which meant moving to London, writing about wine every day, and interviewing the movers and shakers of the industry. It did change my life and can be the stepping stone to a career writing about wine.’ She now writes freelance from New Zealand, as well as writing her own blog and studying for the Master of Wine qualification.
Stuart George won in 2003 and is now a freelancer, after a very successful stint with The World of Fine Wine magazine. He told essentialwriters.com that winning the award had a big influence on his life. ‘I doubt very much that I would have become a writer if I hadn’t won the award. I was destined to continue my career in the wine trade and had no thoughts of becoming a wine writer. It was a big boost to win and introduced me to many influential people and a different career.’
Perhaps most successful of all prior winners, though, is the 2001 victor Peter Richards, who has become a well-known author, educator and broadcaster with a particular specialism in Chile. Amongst his many other activities, Peter runs the Winchester Wine School with his wife, Susie Barrie MW.
It is a rite of passage, then, for many a young, aspiring writer. Plus, the winner gets a two-week trip to Australia and £1,000 as their prize! All the details about the competition can be found at Oz Clarke’s website. His publisher, Pavilion Books, sponsors the event.
Does Machine Harvesting Lower Wine Quality?…As some of you know, I recently spent some time on a press trip down in Australia. I’m still working through my notes from that trip, but one of the main points of interest for me were the vineyard practices of many of the producers, in particular with regards to harvesting. Many wineries, of various sizes, opted to do mechanical harvesting, rather than harvest by hand.
“Opted” may be slightly inaccurate, however, as the choice is less one of philosophy rather than necessity for most. While the United States, Europe, South Africa and other major wine regions have the benefit of rather large populations of people willing and able to take on the low-wage, high effort labor of managing and harvesting vineyards, Australia most certainly does not. While it is a country of immigrants, the population remains quite low, and the costs of managing vineyards by hand end up being quite high.
So many wineries do a lot of work by machine whenever they can, reserving their hand labor for things like the old bush vines that cannot be harvested by anything other than a stooping back and a sharp blade.
Machine harvesting has several implications to the nature of wine production. To harvest by machine, the grapes must be trained on vertical trellises (or other such regular arrangements), and larger blocks need to be harvested at once, regardless of some of the smaller variations in ripeness between vines, or even between clusters on the same vines. The grapes are moved about using centripetal force and conveyor belts and gravity, and more MOG (Material Other than Grapes) ends up in the bins that get transported to the winery.
Authorized by Alder Yarrow to publish in Andes Wines.
JOHN HOLL: CHANGES ARE COMING TO THE BREWER’S ASSOCIATION
Bob Pease, who has served as Vice President of the non-profit trade group since 1999, has been promoted to Chief Operating Officer. Charlie Papazian, remains President and CEO to focus on stewardship, government affairs, beer community relations and serving as a beer ambassador, according to a press release issued by the Brewer’s Association on Thursday. By John Holl
In his new role Pease will take on additional responsibilities in the area of personnel administration, and oversight in key operational areas such as finance and IT, with an enhanced role in government affairs.
“Since 1978, I have enjoyed championing the best interest of craft brewers and craft beer. I have seen the beer community through many dramatic changes—changes that are ultimately serving the best interests of both beer drinkers and brewers,” Papazian said in a statement.” I feel fortunate to continue leading the organization with someone as loyal and dedicated to the beer community as Bob. It’s also a privilege to have the guidance of a group of people as dynamic and passionate as our board of directors. Continuing my involvement is like waking up each morning in a beer garden, knowing there’s always another round being served.”
The Brewer’s Association, based in Colorado has 31 full-time employees and serves 1,395 Brewery Members, 170 Wholesalers, 297 Allied Trade Members and more than 20,000 American Homebrewers Association Members.
“I think I speak for both Charlie and myself in saying that we look forward to continued development of our ability to serve members and protect the interests of the broader beer and brewing community,” said Pease.
andes@andeswines.com
Vinography.com / Wine and the Internet in France
I’ve often decried the pig-headed idiocy of the French government in its persistent cowing to the lobbying interests of puritanical organizations like National Association for Prevention in Alcoholism and Addiction. Here in America, corporations have our government in their pockets. In France, it’s the anti-alcohol zealots, who nearly succeeded in getting the government to ban web sites about wine from the internet (thankfully, some common sense prevailed).
And people wonder why per capita wine consumption has plummeted by 50% in France over the past decade according to some sources?
Consequently, I was quite intrigued to read a study that was recently sent to me by an organization called SOWINE, which polled over a thousand French citizens ages 18 to 65 on about their information consumption habits when it comes to wine.
Here are some of the results that the French government should really be paying attention to:
Thanks to the coordination of Huentata Servicios Turísticos, we travelled to the high mountain range of Argentina´s side of the Andes. We visited Valle de Uspallata, Punta de Vacas, Polvaredas, Puente del Inca, Las Cuevas, Cristo Redentor, among other places.
Enjoy the photos of last trip to Chacras de Coria in Mendoza where we visited Restaurant of Bodega Belasco de Baquedano, Restaurant La Piadina, Altavista, Bodega de Carmelo Patti, Restaurant de Bodega Clos de Chacras, Restaurant Las Negras, Posada de Besares, Restaurant Mar & Monte y Boutique Hotel Lares de Chacras.
Enjoy a small review of the interviews with some of the best guests to the radio show of “Stu” The Wine Guru. January 27th: Celebrity Guest May Pang. That’s right. May Pang: Author of INSTAMATIC KARMA, Music Biz legend and some say the one who inspired John Lennon to create some of his best solo work post the Beatles.Stu had the incredible pleasure of welcoming May Pang to his show. Stu and May discussed music, wine,her history growing up in NYC, what it was like to live with JOhn Lennon and be in the studio with a BEATLE, and what May has been up to.
February 24th: Award Winning Wine Maker: Ian Hongell of Peter Lehmann Wines.
March 3rd: In the wake of the Earthquake in Chile, CEO of Andes Wines Max Morales who lives in Concepcion,Chile came on the show. Max updated Stu’s listeners on all the breaking news out of Chile. He also spoke about the Chilean Wine Industry and it’s fate at that moment. Max broke out how the Chilean wine region produces wine, he also gave insight into what the future of the wine industry in Chile post the earthquake will face to get their feet back firmly on solid ground.
March 31st : Top Napa Valley Wine Maker David Duncan of Silver Oak Cellars and Twomey Cellars Joined Stu on the show. If you have ever tasted Silver Oak or Twomey, you know you have tasted some of the best wine produced out of California. David went over his growing up in the family business, how Silver Oak came to be world reknowned as one of the best Cabernet Sauvignon’s. He also took calls and answered emails from listeners all over the world wanting to know “if some of the earlier vintages are still available for sale”, “Why they chose to make Cabs exclusively with Silver Oak and not other varietals” He also opened up about how Napa Valley wine makers are very proud of the wine makers in the region and talk eachother up.
April 7th: Guest and sponsor was Tim Pearson of 7 Springs Vineyard in the beautiful Hermanus area of the Western Cape in South Africa. He taked about his vineyard, South Africa as a wine producer, his wines and mission for his company. Tim also fielded calls and emails about why he chose South Africa to produce his first vintage of wines, how he chose a viticulturist, what it is like to be a first time vintner and much more.
Introduction of Graham Fields from En Buena Compañia Wines (EBC Wines) from San Rafael, Argentina.
Istvan Szepsy’s Tokaji by Jancis Robinson
Authorized to published in AndesWines.com by Jancis Robinson: I managed to taste a few dozen Hungarian wines while in Budapest last weekend and found them generally of a high standard. (I will be reporting in more detail.) But in Hungary is one absolutely outstanding producer who will be well known to any wine lover familiar with Hungary but whose wines deserve far more international attention.
István Szepsy’s wines are not cheap. In fact the average price of wine in Hungary is quite high – for imported wines as well as for Hungarian wines, partly because so many Hungarian winemakers are so ambitious. But I do feel the word genius is not too hyperbolic a word to describe the modest Mr Szepsy. He is based in Tokaj, Hungary’s world-famous sweet wine country, on some of the most extraordinary, and extraordinarily varied, soils in the world of wine.
He carries the same surname as the man who originally put immortal sweet Tokaji, reputed to revive corpses, on the map by developing the complex Aszu technique in the seventeenth century, and is today the acknowledged king of that unique wine style. But, unfortunately for the locals and the many foreigners who have invested there, sweet wines are not in vogue. (You may have noticed this.)
As a consequence, as we have noted here, wine producers in Tokaj have been focusing increasing attention on dry wines. In a tasting he led at last weekend’s VinCE wine fair, and at a subsequent private tasting we attended together, Szepsy admitted, ‘nowadays we cannot survive financially without dry wines. For a long time I didn’t drink them because I have a very weak stomach and they used to be too acid.’ (I dread to think what life must be like as a Tokaji producer who finds it difficult to digest acidity…) He continued, ‘I didn’t believe in them at first but today I cannot imagine our future without dry wines. I don’t know the ideal style yet. I know only directions. We’re trying new things every day and we try to integrate feedback from consumers into the style too.’
He is continuing to explore the potential of new areas in the Tokaj region, and of course the vines are getting older and the wines more intense all the time. He makes enormous sacrifices in terms of crop thinning and even cutting off the wings of individual bunches to imbue his wines with the essential character of each parcel of vines. Although he continues to make sweet wines that stand head and shoulders above those of most of his peers, his aim is increasingly to understand the very precise but varied character of his different vineyards and express them in a range of dry wines, notably from the great grape of Tokaj, Furmint – although he does make varietal Hárslevelű too. (Unfortunately I did not have a chance to taste any on this trip.)
Szepsy says that he conducted an experimental blind tasting with some very well qualified palates (I got the impression they were French sommeliers but I may be wrong) to compare how accurately they could spot individual vineyards in a range of his wines and in a range of Côte d’Or white burgundies and – guess what? – the Furmints were much more expressive than the Chardonnays. (He ages them in large Hungarian oak.)
The sweet wines are sold in the half-litre flasks characteristic of Tokaji, and you can also taste some of the Szepsy magic in various bottlings from Királyudvar, the Tokaji estate run alongside Domaine Huet of Vouvray by owner Anthony Hwang, where Szepsy was involved until 2006 (see my recent tasting notes on Huet and Királyudvar).
I can honestly and thoroughly recommend any Szepsy wine, though among dry wines, the individual vineyard bottlings such as Szent Tamás (St Thomas) are by far the most exciting, have real potential to age, and deserve a place in any fine wine lover’s cellar. I prefer the 2008 vintage to the 2007 of the ‘basic’ (if that is not too insulting a word) dry wine, the Estate Furmint. The dry wines tend to retail at between £20 and £33 a bottle while his painstakingly made sweet wines are even more expensive: from around £40 to hundreds of pounds a bottle.
But, unusually, I do think these expensive wines are worth it. Szepsy is utterly convincing. Very low key, very quiet, obviously thoughtful and troubled, he says ‘the quest for quality is a daily way of life’. He is clearly on a journey, and fortunately has his son and daughters alongside him so he almost certainly has not arrived at the final destination. ‘In terms of style there are no limits’, is another of his observations.
Clicking on the Find these wines link above or below reveals many a listing around the world. In the UK the wines are imported by fellow Hungarian Akos Forczek of Top Selection and listed mainly by Fortnum & Mason (who even had an ownülabel sweet wine from Szepsy until recently), Huntsworth Wine of Kensington Church Street, Selfridge’s, and online, though chiefly by the six-bottle pack, via www.one4wine.com
Some releases are also offered for sale here on Szepsy’s own website at prices from 18 to 80 euros a bottle.
Authorized to published in AndesWines.com by Jancis Robinson
andes@andeswines.com
SMALL BOTTLES, BIG BEER By JOHN HOLL
Rogue selling its XS Series in Nip Bottles. Sometimes all you want is a taste. Step into your local beer shop and it’s not uncommon to see shelf after shelf of brews from hundreds of breweries in all styles and a variety of packaging. From the ubiquitous cans and 12 bottles to the more elaborate cage and cork bottles, some with wax seals and yet others with swing tops.
Breweries it seems have been trending not only towards big beers – with a high alcohol or IBU punch – but big bottles as well. Special offerings often come in 22oz or 750ml offerings, and some breweries use them as their primary packaging.
Rogue Ales of Oregon is one such brewery that bottles most of its beer in 22oz “bomber bottles” or 750ml ceramic vessels.
Now, rogue is Rogue is in the process of rolling out 7oz nip bottles.
Yes. 7oz, less than half a pint. But, just because the bottles are small it doesn’t mean the beers are. The nips will hold the Rogue XS series, the beers where Rogue brewers have fun, get a little crazy and kick up the alcohol content and get unique with ingredients.
“It’s a kind-of return to our heritage,” said Brett Joyce, president of Rogue. “When we first released XS, we offered them in 7oz bottles before we moved to the ceramic 750ml bottles.”
Joyce said the move back to 7oz was largely economical. “The proportion of cost of beer and cost of bottle got of control.”
So, the ceramics will be retired, but could make an appearance for “specials beers” down the road, said Joyce.
The brewery is also changing up its release schedule for the XS series, said Joyce. Where as the beers were available year round, the beers will now become seasonal offerings.
Currently, the Russian Imperial Stout is on shelves. In April it will be replaced by the Imperial Red. Summer months will bring the YSB English Bitter and I2PA. Late Fall will bring a Scotch Ale and by December the Old Crustacean Barley Wine will be on shelves.
7oz bottles are nothing new, of course. On the east, there are beers like Rolling Rock that are known for their green 7oz bottles, that many know as pony bottles. During the summer, it’s not unusual to see smaller bottles of Corona, known as Coronita, just about anywhere the sun is out and there is water close by.
Joyce said that the bottles will retail individually for about $3.99 each.
“It’s a third of the price from the larger bottles,” he said. “It’s an affordable way to have access to variety.”
andes@andeswines.com
Gallery Photo of Greek Wineries
During a week in november of 2009, AndesWines.com visited Greece and the wineries: Biblia Chora, Geravasiliou, katogi Strofilia, Kir Yianny. We tasted several interesting wines. andes@andeswines.com
Leaving the urban development of La Serena behind, we travel east along the transversal valley named after the river Elqui, towards the city of Vicuña.
The low cloud cover associated with the coast is also left behind and the temperatures rise as we travel inland into the semi arid desert. Vegetable production is replaced by fruit, especially the Chilean papaya and the custard apple, only to be taken over by vast carpets of vineyards.
The heat and warmth of the sun provides long clear periods of clear sunshine which allows excellent conditions for grape production. Traditionally, it is here in this region that the
grapes are grown for export as table grapes or for the local production of ‘pisco’ which is the national drink of Chile, made from a sweet wine which then goes through a process of
distillation.
About an hour into the valley we come to the small city of Vicuña, nestling among the mountains which mark the divide between the low coastal mountains and the high Andes range of the cordillera. From here, the ascent into the narrower valleys becomes more marked as we climb upwards into the majestic pyramid shapes of the sun baked exposed rocky sand coloured mountains contrasting with the cerulean blue of the open sky.
Another forty minutes along the road to Monte Grande brings us to the smallest and highest boutique winery in Chile, Cavas del Valle, situated on the slopes near to the river (1,000 metres
above sea level). Here, the owners, Marlies and Raymundo welcome visitors to this unique winery in the converted old pastoral house or ‘casona’.
They usually give a small tour about the process of making the wine, accompanied by classical music playing softly in the background. The storage room with its collection of clocks also
exhibits some of the modern sculptures which are arranged throughout the winery. This family run concern has an average production of 20,000 bottles per year, small output by Chilean
standards but the quality of the wine produced, especially the Shiraz, allow local output through hotels as well as some exportation to Europe.
The outside patio terrace area is an exquisite place to enjoy the tasting of the different wines, sitting in the shade from the hot sun and enjoying the peace which pervades this haven of warm
tranquility.
There are several good hotels or cabanas in the locality which are ideal to enjoy not only the warmth and sun but also the relaxation which this special valley promotes. Many of these will be happy to serve a glass or two from the Cavas del Valle carta with the local gastronomy so that your journey may be replete. The magic of this Valley will unfold as the night stars appear in the clearest skies of the world, an unforgettable experience.
By Judith Plaza from La Serena in Chile
Bilingual Tour Guide of Tailor Made Wine Tours By AndesWines.com
Andes Wines Communications ™
andes@andeswines.com
Chilean Quake’s Wine Toll by Elin McCoy
February’s quake has damaged wineries and vineyards and delayed the white grape harvest in Chile. The massive 8.8 magnitude earthquake that shook Chile on Feb. 27 and killed more than 800 people hit the country’s wineries hard.
For the past week, dozens of winemakers have been tweeting tales of toppled and cracked tanks, crashed barrels, collapsed buildings, broken bottles and vast amounts of wine lost, streaming onto floors.
Yet among these sad tales were small triumphs.
“One tank standing on Saturday was about to collapse this morning. Racked off and wine saved. 12.000 liters of #Polkura 2008. Hurra!!” tweeted Sven Bruchfeld, co-owner of tiny boutique project Agricola la Vina, on the Monday after the quake. (You can access tweets from dozens of producers on the Twitter page of Wine Spectator writer James Molesworth at http://twitter.com/jmolesworth1.)
On Wednesday, March 3, Rene Merino, president of Wines of Chile issued an initial report, stating that about 125 million liters of wine had been lost (about 14 million cases), with a value of about $250 million. That’s about 12.5 percent of 2009′s 1.01 billion liters. He stressed that the wine situation was not as bad as originally feared.
But the report acknowledged that infrastructure damage at wineries varies greatly and still hasn’t been fully assessed. On Friday, Chile’s ambassador to the United Nations upped the damage figure to at least $280 million. I’ve noticed a disconnect between “official” releases and the many reports from individual producers, some of whom say they’ve lost a million or more liters of wine.
My friend Max Morales, CEO of Andeswines.com, emailed Thursday from Concepcion — Chile’s second-largest city — in the Bio-Bio region, “It looks like a war zone.” The majority of vineyards in the coast and central valley, he said, seem to be unaffected by earthquake, luckily. Destruction at wineries varies widely from one valley to the other.
Complicating the situation have been continuing serious aftershocks and tsunamis that demolished shipping ports with 10- to 20-meter high waves.
The hardest hit wine regions — Colchagua Valley, Curico Valley, Bio-Bio and Maule — are far south of the capital city of Santiago.
Just how much damage was done isn’t completely known. Giant winery Concha y Toro set aside a week to assess. Phone and Internet services were out for days, so traveling winery owners couldn’t even reach employees.
The week before the quake, I was tasting wines in New York with Miguel Torres Maczassek, who has been in charge of his family’s Chilean Torres Winery in Curico since January. Getting home took him 40 hours, via Brazil, Argentina and a bus over the Andes Mountains from Mendoza. Hundreds of houses in Curico are now just rocks on the ground, he reported by email. At his winery, he found 100,000 liters of wine destroyed, 300 oak barrels smashed and structural damage to one old section — and Torres counts himself one of the luckier ones.
In Maule, 120 miles south of Santiago and close to the epicenter of the quake, the J. Bouchon winery lost 150,000 liters of wine and the old winery was leveled.
Once known primarily as a bulk region, Maule has been rediscovered in the last few years by ambitious winemakers for its 60- to 90-year-old vines of carignan grapes. On my visit last December, I was stunned by the dark, brooding quality of wines made from them. Among the top ones was the juicy, violet-scented 2006 Carignan Riserva from Gillmore Winery, one of the region’s tiny boutiques and part of an innovative group of small independent wineries called MOVI. It has suffered earthquake losses of 20 percent. One of the best of Torres’ new wines was the 2007 Cordillera Carinena, made from old vines there.
Winemakers themselves are raising money for others. In Maule, Torres donated 50,000 euros to the Curico council. Garage Wine Company is selling off remaining stocks of the winery’s 2008 carignan kept for samples. The proceeds will go to help the growers and the neighboring town of Sauzal, the zone where dry-farmed old-vine carignan grows, close to the quake’s epicenter.
Now, says Morales, the concern is the harvest, which ordinarily would have started.
In many areas some white grapes are ready to be picked, but wineries have to clean up cellars and assess equipment losses to see how many grapes they can process. No electricity means no pumping and no temperature-controlled fermentation vats. Interviewed on radio program Stu the Wine Guru, Morales also worried about whether there will be enough harvest workers, many of whom are trying to rebuild their own homes.
Tonight, thinking of the many dedicated winemakers I visited last December, I’ll be pulling out a few great Chilean wines to toast their recovery. I urge every wine lover to do the same.
——————————————————————————–
Elin McCoy is wine and spirits columnist for Bloomberg News and author of “The Emperor of Wine: The Rise of Robert M. Parker, Jr. and the Reign of American Taste.”
Photo: Wines of Chile old vines in Maule. Credit: Matt Wilson, courtesy of Wines of Chile.
ANDES WINES ALLIANCE WITH STU, THE WINE GURU
Stu The Wine Guru started his business related to wine in August of 2009 but has been 15 years in the making. Stu started in the music business 20 years ago, in sales and marketing. He travelled extensively throughout the U.S and Canada visiting music retail accounts. He is the host of The Radio Show “Wine Talk with Stu The Wine Guru” with listeners all over the world and he writes Wine Articles & Reviews that have been selected and published by Yahoo and The Examiner.
He also has “My Wine 101 Video Series” which has now appeared worldwide on the internet. He produces 1-2 per month with different wines from different regions and varietals.
1. Explain us the main objective of Stu, The Wine Guru. When did you started and why.
On a trip to Northern California, I was on a business lunch and my client asked me to try some Cabernet. I had not traditionally been a wine drinker, but thought ok, when in Rome. I truly liked what I had tasted and the journey began there. While I was back home in NY at the time, I would read every book and magazine about viticulture and oenology and wine I could.
I travelled the world over the next 15 years, going to Italy, Spain, Portugal, France all over Europe and the surrounding countries, experiencing wines at vineyards and wineries. I would ask the owners to take me into the vineyard and teach me about the grapes and growing them, viticulture, oenology. I was lucky enough to have persuaded them to do so, because I received an education that no one would have received from them.
Feeling that I needed more and to immerse myself in the consumer end, I took a position as manager of a local Wine and Spirits store which was part of a chain in South Florida. I quickly became keenly adept at learning the palettes of my clients and broadening my own. While at work many, many hours a week managing the store, my clients would ask me to do private wine tastings, and manage their collections. In doing so, the idea for “Stu The Wine Guru” was born. My wife actually gave me the idea for the name because she told me I was my clients “Wine Guru”. It stuck and I decided that I would start a wine consulting business and brake away from the retail end. I already had a built client base.
The radio show actually came about as an idea to talk about my wine experiences, travel around the world and to educate wine enthusiast about wine. I also was very familiar with the wine makers that would eventually be guests on my show. I am all about the education of wine and sharing it with everyone. I wanted a platform to talk about the Stu The Wine Guru website I had set up, and Radio was the perfect platform.
2. Can you tell us more about your audience? How many channels and type of communication tools are you providing right now?
The Radio Show Audience:
The show started in October of 09′ and through fantastic word of mouth and buzz within the industry, it took off running. I receive hundreds of emails each week from listeners all over the world. It quickly went from a National to an international show, almost in the blink of an eye. I was inundated with requests from Wine Makers and Vineyards to be a guest on the show. I sort through the requests daily and continue to be selective as to who I choose. The concept is simple: Match the Wine Makers with the Wine enthusiasts and you have a great combination for a show. My listeners travel, have a thirst for education about wine and enjoy hearing the experts and Wine makers talk about it. They learn and they consume the wines of the guests I bring to them and wines I recommend. In fact, they email me back with their opinions on the wines they hear about on my show, and 90% are favourable.
3. What do you expect from this alliance with AndesWines.com?
To offer unmatched exposure to all of the wine related companies and services AndesWines represents, through all of the Stu The Wine Guru promotional markets: Radio, Written Review, Video presentation.
4. Which are the strengths of the several communication options you are providing to wineries?
All are equally strong. I can take a wine company I.E.: Vineyard or Wine Producer and have them sponsor my show and be a guest, Write reviews for their company and wines, and do a Wine Video for them, and accomplish unmatched exposure here in the states and worldwide at a fraction of what it would cost them to hire companies individually to try to accomplish the same.
I have a captured audience of followers who each week look forward to learning about new wine companies and wines. They can’t wait to buy them and experience them. Wine Producers and Wine Related companies get a straight link to the consumer. Immediate feedback.
This alliance will be great for both of us. Everyone wants the exposure and it works all the way around for everyone involved: AndesWines, Stu The Wine Guru, The Client and The Wine Enthusiast Consumer.
I look forward to getting this underway and working hand in hand to serve the wine public.
andes@andeswines.com
CHILEAN WINE INDUSTRY REPORT AFTER EARTHQUAKE BY ANDESWINES.CL
After six days of the 8.8 richter´s scale earthquake impacted Chile, the country is moving forward to recover from the devastation. Food and water started to be delivered along Constitución, Talca, Concepción, Dichato, Pichilemu and several small cities and villages. Seems like will never be enough, however, international and local help started to arrive providing some hope to the people. Report from AndesWines.cl
The damage to wine industry’s infrastructure varies among the different wineries and valleys and has not been fully measured. Wine valleys like Curico, Maule, Rapel (Colchagua) and Itata are the most affected in the wine industry´s points of view.
“The main concern of winemakers right now is to evaluate how much grape they can receive the next couple of weeks considering that the white grapes are close to being picked up. The majority of wineries decided to move the harvest one week because fortunately was a little bit delayed also, and also, they are taking care of the needs of their workers in the countryside first” said CEO of http://www.AndesWines.cl, Maximiliano Morales.
Most of rural areas do not have electricity, so the winemakers are fixing all minor and major problems in the cellar to be prepared to the harvest. Since Thursday, the power came back to some areas of Concepcion and other areas in different valleys and according to official sources, rural areas will take 3 to 5 days to have electricity back.
The majority of vineyards in the coast and central valley are safe and did not get affected by earthquake, however, the damages were very different from one valley to the other. In some areas like Maule and Curicó most of the “adobe” cellars are down, some barrels and wine in the floor, said AndesWines.cl
The bottling lines are working with no trouble and the barrels on the floor are being counted to define how many are lost along the wineries. Highways and ports in San Antonio and Valparaiso are fine and returning to the normal movement, and no delayed should be an issue from orders from overseas.
Most of the “grape harvest celebrations” along the country were suspended in Santa Cruz, San Fernando, Curicó and Talca, because most of the harvest workers and agricultures have serious damage in their “adobe” homes and also, most of the wineries have to clean and fix the cellars and damage constructions to start the white grape harvest along the countryside.
Thanks to reports made by mosto.cl, the coast area of Leyda and San Antonio are in general fine, however, Casa Marin´s Casona from Lo Abarca is falling down after 2 prior earthquakes in the past, and will start the repair as soon as they can. They did not have major wine losses, so they will have no problem to respond to importers and distributors orders internationally. In the case of Casas del Bosque in Casablanca Valley, they lost approximately 5.000 lts. from some barrels falling down, and the touristic facilities are 100% working. In Maipo valley, the reports confirm no major losses, considering the vineyards are fine and the constructions survived.
In Curicó Valley, Miguel Torres winery informed that 300 barrels were smashed, as well as a 100.000 liters´ tanks got broken. Miguel Torres Maczassek, the fifth generation in charge of the winery in Chile started to collect data to help their workers and according to local press donated 50.000 euros to the municipality of Curico to help the devastation of the area.
According to vinorama, the sommelier in charge informed that Francisco Gillmore´s sister died in a terrible moment of the earthquake and they had 20% of loss. In the case of Louise-Antoine Luyt –from Clos Ouvert, in Cauquenes, Maule–, calculates a 70% loss. “All barrels and some tanks are down, however the cellar stayed ok. His house was destroyed”
The movement of independent vinters MOVI informed that Polkura lost part of 2009 wine; Erasmo from Francesco Marone is with minor damage.
After a desperate request from viticulturalist Renan Cancino to get help in the wake of the tragedy to Sauzal, Garage Wine Co., lead by the owner Derek Mossman started a “Carignan Crusade” to help the growers and the neighbouring town of Sauzal, which is next to Cauquenes. This area is precisely the zone where the dry-farmed old-vine Carignan grows. These vines are part of Chilean wine history. They decided to donate the remaining stocks of Carignan 2008 that had kept for counter samples and posterity and send these funds to the people who need them.
Darué Bernard, owner of “Las Niñas Winery” in Apalta in the Colchagua Valley said to La Tercera newspaper that lost 160.000 lits. of wine and 11 years of work due to the major damage in tanks, barrels and infrastructure.
The total loss of wine according to wine association “Vinos de Chile” is approximately 125 million liters, including bulk, bottled, and aging wine, which means about US$ 250 million, which represents a loss of just 12.5% compared to 2009.
andes@andeswines.com
skype: andeswines
TIM ATKIN´S ARTICLE (AUTHORIZED)
Interview with Angelo Gaja: At an age when most men are contemplating the prospect of a free bus pass, Angelo Gaja is as youthful and energetic as ever. His hair may be grey now, but Italy’s most famous winemaker still moves at a pace that is closer to a jog than a stroll. Spend three hours with him and he barely pauses to catch his breath. The flair, the passion, the downright brio of the fellow are remarkable.
Gaja meets me at the entrance to his winery in Barbaresco, dressed in a suit and designer coat with the collar turned up against the cold. The 2009 harvest has barely finished, but Gaja is already buzzing about the wines that are fermenting in his stylish modern cellar. “2009 is like 1990,” he tells me, grabbing my arm for emphasis, “good everywhere. There was a little bit of rain in the south, but in northern and central Italy, it’s an excellent vintage.”
How things have changed. When Gaja joined the family winery in 1961, it was a struggle to make good Barbaresco. “In five vintages out of ten, Nebbiolo didn’t reach 12% alcohol,” he remembers. “We couldn’t chaptalise and even if we reduced yields, it was hard for us. It often rained in September. Climate change has been a boon for Piedmont. Since 1995, the grapes have reached full maturity almost every year.” With the exception of 2002, when Gaja bottled no Barbaresco or Barolo, every other vintage has been “beautiful”, although 2003 was not without its problems. The worry now, says Gaja, is that “too much sun will make alcohol levels too high”.
The Gaja winery was celebrating its 150th anniversary when I visited, complete with an exhibition showing the four different generations, including Gaja’s three children, two of whom are already working in the business. Angelo is often described as the man who dragged Piedmont into the modern world, but as we walk past the photos, he pauses in front of a black and white portrait of his father, Giovanni. “My success is due largely to him,” he tells me. “An artisan is someone who learns from within his family. I went to school with him in the winery and the vineyard.”
FERIA INTERNACIONAL VITIVINICOLA Y GASTRONOMICA INDUSTRIAL
Prueba de posicionamiento internacional.
THE DEBATE OF THE GRAPE VARIETIES
The grapes are having an argument of a shameful level. Very shameful. They are not discussing ideas, but insulting. They don’t see the trunk that underlies under the leaves. The vineyard is swarming with intruders. The chilean false red mite and the broad-nosed weevils doesn’t hear the mediator’s voice. All is chaos in the debate that will define the soon election of the grape variety for Chile. The nematodes don’t talk anything. They are hidden. They are not pursuing a political ideal. They are simply protesting against a system that excludes them, marginalize them. So they are fighting a discrete battle against the rootstocks that are trying to maintain the establishment. BY EDUARDO BRETHAUER
The Carménère opens fire in the middle of this confusing atmosphere:
-Your time is over- he confronts a surprised Cabernet Sauvignon. You have governed the chilean valleys for decades, but you didn’t achieve anything. Now it’s my turn to change the things.
- You don’t have any experience… so, how you think you can lead our exportations. You are a nobody!
-And you a halted and boring variety.
-People are not stupid. You are a variety that only wants power. Oportunist!
The mediator takes part.
- Time is over, Cabernet. I repeat, your time is over. Let the other candidates speak.
- I want to clarify that disqualifications are not my style- The Merlot interrupts. We all have to pull together… I believe in a viticulture where all the varieties have their space, where…
-You don’t exist! – interrupts the Carménère.
The merlot accuses the blow and asks for water. It’s dehydrated.
- You all represent the past of a country that nobody wants. As a movie star, I call to all the people to believe in my candidature, in a new style of politics – said the Pinot Noir.
- Shut up, peaky – muttered the Cabernet Sauvignon.
- Precisely, I believe in a country where doesn’t matter the origin or the color.
- How you say for you doesn’t matter the color? So, why are you recruting another varieties to set up your list of candidates for the Parliament? – intercede the Carménère.
- Because I believe in the diversity, in a viticulture where neither poor nor rich exists. Where everyone fits in Wines of Chile, where the small ones have the same rights that the big ones.
- You’re just a kid. One thing is to propose and other very different is to govern – replies the Cabernet Sauvignon.
The mediator said to the Cabernet and to the Carménère “Don’t monopolize the turns”.
- I think its our time: The white varieties. We’ve demonstrated what we can do. We’ve contributed to change tha image of our viticulture and we’ve refreshed our politics. But, in other hand, we still have many things to do…. we are trapped in a world where the red wines achieves the best scores, the higher prices….
-My preposition is to offer more cask and less chips… more fruit and less wood…- The Carménère ignores what the Sauvignon Blanc said.
-Demagoge – shouts another red variety that was remaining in silence.
-Who allow you to speak? First, you should define yourself. What you think you are? A frenchified, australian or chilean variety? Syrah or Shiraz?
-Hey, don’t forget us – demands the Carignan. For many time you treat us like we were the backyard of the chilean viticulture.You didn’t consider us. But now, when you want some votes, you are desperated to show a clear and varied image. Now you remembered this old grapevines you looked down on before.
-I promise to repay that debt progressively. I will give a bond to the countries that want to be grafted.
-Populist – shouts the Pinot Noir.
-What debt? – whispered the Cabernet Sauvignon.
-I suggest an unity government – says a red blend.
-Isn’t a bad idea – answered the other candidates.
-I agree – stated the Cabernet Sauvignon. But I am the most suitable to govern the blend.
The nematodes are the only ones that are celebrating.
First published in http://www.brethauer.cl and authorized by Eduardo Brethauer, editor of Vitis Magazine, to be published in Andes Wines.
Translated into english by César Gonzalez Fernandez.
Andes Wines Communications ™
(56) 9 – 9-219 7117
andes@andeswines.com
In order to index viticulture and oenology-related research and thesis, the wine marketing company Andes Wines did a call to all the graduated professionals and wine universities to be part of the first on-line viticulture and oenology thesis registry. This inititive starts within the International Wine University Network (WUN), beginning its operations last year. Its objective is to integrate wine-related institutions and entities having wine programmes to generate a better information exchange. The objective of this Viticulture and Oenology registry is to generate more oportunities to develop new studies and researches. This knowledge will be transfered to the wine industry more quickly, avoiding that important discoveries be forgotten in the universities’ libraries.
This week Andes Wines is getting in contact with all the ibero-american universities teaching agronomy and the oenology specialization. Next week will be the turn of the European Union, the United States and Oceania.
The abstracts will be published in their original lenguages in http://www.andeswines.com, founding the first on-line viticulture and oenology thesis registry having open access documents to its users. In spite of Andes Wines is a Chile-based website, it is visited by more than 95.000 subscriptors of 12 countries in english, italian, portuguese and spanish.
To date, interested agronomists and oenologists should send a word file with the abstract (2 sheets maximum), and requires the name, profession, university where he graduated and e-mail.
The countries that have been called to participate are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, France, Greece, Italy, New Zealand, Portugal, Spain, South Africa, and United States
Andes Wines Communications ™
(56) 9 – 9-219 7117
andes@andeswines.com
Translated by César Gonzalez Fernandez.
HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE FOR THE SERIOUS BEER DRINKER
Trying to find the perfect gift for the craft beer lover in your family? There are several alternatives to giving just beer. We’ve compiled a few gift ideas that are sure to please even the most serious beer drinkers. By JOHN HOLL for AndesWines.com
A Perfect Fit
Show off your pride in good beer by wearing it on your chest. CraftBeerClothing.com has three t-shirt designs targeting craft beer lovers. Jonathon Lenard and Gavin Guest said they started the website because there were very few t-shirt designs that captured the true spirit of the craft beer movement.
“There are plenty of beer shirts available out there, but they focus on getting hammered, drunk, or on sexual statements, we wanted to do something different and more positive,” said Guest.
There are three designs to choose from and the shirts are $14.95 each and can be purchased online through the website. Use the code “beerme” at checkout for 10% off your order.
Notes Worth Taking
Perhaps your favorite beer drinker approaches each new pint as a scientific discovery. For those people there is the beer journal.
The book describes in great detail all types of beer and what the drinker should be looking for with regard to aroma, color, mouth feel and taste. There are pages where the drinker can take detailed notes on different beers sampled.
This is a gift that drinkers will return to over and over again.
Chris Wright said he created the beer journal for those “who enjoy and appreciate craft Beer take that love to another level. Any time you study a particular subject it is imperative that you take notes, experiencing craft Beer is no different. It is scrap booking for Beer lovers.”
The book comes in three different bindings – spiral, perfect binding and hardcover case wrap. It’s available for purchase from most Internet book retailers or at www.thebeerjournal.com for $18.95 or $24.95 depending on the spine.
At The Movies
For the visual type and those interested in modern brewing history, there is the Beer Wars Movie. The director describes it as a modern day David vs. Goliath where smaller brewing companies are fighting for part of the market against larger brewing companies like Molson Coors.
The documentary had a very limited release in theaters earlier this year and is now available on DVD. Director Anat Baron goes behind the scenes of the daily battles and all out wars that dominates one of America’s favorite industries.
It retails for $19.95 and can be purchased at: http://beerwarsmovie.com/shop/
In Depth Reading
There are entire publications devoted to the love of beer. One of the newer but more promising titles on the shelves is The Beer Connoisseur Magazine.
The first issue of the magazine hits newsstands this month and according to its editors, it will be the “expert authority on beer for both the novice and the connoisseur.”
With articles on premium beers and those who brew them, as well as the best in dining, cooking, travel, personalities, culture and more, The Beer Connoisseur magazine is poised to become a must read for serious beer drinkers.
Subscription information may be found at: httpS://www.beerconnoisseur.com/subscribe
The Simple Gift of Beer
And after all the reading, writing and watching about beer, your favorite suds drinker will likely be thirsty. So, why not just give the gift of beer itself?
Around this time of year most breweries put out special holiday packages that can include extra items like glassware, clothing and even Christmas ornaments to adorn the tree. Check your local beer shop for ideas.
John Holl writes about craft beer and the culture of drinking. He maybe reached at johnholl@andeswines.com
DOG BEERS: MAN’S BEST FRIEND MEETS MAN’S BEST FRIEND
In an age when people try to incorporate so much of the human experience into their pet’s lives – doggie Bat Mitzvahs, feline weddings, spa days for ferrets – it almost makes sense that several companies both in the U.S. and abroad now make a “beer” for dogs. Considering one of the great adult pleasures is enjoying a cold beer after a long day working in the yard, shouldn’t a pooch be able to do the same after an afternoon of sniffing around, chewing on a shoe and barking at squirrels?
BY JOHN HOLL for AndesWines.com
Of course the products on the market are not actually beer. Like chocolate and raisins, alcohol can be potentially deadly to canines and carbonation in beer can cause serious stomach irritation. So the brews are really just a beverage consisting of malt and meat
flavoring.
On the plus side, this means pups do not have to wait until they turn three years old (21 in canine years) to get served. If beer is not your pooch’s thing, there are also several canine wine brands available (Sauvignon Bark, White Sniff ‘N’ Tail) and even a scotch (Johnny Barker Black Lab).
Jenny Brown, the owner of 3 Busy Dogs, a Scottsdale, AZ company which makes two dog beers – Beefy Brown Ale and Cock A Doodle Brew – said she got the idea after first making pretzel-flavored dog snacks for customers.
“I thought, what goes best with pretzels and that’s how I came up with the beer idea,” said Brown. Since starting the company a few years ago Brown has seen business boom.
Most that can be found in New Jersey cost around $3.99 for a single 12 oz bottle. Others, like the Happy Tail Ale from Dog Star Brewing, can be ordered via the Internet for $12.00 per six-pack plus $13.00 added for shipping and handling.
Brown said that given the recent scare involving tainted pet food from China, every ingredient in the brews comes from the United States. The Heartland Brewery in New York periodically makes a Slobber Logger, a similar dog beer, according to the company, but it will not be available this summer.
A recent study revealed that while even in times of recession people are still willing to spend huge amounts on their pets. The feeling, according to some in the pet industry, is that more people are sticking closer to home as they try to hold onto their cash, but want
to keep their furry friends entertained in the process.
Veterinarians interviewed by Newjerseynewsroom.com said while it should never be used as a substitute for water, the brews are a kitschy but acceptable “sometime” treat.
At first sniff, the Cock-A-Doodle Brew smells vaguely like chicken soup. The official Newjerseynewsroom.com canine taster quickly lapped up very last drop and looked up, as if to order another round. Next, the taste-tester pup moved on to the Beefy Brown Ale, also from 3 Busy Dogs, but like a responsible drinker she paced herself with the second round.
The Happy Tail Ale, which comes in actual glass beer bottles with pry-off caps (the other beer comes in plastic bottles with screw off tops) did not fare as well on its own in the dish, but was a homerun as a topper to some dry food
But, as is true with human beer drinkers, not every dog will like every brew.
(For the record, this reporter also tasted each of the dog brews and will stick to the real stuff, thank you very much. They have a slightly vinegar-based taste, rather than a savory broth.)
Both 3 Busy Dogs brew and the Happy Tail Ale contain vitamins that the companies say promote a shiny coat and glucosamine, which can help ease any pain in a pup’s joints.
The best part, of course? No hangovers.
John Holl writes about the culture of drinking. He may be reached at johnholl@andeswines.com
Andes Wines Communications ™
(56) 9 – 9-219 7117
andes@andeswines.com
TAILOR MADE WINE TOURS IN CHILE
As a response to the need of highly specialized tours by foreigner “wine lovers” visiting Chile, Andes Wines will provide this summer season a new service called “Tailor Made Wine Tours by Andes Wines”, a guided service specialized in visitors with high purchasing power that are willing to experiencing an unforgetable adventure in wine growing valleys.
Although for many years the company has waited on a limited number of wine lover skiers, specialized journalists and foreign univerity academicians, this year we will focus in increasing the number of clients since our company does not offer regular tours but only tylor made wine tours. Therefore this tours are focused in a very specific target, considering people with a high purchasing power where each visitor lay down the transpotation, hotel and service he wants to have, or in other words, the visitor can adapt a tour to his needs acompanied by a highly wine specialized guide.
“The main requiremente of the visitors is being allowed to talk with the wineries’ oenologists for them to explain the winemaking process and what is envolved in the production of wine. This demand is a challenge to us, because thanks to our eight-year experience in wine marketing we have an excelent contact with the owners and oenologists of the national wineries, something we put to the test everyday to offer unique and unforgettable experiences”, as said by AndesWines.com
Among the most sucessful programs of these years we have “Stars & Wines”. In this program visitors are able to visit observatories in the north of Chile and they can also taste wines classified by stock and valleys where they come form,. Another famous tour is the “Flowering Desert & Wines”, where visitors tour the flowering desert where they can taste a sparkling wine or a late harvest from many wine growing valleys.
This season Andes Wines will offer a new tour called “Terroir Wine Experience”, that pretends promoting the visit to remote zones where are producing unique wines with low production of renowned oenologist in Colchagua Valley (Apalta), Leyda, San Antonio, Elqui, Limarí, Cauquenes, Itata and Malleco.
More information in andes@andeswines.com or (56)9-9-2197117
LAST MONTH IN CALIFORNIA, THE CONTEST WAS SETTLED
By one vote, beer was the preferred beverage – over wine – with dinner. This was the third year in a row that the Rancho Bernardo Inn, in San Diego, hosted a dinner where a multi-course meal was paired with both a glass of wine and a pint of beer, according to Matthew Steele the *Social Media Coordinator* for Stone Brewing Co., one of the better known and more celebrated American craft breweries. By JOHN HOLL for AndesWines.com.
The wines were hand selected each by Barry Wiss of Napa’s Trinchero Family Estates. The beer was picked by Greg Koch, CEO & Co-Founder stone. Neither, according to organizers, had any say in the food menu.
“The premise of the dinner–the motivation for me to do it–was to prove a point,” said Koch. “I intentionally picked a wine-centric, fine dining, chef-driven restaurant for the Beer vs. Wine Dinner. I wanted to show that even in this ‘hostile territory’ the ability of great craft beer to pair amazingly with great food was equal, or better, to that of fine wine.”
He proved just that in 2007 when the first dinner was held. At that meal, each beverage won three courses, but brew got the high end of the final vote. The following year, wine won. Again, each beverage took three courses, but wine got the most total votes.
The tie-breaker dinner, held on Oct. 16, “was so fierce that the ballots had to be recounted twice, but it was eventually determined that Beer won by one single vote,” said Steele.
There has been a growing awareness from serious foodies that beer can often compliment a beer better than wine. Brewers from around the country are trying to bring more people to the table.
Craft beer, according to Julia Herz of the Brewers Association, “can both complement and contrast flavors and elements of today’s American dishes where as wine mostly just contrasts.”
She said the carbonation of craft beer cuts through the fat and richness of food getting diners ready for the next bite.
“So many chefs today understand the versatility of craft beer with food and that’s why you’re starting to see more selection available in today’s finer restaurants and specialty beer stores,” she said.
Photo caption: Beer vs. Wine winner Greg Koch (left) with El Bizcocho Executive Chef Judd Canepari and Barry Wiss of Napa’s Trinchero Family Estates
Photo Credit: Colleen Rugg.
John Holl writes about craft beer. He may be reached at johnholl@andeswines.com
THE ABSENCE OF AN STRATEGIC GRAPE-WINE GROWING PLAN HOLDS UP DEVELOPMENT IN BIO BIO
Although the Bío Bío Region is developing many initiatives to attain a position as a high-end wines producing zone with high added value, its bigger weakness is that it doesn’t have a Regional Strategic Grape-Wine-Growing Plan that defines, organizes and projects the activity on an integrated way that is affecting the attraction of new investors to produce higher quality wines in the area, says the report of AndesWines.com
While in countries like Spain are taking away vineyards because of the oversupply of cheap wines and Australia is ruling out wine-producing zones because of the drought and average low prices, in Chile are betting on developing the field with new vineyards in remote areas like Limarí, Elqui, San Antonio, Colchagua and Leyda.
Is essential that the strategic wine-growing plan for the Bío Bío Region will be developed in a long-term vision helping all productive chain– mission grape, moscatel and high-quality grapes producers, small, medium and big-sized vineyards- to identifiy the existent business oportunities; and to prepare themselves to the reconversion of the vineyards. In the reconversion they will need to invest in technology and in new ways if management and winemaking.
Because of that, AndesWines.com began a strategy to attain a position and to develop new niches in the Bío Bío. Wine Tourism and to boost the production of sparkling wine and high-end wines will be its goal. AndesWines will be able to do that thanks to the support of Francois Massoc, oenologist and winemaker consultant.
The first stage included a survey in Chillán to detect the interest of local producers to develop wine-growing projects with high added value like sparkling wine, by means of a talk that explained and projected what the region needs to achieve that goal. The forthcoming meeting was a sucess and laid the foundations to continue the search of oportunities for the south of the country.
In the second stage, strategic alliances and business were agreed in the last field trip in Bento Gonçalves, Brazil, between 17 to 23 of August, visiting Miolo, Aurora, Salton, Casa Valduga, Lidio Carraro and Cava Geisse vineyards.
On this matter, AndesWines.com organized a brazilian sparkling wine tasting in Santiago to improve integration, an example of successful example of Brasilian sparkling wines, despite they have more technical limitations to produce high-end wines, they have managed to create a high quality product.
In despite of the Bío Bío Region hasn’t implemented an strategic wine-growing plan giving the guidelines and form to optimize the activity duties in marketing, communication and enologic tourism, we are going to develop a focused work that will need the support and finnancing of government institutions to begin a professionalization process, by means of training and specialized consultancy of the regional vicultural field.
This process take into account the implementation of vinicultural projects by oenologic consultancies, viticultural and commercial techniques boosting the development of the “family, crafted and boutiques wineries”, where grape quality is exceptional or the product have a attractive identity.
To make this, the producer will have to invest in vine clones adapting to the chosen areas; in the necessary technology to achieve the pursued purposes and in training to obtain the necessary/required knowledge to manage in a sustainable way his business. Furthermore, they should follow a production protocole that will be the basis to sell his grapes, wines or alternative products in more higher prices than regional average – stated AndesWines’ report.
Andes Wines Communications ™
(56) 9 – 9-219 7117
andes@andeswines.com
Grapes are good…wine even better!!!
IT’S ALMOST LAST CALL FOR SUMMER BEERS
Plenty of variety and taste to help cool off after a long day…..Head to the cooler at your local liquor store around this time of year and you will likely see a lot of beers with the word “Summer” on their labels. Most are quite good, like Samuel Adams Summer Ale or the Summer Blonde from Lambertville’s River Horse Brewing. But, as the mercury climbs towards the top of the thermometer, there are other beers available that can help beat the heat and compliment food straight off the grill.
By JOHN HOLL
AndesWines.com
There are, of course, the year-round offerings from large breweries that are typically associated with this time of year, including Corona and the beers ending in “Lite” but there are others to be considered as well.
Pale ales, for example, offer a crisp brew with a not-so-overwhelming finish of hops. Or a wheat beer, brewed with yeast, that gives the beer a highly carbonated and cloudy appearance, but can be a perfect thirst quencher.
For those looking for a change, the saison style beer should add to summer’s enjoyment. Typically brewed during the cooler months, it’s usually released around this time of year.
So, before the summer ends and the brewing world turns its full attention to autumn and Octoberfest, take a look around the display case and give one of these styles a swirl in the glass.
SIERRA NEVADA: Kellerweis
Introduced earlier this year, the Kellerweis is a light and refreshing beer with deep complexity of flavor. The yeast provides hints of fruit flavors and spices, including ripe banana and clove. This hazy-golden beer glows with suspended yeast creating a velvety texture. The brewery says it’s perfect for a sunny day, but members of a recent NewJerseyNewsroom tasting panel said this beer is perfect for any day and is among the finest new large scale releases from an American craft brewery in quite a while.
That sound you hear? Beer lovers cheering the fact that Sierra Nevada plans to make the Kellerweis available year round.
SAMUEL SMITH: ORGANIC FRUIT BEERS
Long known for making exceptional beers, the small and historical Melbourn Bros. Brewery has introduced three wonderful fruit beers, in cherry, raspberry and strawberry. The complex multiple yeast strains used to ferment these beers lead to a beautiful marriage with pure, rich certified organic fruit.
FULL SAIL BREWING: LTD 03 and Session Black Premium Dark Lager
Summer is made for pilsners. Crisp and served cold, they’re the beer most Americans think of during this time of year. Full Sail Brewing in Oregon released a limited edition pilsner, simply named 03, just in time for the warm weather.
Pale golden in color, it features a spicy floral hop aroma, a malty medium body and a smooth thirst-quenching finish. For after hours, Full Sail also offers its Session Black Premium Dark Lager, which is short, dark and totally drinkable. The initial tastes are a subtle pairing of caramel and chocolate malt flavors with precise hopping to provide an elegant citrus background to the delicate finish of dark cocoa.
FLYING FISH: Farmhouse Summer Ale
In the saison tradition, this New Jersey brewery delivers its tribute to the highly drinkable “every day” beers from French-speaking Belgium. The brewery in Cherry Hill is proud of the lightly filtered appearance with an earthy, spicy hop character. Pour it into a glass and enjoy the beautiful rich creamy head from the wheat, just before you sip it down.
With so many choices out there, these are just a few suggestions. The best advice is to experiment. Even if you don’t love the beer you choose, at least you had the experience of trying something new. You might also wind up finding a new Summer favoriate.
If you are travelling to Argentina or Chile and want to contract an exclusive service of taylor made wine tours, write to us to andes@andeswines.com to quote our service of specialized tour guide. AndesWines.com has 9 years of experience in wine project development and has a global wine network in South America to investors, wine owners and wine lovers.
¿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
56-9-9-2197117
andes@andeswines.com
FORMER NEW YORK TIMES BEER JOURNALIST TO JOIN ANDESWINES.COM
After an almost nine year-period of developing an intensive internationalization process on the wine subject, the website AndesWines.com has extended its scope to beers, thanks to the recruitment of the distinguished American journalist John Holl.
Holl is a graduate from Seton Hall University, and writing about American beers and other subjects related to cocktails and drinks for the New York Times has been one of his major achievements. Thanks to this new columnist, AndesWines.com has definitely started a new stage that will hold the site as the only Latin American site to count on an American correspondent specialized in the field of international beers.
Holl has worked for over 15 years on subjects ranging from American politics to agriculture, and developing his career mostly at the New York Times, covering for instance the 9-11 terrorist attacks. He also writes for Forbes Auto, The Newark Star-Ledger, the Indianapolis Star, Cosmopolitan, Scholastic Administrator, New Jersey Life, among others.
Holl sends a monthly column from U.S.A written exclusively for AndesWines.com. In it, he analyses the new trends set by America’s small and big beer producers in order to get to know the people behind the creation and production processes, sealing their products with love and passion.
Andes Wines Communications ™
(56) 9 – 9-219 7117
andes@andeswines.com
NEW VINE GROWERS TO REVITALIZE THE BIO BIO REGION
It is a fact. The Bio Bio region is drawing the attention of a long listed number of investors interested in viticulture enterprises in the river banks of Bio Bio and Itata rivers, moved by several facts that make of the southern region a place with great potential to produce high quality wines,as well as the most promising region for the domestic viticulture activities.
On this whirl of high-budget investments, the standout areas are the surroundings of Los Angeles, Negrete, Mulchén and Laja , which are currently the attraction of both investors and vine growers such as Pedro Ibáñez from Viñedos Córpora, the Guilisasti family, and most recently the businessman Juan Sutil, with the acquisition of 494,21 acres in a close to Los Angeles area, which will be greatly used to the production of high quality wines.
Empresas Sutil is a well known domestic berry producer, apart from being a Coagra controller- second agricultural supply distributor in the country- and also the owner of Viña Sutil, Pacific Farm, Pacific Nut, among others.
Prestigious independent enologists, in turn, like Felipe García and Constanza Schwaderer are purchasing grapes from the Chillán area to produce wines under Bravado Wines label.
García y Schwaderer told AndesWines.com: “Itata Valley grapes deliver a world-class Cabernet Sauvignon – balanced wines with good tannin concentrations and graphite tannins – a unique feature for a great CS, and the cooler weather condition gives balanced wines , not burnt-tasting or alcohol excessive.”
“It is not a fashion for investors to be choosing Bio Bio region but a trend based on thorough research carried out by private companies that has shown a great regional strength to achieve an average price of over US$45/box, way over the US$24/box average current export price in the country”, as reported by AndesWines.com
The soil and climate diversity in association with the proper viticulture and winemaking techniques and management boost the production of extremely high quality wines in the Bio Bio region .
Andes Wines Communications ™
(56) 9 – 9-219 7117
andes@andeswines.com
CHILEAN WINE INVESTORS TAKE OVER 18% OF ARGENTINE WINE EXPORTATION
The Argentine wine scenario is still changing with the arrival of new Chilean investors who are still trusting and investing in areas such as Luján de Cuyo, La Consulta, Perdriel or Agrelo. This way, until December 2007, based on Caucasia Wine Thinking statistics, and supported by the leading Chilean newspaper, El Mercurio, if we consider the total of Argentine
bottled wines, Chilean/Argentine wineries have already taken 18% of the exported wine–all types and varieties. This percentage will keep increasing in the next years, according to the exclusive report from AndesWines.com
The last Chilean investors in arriving are “Espíritu de Argentina”, the name of the wine produced by the Chilean Winery Aresti in Argentina, in alliance with the German Distributor Racke. Also, Veramonte Winery of Casablanca valley in Chile, whose owner is the most well-known Chilean vintner in California, Agustin Huneeus, launched few weeks ago his Argentine Wine in order to conquer and expand his portfolio in the international market.
The AndesWines.com’s report pointed out the existence of others Chilean business with limited Malbec productions that are developing in the area of Vistalba. Therefore, in the next months there will be more surprises complemented with potential Argentine vineyard and winery acquisitions by other Chilean investors.
Since their arrival to the country, Chileans had the purpose to get the higher market share thanks to several strategies, like buying grapes at the beginning or joint ventures with prestigious wineries in order to carry out small productions to test the market before investing.
“Chilean investors and vintners have planned this strategy since the very first moment they started to buy wineries in Argentina. Therefore, this plan is going to expand and new wine players are planning since months to invest in Argentina in order to improve their global portfolio with Argentine Malbec and Torrontés, for example. One of the main reasons to invest in the other side of the Andes, is based on importers and distributors’ interest of many countries, such as United Kingdom, United States, China, Korea, Japan and others, in order to keep working with Chilean producers, and this way, to keep long commercial relationships, which are expanded now, with the Argentine Wine”, says the wine marketing consultant, Maximiliano Morales.
The current scenario of Chilean wine investments is Trivento (Concha y Toro), Kaikén (Montes), Bodega Renacer (Patricio Reich), Doña Paula (Santa Rita), Finca del Origen (Santa Carolina) and Bodega Universo Austral (Viñedos Córpora). Finally, Viña San Pedro and Viña Tarapacá are on a merger process, creating a new and great wine exporter, producing the merger of Finca La Celia and Tamari in Argentina, as well.
However, this tendency to cross over the Andes has not convinced everybody: one of the most important wine players in Chile, who created the “Berling Tasting”, Eduardo Chadwick, owner of Errázuriz, Seña and Caliterra, has always pointed out in several interviews on wine press that he will continue promoting Chilean wines and he will not invest in Argentina.
Andes Wines Communications
(56) 9 – 9-219 7117
andes@andeswines.com
NEW PLATFORM IS CREATED TO ATTRACT FOREIGN CAPITAL FOR WINE AND TOURISM
AndesWines.com and Metroprop.cl Property Management have seal an strategic alliance to create a platform for contact and business that wants to give a solution to the need of placement of new capital in Chile and to act as a consultant for the investors during the whole process of implementation. The main goal of this alliance is to seek and process informationfrom all lands, properties and actives related to the viticultural and touristic area so that they will have a national register of available and ready to be sold properties. More information in andes@andeswines.com
These international networks of both companies will offer business opportunities through a selective search of potential national and international investors that are interested in developing a business in Chile.
According to Sebastián Salazar B., commercial manager and real state agent partner of Metroprop.cl: “We are now managing an important amount of lands in different regions suitable for developing projects of real state, tourism and forest, and thanks to this alliance with AndesWines we will expand the spectrum of business by adding the viticultural area.
Another area that will be develop thanks to this union is the promotion if touristic places for the construction of lodges and elite hotels due to the growing foreign interest in Chile and its natural beauty. This will be achieve by searching for the best lands close to areas of high foreign touristic flow, such as sky centers, San Pedro de Atacama and Patagonia. These places will be internationally available for foreign and national investors that are interested in developing elite projects in tourism of special interest.
The importance of some people or companies, as well as their nationality, makes them require highly specialized and efficient services, therefore, commercial and legal analysis of the properties is basic in order to develop projects that are profitable and sustainable in time so that they guarantee the investment of our customers.
Regarding the viticultural industry, the objective is to professionalize the first viticultural real state agency, which is now at days trilingual (German, English and Spanish). This specialization will be performed through the wine market place at http://www.andeswines.com that will make available a varied offer of information, such as vineyard and wineries for rent or sale, public or confidential at the web page, as well as lands that are suitable for developing viticultural projects aiming at attracting investors interested in inverting in Chile.
NEW TRILINGUAL WINE BROKER OF LANDS AND CELLARS OPENING
After six years of collecting databases from the wine industry and also from private investors such as the finance, oil, forest, mining and fishing industry, AndesWines.com announces the opening of the first specialized and trilingual (German, English and Spanish) wine broker through its wine market place where a varied offer of vineyards and cellars for sale or rent will be presented confidentially or published on the web site. Lands which are suitable for the development of new wine projects to attract capitalists to invest in Spain, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, which are countries that have great growth projections.
Thus, winegrowers and investors from different parts of the world will have access to a confidential search strategy of capitalists or joint ventures that begins since the potential client gets in touch with the company through the web site or the following e-mail address andes@andeswines.com. Afterwards, the client will be assisted by an executive of the company to receive the official request for a specific and personalized search.
GENERAL BACKGROUND:
The wine crisis, caused by the fall in dollar prices and other factors such as the high competitiveness of countries like Australia and Spain, is causing significant buying and selling of vineyards and wine cellars in Chile and Argentina. This constitutes a business opportunity that was predicted several years ago by financial specialists and the wine industry itself.
The wine marketing company AndesWines.com points out that in Chile, more than fifteen vineyards and cellars have been put up for sale confidentially in different wine lands such as Colchagua, Casablanca, Maule, Curico and Itata. The reason for this has been specific circumstances such as the fall in dollar prices and bad financial handling, but new solutions like the selling of these assets and products or the establishment of joint ventures between foreign and national capitals are being considered to provide new resources for their expansion.
Many Chilean cellars specialize in vinifying wine for other countries like Australia or Spain that have businesses in Chile with the purpose to generate resources and survive in the competitive world of bottled wine.
Other companies specialize in the production and export of wine in bulk, which in large volume (millions of liters) is a profitable business that unfortunately affects in a direct way the image and opinion that foreign people have of Chilean wine, due to this kind of wine has been exported in flexitanks and bottled in Germany or China to be sold at lower prices than those produced in the original vineyards. Furthermore, those countries destroy all the effort of the few private and state Chilean wine campaigns, in which the image of bottled wine with designation of origin has been improved.
SEARCH FOR WINE INVESTORS
In the last three years, AndesWines.com has contact more than 2.500 vineyards and cellars in twelve different countries, as well as with more than 350 private investors, investment banks, entrepreneurs from different industries and angel investors that follow and monitor the Spanish, Argentinen, Chilean and Uruguayan market, due to the great strengths that they have in key factors such as climate and ground variety, economic skilled labor, and the most important; an exceptional quality of wine that holds several representative vines such as Malbec, Carmenere, Tannat or Tempranillo as differentiating factors.
AndesWines.com is trying to attract investors from Argentina, Germany, United States and Australia because it can not be forgotten that many Argentinean cellars are handled by international investment banks unlike in Chile, country that maintains different free trade agreements with other countries and has more opportunities to generate businesses if wine marketing and global positioning strategies are developed.
Business and convention tourism, as well as adventure tourism have become a very effective tendency to promote Chilean wine, if we consider the great flow of visitors that the different tourist destinations welcome. Tastings and presentations on luxory or expedition cruise ships or in far away regions such as Futaleufú and San Pedro de Atacama are the most recurrent activities for hotels, lodges or tourist companies for moments of leisure and relaxation when tourists are eager to taste wines in thematic tastings.
According to the informations gathered by the viticultural marketing company Andes Wines during the last two years, Chile has learned to take advantage of the opportunities provided by the massive arrival of foreigners in the country. Nevertheless, the vineyards have not understood the real impact of having thousands of potential consumers tasting the products and that when they return to their countries they could continue buying wines.
An example of innovation that has been developed over the last two years, is the wine tastings on the National Geographic Endeavour Cruise Ship where the presence of several national brands is coordinated to carry out wine tastings to more than one hundred passengers that own huge purchasing power.
What is important in these types of inititives is that the vineyards work in coordination with the export and national sales areas because in most of the cases where national wines are included in the activities, the integration must be achieved in order to capitalize on the benefits of promoting the brand to foreign consumers in the country.
That is why fidelization strategies among clients are important after the development of very segmented marketing actions. In the case of these tastings on the cruise ships and after the voyage is finished, the passengers may request information about the wines tasted by email or the informative newsletter that was developed by AndesWines.com in English as an effective marketing tool that currently reaches more than 75,000 contacts in twelve countries classified as consumers, retailers, distributors and wine importers.
On the other hand, there is another problem that can be seen in most of the wine list of hotels, lodges, and restaurants: they do not have the wine variety that a tourist usually finds in his home town. There is thus, an obvious lack of coordination between producers, distribution and advertising that has to be included by the organized campaigns.
MICHEL ROLLAND: CHILEAN WINES HAVE PROGRESS THE LAST 15 YEARS
Michel Rolland gave an exclusive interview to AndesWines.com where he radically changed his vision of Chilean Wines- in fact – now, few days ago confirmed that “Chile has progressed very much during the last 15 years and numerous wines, today, show the enormous potential of this country.
The history is only beginning and Chile will confirm the leadership in the major producing wine countries in the world.” He also refers to new wine regions in Argentina since it is an interesting part of his profession. “Rio Negro, due to the latitude and the South of Buenos Aires are new wine areas that need to be explored and where the viticulture is recent. I have always liked to work for new projects. Rio Negro is a land that has possibilities to produce real quality wines”
Rolland, during the last thirty years as wine consultant has worked with over 200 wineries in 17 countries and now, he thinks, he would work with another Chilean winery if Casa Lapostolle authorizes him to do it, which is not the occasion now.
On the other side of the Andes- Argentina- Rolland started to work with several wine regions like Neuquén, Mendoza and South of Buenos Aires, besides the wines he is consulting for Clos de los Siete Wine Investment Group with French partners.
In Chile, a few days ago, the Argentine wines of Rolland participated in a Tasting for the “Circulo del Vino de Andes Wines” – Val de Flores (2004), Cuvelier Los Andes (Collection 2005), Grand Vin (2005), Monteviejo 2005, Linda Flor (Petite Fleur), besides Clos Apalta of Casa Lapostolle from Colchagua Valley in Chile. The wines were tasted by journalists, enologists and sommeliers in the Club Union el Golf, reaffirming that the favourite of all the tasted wines was the Chilean wine, another sign that Chile has started to work the upscale wine since the last 15 years.
AndesWines.com asked Rolland about the emblematic vine-stock of Argentina – The Malbec- and he said “The Malbec found a special place in Argentina. We could think that in other areas you can get very good wines, but will take a lot of time to discover the best sites and to understand the best conditions for winemaking. Argentina and Cahors’s region in France already have a history with Malbec’s very old vineyards.”
What do you think about the evolution of the Chilean wines lately? Some day we will see Michel Rolland in other wine valleys of Chile advising in the future?
Chile has progressed very much during the last 15 years and numerous wines, today, show the enormous potential of this country. The history is only beginning and Chile will confirm the leadership in the major producing countries in the world.
When I started working for Casa Lapostolle Lapostolle, he granted exclusivity at that time and there are little chances that I would take another consulting in Chile, except if Casa Lapostolle authorizes me to, but it is not the case today.
Can you tell us which other vine-stocks- non traditional- according to you have potential to be developed?
Great part of my work is, certainly, based on traditional vine-stocks. But in Portugal and Brazil, we work with the vine-stocks called Tourriga. This vine-stock shows very interesting characteristics.
In all the countries where I travel, if national vine-stocks exist, I try to see if it is possible to work them and do interesting wines. It will take a lot of time to obtain the adapted vineyard and to understand these vine-stocks in order to get the maximum quality wines.
Any message for new winemakers who are beginning to work and are unmotivated for this complex and competitive industry?
Always there is competition in all the fields. The enologists must do the best possible wines in the regions where they are. Because of it, a lot of work, curiosity and enthusiasm is needed. It is the secret of the success and is what allows to take a fantastic life as I have.
CONTACT WINE FAIR SERVICE – OVER 2.500 WINERIES AND RELATED COMPANIES
AndesWines.com has a direct contact with over 2.500 wineries and wine & olive oil related companies from 16 countries like Chile, Argentina, US, Uruguay, France, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Australia, NZ, South Africa, Canada, Mexico, Brasil, India, China. If your company needs a contact service or looking for country representation, let us know to email us to andes@andeswines.com
WINE JOB – WINE INTERSHIPS IN CHILE – ARGENTINA – SPAIN – USA – FRANCE
If you are looking for a wine internship or a wine job, write to andes@andeswines.com to get more information. We have contact with over 2.500 wineries from Chile, Argentina, US, Uruguay, France, Italy and Spain, and we can help you out to look for job opportunity in any wine country. Contact us for more information to the email andes@andeswines.com
CARMENERE BLIND TASTING IN “CIRCULO DEL VINO IN CHILE – WINE CIRCLE OF ANDES WINES”
This past Saturday, “El Círculo del Vino de Andes Wines – Wine Circle of Andes Wines” organized the first Blind Tasting of Carmenere in Concepción incharge of consulting winemaker Francois Massoc. The event had an excellent attendence and was sponsored by Club de Lectores del Mercurio Newspaper. The group of 25 guests tasted eight wines of six wine valleys from Chile and the best evaluated were 1810 from Casa Donoso Winery and Cavas Submarinas from Casanueva Winery in Itata Valley.
ESTIMATED 9,000 PEOPLE ATTEND ZAP’S 16TH ANNUAL TASTING
San Francisco, Calif—An estimated 9,000 people attended the 16th Zinfandel Advocates & Producers (ZAP) Tasting on Jan. 27 at Fort Mason Center in San Francisco. Attendance figures were up significantly from the 2006 tasting, which drew just over 8,000 people. Thirty-six new wineries poured at this year’s event, bringing the total number of participating producers to 273. Nearly 550 different Zinfandel wines were available for sampling.
The ZAP tasting is touted as the world’s largest single-varietal wine event, and the lines of Zinfandel fans spanning the parking lot left little room for doubt. Approximately 2,000 people lined up outside the event’s two pavilions before the tasting began, and mounted police officers stood by to monitor the crowd. Once inside, tasters sampled an array of Zinfandel wines, many with tongue-in-cheek names like VineAgra (which, at 17% alcohol, probably has the opposite effect of its namesake pharmaceutical) and Z52.
“The festival was a smashing success and overall, ZAP was able to show the diversity of Zinfandels being made today,” said Justin Boeger of Boeger Winery, president of the ZAP board of directors. “There is such a diversity of Zinfandel winemaking styles that it keeps people curious and enthusiastic in returning every year to the festival.”
The festival also offers benefits for participating wineries, Boeger added. “ZAP offers something unique—a chance to develop personal relationships between consumers and producers.”
This year’s ZAP Festival encompassed a total of four events, including the Tasting, Flights, Good Eats and An Evening With the Winemakers. Held on Jan. 24, Flights featured an afternoon of panel discussions, tastings and seminars led by Zinfandel winemakers and experts. On Jan. 25, Good Eats & Zinfandel attracted 1,100 people to Fort Mason Center for a walk-around food and wine tasting in which wineries were paired with restaurants. An Evening With the Winemakers Benefit Auction and Dinner, held at the Fairmont Hotel on Jan. 26, drew 200 people and raised more than $80,000 for the Heritage Vineyard Projects.
The annual tasting on Jan. 27 finished off the weekend’s events. Overall, more than 1,500 pounds of cheese and 8,000 half-loaves of French baguettes were consumed during the tasting.
ZAP wineries will stage trade and consumer tastings May 7-12 in Scottsdale, Ariz., Austin, Texas and Minneapolis, Minn.
The 17th Annual ZAP Festival will take place January 23-26, 2008. Visit zinfandel.org for more details.
Tina Caputo
Article originally written by Wines & Vines:
http://www.winesandvines.com
Authorized to publish it in AndesWines.com
WALKER ELLIOTT ROWE’S BOOK “WINE, COMMUNISM & VOLCANOES.
This is a Story of Chilean Wine published by the publishing arm of Loyola College, Apprentice House. Now is available for purchase through amazon.com or Barnes and Noble. Drive beyond the dusty provincial towns and the Chilean landscape is carpeted with with ¼ million acres of grapes that ripen perfectly in bright sunlight, warm days, and cool evenings.
Labor, land, and grape prices are low so these wineries can make high quality wines at a fraction of the cost of those located in California, Australia, or Europe. Consequently you can buy excellent Chilean wines at a low cost.
Wine, Communism, and Volcanoes is a travelogue and memoir of the three months that the author, Walker Elliott Rowe, spent working the harvest at VIA Wines in San Rafael, Chile. Mr. Rowe takes the reader inside an industrial-sized winery and explains to the reader how wine is made on a large scale. Beyond the winery, the author weaves a narrative of the Chilean people and culture introducing the reader to many people both inside and outside the wine business.
The towering Andes Mountains are not the only item looming over the horizon in Chile. This progressive country, where the sentiment for socialism is strong, is still dealing with the ghosts of the former military dictator. Mr. Rowe explains the irony that the dictator left behind a strong system of capitalism that leaves most people working yet many of them poor.
Andes Wines
wines@andeswines.com
06 Aug 2006 por maxmorales
TASTING NOTES OF BLIND WINE TASTING OF CARMENERES OF THE WORLD
Andes Wines organized the first blind wine tasting of “Worldwide Carménères” from Italy (Carmenero –Ca´del Bosco Winery), Argentina (Carménère Viniterra) and United States (Colvin Vineyards of Walla Walla in Washington) in the prestigious “Club Unión el Golf” of the Chilean capitol under the concept of the amateur group of wine lovers known as the CIRCULO DEL VINO OR WINE CIRCLE – AW, which focuses on blind wine tasting in order to strengthen the knowledge of wine amongst consumers, winemakers, journalists, entrepreneurs, ambassadors, and other professionals. The blind tasting was led by Sergio Silva Grez. The tasting notes were prepared by the wine writer Eduardo Brethauer.
VINITERRA MOMENTO II CARMENERE 2004
Momento II Carmére is fermented in stainless steel barrels. In order to maintain its varietal carácter, only 15% is kept in barrels made of American oak, giving it flavours of red fruits and spices along with a bit of vanilla and chocolate.
The 2004 harvest presents us with an intense red with purple-toned edges. In the nose it is perceived as a very mature wine. Quality. In the mouth it brings us tastes of liquor, iron and even blood. It’s sweet, but a bit short. Contradictory. Its tannins can not hide its bitterness which is contrasted with taste of honey.
COLVIN VINEYARDS CARMENERE 2003
It has been indicated above all a rarity. And nothing less. It’s not too common to find a Carmenere in the United States. But it’s a rarity that has awakened very good comments from a critic who is seduced by the softness of its tannins and who finds great pleasure in harmonizing it with high-class gastronomy. Argued to be “A feminine Cabernet.”
Along with his neighbour Gary Figgins from Leonetti Cellars, whose interest stemmed from his desire to mix Carmenere, Colvin obtained the necessary permits and planted four acres. His first harvest was presented in the Holiday Barrel Tasting Weekend of 2002 and is made up of 90% Carménere, while the remaining 10% is Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot.
The 2003 harvest shows us an impressionistic ruby red with lightly evolved borders. In the nose it is potent with notes of very ripe cherries, damp earth and black pepper. In the mouth however, is where this wine really shows itself. Grilled green pepper, dark chocolate and a touch of marmalade with a taste similar to that of rose hips. The initial sensation is sweet and velvety, but shortly after, it begins to lose itself in the mouth, leaving us halfway between the elegance of its fruits and iodized sensations.
CARMENERO CA’ DEL BOSCO 2000
The encounter of Ca’ del Bosco and Carmenere began in 1990, when the Franciacorta estate decided to import Cabernet Franc seeds from a French nursery. By chance, which is always crucial part in history, the mixing of the plants has been compared to something like a wolf with lamb’s skin, revealing the qualities of a wine that, apart from the enthusiasm of the critics, should still be bottled as Vino di Tavola.
In its 2000 version, Carmenero shines with a garnet red, deep and very bright. In the nose it really impresses with intense lactic notes and ripe red fruits, and even a touch of bacon. It is a complete and elegant wine. It enters with flavours of blackberries, graphite and menthol herbs plus jam, liquor and ending with a cloud of smoke. In the mouth it is fresh and stable. Persistent and with tannins that still have the ability to evolve. Definitely a wolf that attacks with its up most kindness.
By Eduardo Brethauer
Wine Writer
Andes Wines
wines@andeswines.com
Translated by: Lara Roush (United States)
VIDEO DE SANDIHRST WINERY EN NUEVA ZELANDIA
The journalist Jimena Cordovez and the publicist Sebastián Pérez-Canto Orellana sent us their last video from The Wine Trip in New Zealand. from Sandihurst Wines.
See Video Here: http://au.youtube.com
A SUPERIOR GIN OR VODKA FINDS A BETTER TONIC
Like so many before it, Jordan Silbert’s great idea came several years back while he was having cocktails with friends. With so many premium brands of gin and vodka on the market, he wondered, why were drinkers forced to use tonic water that came in a plastic bottle for .99 cents a pop?. “So I woke up the following afternoon and went to work on my plan to create a high-end tonic water,” said Silbert, the founder of Q Tonic, a Brooklyn-based company that is bringing a better mixer to the party. By JOHN HOLL for AndesWines.com
By JOHN HOLL
For AndesWines.com
For decades the tonic water market has been dominated by two familiar brand names – Canada Dry and Schweppes. Both packaged in plastic soda bottles with strikingly similar yellow labels are the that are most often found in grocery isles and poured out of beverage guns behind the bar.
There are some who believe that pairing spirits like Belvedere and Grey Goose vodkas or Hendricks and Citadel gins with run of the mill tonic water takes away from the overall quality of the beverage. And, they are right.
Q tonic ($7.40) is packaged in frosted 6.3 oz bottles that, not coincidently, look like its high-end alcoholic brethren. Silbert urges bars that carry the mixer to serve the tonic chilled and give it the “bottle service” treatment allowing drinkers to control how much or little goes into their glass.
Similarly, Stirrings, a company known for cocktail mixers for Mojitos and Bloody Mary’s, has also gotten into the higher caliber tonic business, offering 4-packs ($5) that also come in pry-off capped 6.3-ounce bottles.
“For Tonic, quality is even more important since the finished cocktail is usually only comprised of two ingredients: the soda and the spirit,” said Kristine Ford, marketing director for Stirrings. “The stuff that has permeated the market is overly sweet, with a stale and soft carbonation compared to the fresh, natural and balanced tonic we produce.”
Tonic, also known as quinine water, is typically the result of mixing cinchona bark with carbonated water and some citrus juice. The result is a sweetly bitter liquid with a scent of lemon or lime.
Most drinkers notice a stark difference in quality and taste when conducting side-by-side comparisons of plastic bottled tonics and craft tonics.
The plastic bottled versions are made with corn syrup and extracts that leave a sticky residue on drinker’s teeth after just one glass. On the nose they more resemble a drink like Sprite or 7-Up.
Stirrings uses cinchona bark extract but cane sugar, which gives the drink a nicer, less sticky finish. Cinchona is native to South America.
Q Tonic stands out above the rest, however, with handpicked cinchona and organic agave, adding a new level of complexity that – especially with gin – brings the classic summer cocktail to a whole new level of enjoyment.
John Holl writes about wine, beer, spirits and the culture of drinking. He may be reached at JohnHoll@AndesWines.com
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SHAKE THINGS UP A BIT AND MAKE YOUR OWN TONIC WATER
Feeling a little adventurous? If you’d prefer to take a stab at making your own tonic water, there are several recipes out there. Here’s one that is fairly easy and yields a quality mixer. Just be aware that the fresh cinchona bark will turn the drink slightly brown but does not affect flavor.
Tonic water concentrate:
2 cups Water
1⁄8 cup Powdered Cinchona Bark
1 Orange
1 Lemon
1 Lime
11⁄2 tsp. Cardamom
1⁄2 tsp. Allspice Berries
1 pinch Salt
1 1⁄2 cups Agave Syrup
Instructions:
1. Zest and juice the lemon, lime and orange.
2. Combine fruit zest and juice, water and herbs, and cook on medium heat in a sauce pot until it reaches a boil.
3. After it boils, remove from heat and let the mixture cool. Strain through a paper coffee filter and mix with seltzer water. Blend with your spirit of choice to taste.
Andes Wines Communications ™
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andes@andeswines.com
URUGUAY- PART I & II: CASTILLO VIEJO, VARELA ZARRAZ, DE LUCCA, PISANO, TRAVERSA
In this first report of our visit to Uruguay, we will tell you every day about the visits we made thanks to the Wines of Uruguay’s coordination on days previous to the trip of the most wine-producers to Prowein Fair. We talked to their owners and winemakers, walked around vineyards and tasted their wines to know the current reality of the Land of the Tannat. It will be seven exclusives reports from 15 wineries.
BODEGA CASTILLO VIEJO
The Export Managers Gastón Pescetto and María Paula Vila were our hosts in the first visit to Uruguay. Having the fourth generation in charge of the winery, Castillo Viejo has a portfolio of 70% red wine and 30% white wines.
Founded in 1927 by Santos Etcheverry, at the beginning were only merchants as the production was bought to the near vineyards. In 1963, Horacio –Santos Etcheverry’s son- was established as the head of the vineyard and started a change and growth era in the winery, concreted with the purchase of 150 hectares, 90 of them were addressed to different vineyards for elaborating table wines. This was a period of time which is also developed winery and commercial expansion at national level.
In 1982, the third generation conformed by Edgardo assumed, Ana and Alejandro Etcheverry, who are the current company’s managers.
In 1986, Castillo Viejo Wineries was added to the vineyards’ restructuring in the region and implemented a conduction system that allowed making better use of grapes ventilation and sun exposure, getting a perfect ripening.
In 1990, the existing winery was adapted to the high-quality wine production, and in 1993 fine wine line was created under the brand of Catamayor, which is now available in Brazil, Norway, Canada, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, Germany, United States, Switzerland, Holland, and United Kingdom, among others.
In 1997, CATAMAYOR Reserva line and RESERVA DE LA FAMILIA VIEJA PARCELA line were born, and in 2005 El Preciado, First Great Reserve.
Total winery capacity is 88 thousand annual fine wine boxes, and now the 130 vineyard hectares they had allow Castillo Viejo Wineries its self-supply.
The peculiarity of this winery lies in that harvests are made only and exclusively in nights, aiming to high even more its already well-known quality.
This year, Castillo Viejo’s vineyards suffered a significant drop in productivity due to the drought which affected whole Uruguay; fact that resulted in a concentration of aromas, showing promise in being a year of excellent quality regarding wines.
BODEGA VARELA ZARRANZ
We visited Viña Varela Zarranz, which is entering to the competitive fine bottled wine world. The first thing we saw was the name V.U.D.U. (Viticultores Unidos del Uruguay, in Spanish), a successful and curious name of its wine of internal consumption. Faithful customers of this wine encouraged to work even more in quality to produce wines with a special character.
The Winery is led by four Directors and Owners Enrique Varela Arocena, Cristina Varela Arocena, Laura Varela Estellano and Ricardo Varela Estellano. Ricardo guided us into the tannat vineyards and wine cellar with very good taste decoration.
History traced back to 1933, when their first winery was founded. Spanish immigrants’ sons, brothers Ramon and Antonio Varela, transformed tradition into profession thanks to their hard work and unquestionable command on business issues. That is why, in 1944 they achieved the Pons Farm.
Next generation composed by Roberto, Luis Alberto, Julio and Rubén Varela Zarranz consolidated even more the characteristic enterprising spirit of the family, thanks to a constant growth in wine issues. Third generation, which assumed in 1986, is now in charge of the winery, and as usual, they have been in charge of driving the company by the current trends and state-of-the-art technologies, allowing a better and faster work. This restructuring also had the implementation of new vineyards and plant improvement in their products elaboration.
Nowadays, their 110 hectares are divided in two fields, which are Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, as well as those novel wines searching for satisfying shrewd consumer as: Tannat, Muscat Frontignan, Muscat Ottonel, Viognier.
The secret for the wine quality given to the world, lies in demanding and cautious practices in pruning, fertilization, and bunch thinning, with the clear objective of harvest to be reduced. Thanks to this, process ends with hand harvest to select the most suitable and ripen bunches according to variety as required.
Today, the classic winery infrastructure is still in its central local and wine cellar dated from 1892. This, due to technologies acquired for grape harvest processes such as grape mills that separate grain with the same subtlety as a human hand would do, pneumatic press of lower pressure to take out the must, refrigerating systems responsible for fermentation temperature, stainless steel recipients for specific quality wine maintenance, as well as a bottled system using nitrogen and carbon dioxide in order to avoid wine oxidation.
Among national and international winery’s awards are: Great Golden Medal Year 2006 Catad´or CMB Tannat 2006 Competition, World Competition Brussels 2005, Golden Medals Year 2007 Ljubljana Competition Tannat Aging 2004, International Wines of Brazil Year 2006, Catad´or CMB Cabernet Sauvignon 2004 Competition Year 2006, International Competition “La Mujer Elige” Year 2006 Tannat Aging 2004, among many others.
Varela Zarranz highlights the great influence that receive from Rio de La Plata and the sea, agro-climatic conditions that make them produce an average of 12.000 kilograms for red wines and 10.000 kilograms for white ones.
Due to a late frost in October and a subsequent drought in summer, it is expected wine to be more concentrated and have a better quality.
Nowadays, they are producing 2.5 million liters approx, which 10% are addressed to fine wines. One of the lead markets is the Canadian one, where values reach U$24 a box.
BODEGA DE LUCCA: REYNALDO DE LUCCA
Reynaldo de Lucca was definitively a significant pillar in Uruguayan viticulture thanks to their energy, honesty, and free spirit when making wines that he likes. As he defines, Uruguay has a temperate-warm-wet weather, making a whole experience from the art of making wines.
With lower productions, this wine business man traveled the world to gain the great wine characters’ spirit, giving him an unique wine style based on own experiences through the years.
With a cheese and tomatoes on the table, De Lucca communicated me all his passion for wine, saying that producing grape is easy; however, the challenge is in becoming well-known in the wide spectrum of the word.
“I think that the market is small and has a few resources, and we know a little bit about wines, as gastronomy is not appreciated, generating a difficulty in going beyond.”
WINES OF URUGUAY – PART II: PISANO AND TRAVERSA WINERIES
In our second report of our visit to Uruguay coordinated by Wines of Uruguay, we will tell you more about Pisano and Traversa Wineries. The first one, has a 300 year-wine- tradition support in the old Italy, and in Uruguay they are highlighted by its dynamism and innovation. The second one, is an enterprise that produces good price/quality relationship wines and they are technifying all wine production process in order to meet internal and external market.
PISANO WINERY
Winery’s particularity lies in producing handmadely high-quality wines. The clan has been highlighted by having dynamism and proactivity that is enhanced across other producers; characteristics that make them often to be part of international fairs and exhibitions.
In 1870, history was made in Uruguay, when Eduardo’s great-grandfather, Gustavo and Daniel, Francesco Pisano, arrives at Uruguayan lands. In 1914, also arrived Césare, Francesco’s son, who planted original vineyards, and with the 1914 harvest, he elaborated his first wine.
Part of the vineyards is located in the highest part of Canelones- where soil and conditions of dry winds and sun are different from lower parts if the area. Lands are distributed on 15 hectares of Tannat, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot available in high density and limited production. Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc are also produced, and they are cultivated and harvested by hand.
From Pisano Brothers, Eduardo is in charge of the vineyards, Gustavo of the enology, and Daniel of the commercial area. Gabriel -Eduardo’s son- joined the family challenge after travelling across many countries, carrying out grape harvests to soak up wine spirit from which it is highlighted his visit to Lapostolle Winery of Chile, where he actively participated in the Clos Apalta’s process, according what he said to us.
Pisano Winery is recognized within the prestigious circle of the country. Currently, it handmadely produces 350 thousand bottles a year, which have been awarded at both national and international level, with the sponsor of the Organisación Internacional de la Viña y el Vino – OIV.
Characteristics of their wines, their flavour and long life are specials to the public for what they are aimed for: that is to say, for the highest quality market segment. An example is that they are producing to more than 40 countries, including United States.
This year, frequent thinnings were made in order to assure a balanced grape growth, complemented with fillings among rows to achieve a sane competence with grapevine, and where fertilization in addition to the natural is not applied. With the objective of carry out exports increase, in the last time there have been added to their new lands vineyards of Pinot Noir, Syrah and Viognier.
TRAVERSA WINERY
In 1956, Carlos Domingo Traversa founded the winery that carries his name, together with their sons Dante, Luís and Armando, who currently and accompanied by Traversa’s grandsons are proud to continue with his legacy.
Carlos Domingo Traversa arrived to Uruguay in 1904 with his parents. 33 years later, he acquired 5 country hectares in Montevideo where, at a small scale, obtained his first Muscat grapes and strawberries.
The graduated Diego Pomi Farriols -Traversa Winery’s export Manager- was the responsible in guiding us across the vineyards and winery. Currently, they have 240 hectares of own vineyards and plant between 10 and 15 hectares every year to meet the requirements they own and project in a long term.
What have joined to three generations in the vineyards, is their history, kindness and hope as a clan. Sacredly, a family member supervises every plantation, maintenance, elaboration, package, distribution, marketing and customer service, embracing, this way, every side of the business.
Due to big vineyards surfaces, they made a decision of mechanism the harvest thanks to the recent acquisition of an automatic combine harvester that improves grape harvest times, optimising winemaking processes at maximum, according to their needs. Their grapes are processed with a state-of-the-art machinery and installations, and wines are produced with the highest technology in enology.
They produce between 5-6 million litters of table wines and 1.7 million of fine wines that are decided to sale in Uruguay and overseas by a good price/quality relationship.
According to statistics given by Traversa, they currently own 34% of market share of table wines in Uruguay, and their lead competitor at overseas to be able to sale their wines are Chile and Argentina; challenge that make them to concentrate on improving wine quality to compete in a better way.
With the current world economical downturn, Diego Pomi commented to us that it is estimated a 30% less in exports. However, they are sure that they will be stabilized in the next months. Their main markets are Brazil, Russia, Czech Republic, and Poland.
Andes Wines Communications ™
(56) 9 – 9-219 7117
andes@andeswines.com
TERROIR AND WINE TECHNOLOGY CENTER IN CHILE
Different private and state entities are working together with the main purpose of establishing the Terroir and Wine Technology Center (Centro Tecnológico del Terroir y del Vino) for the central-south area of Chile. This, in order to achieve the great challenge of positioning the Bio Bio and Araucanía Regiones in an international context, besides setting the basis to extend country’s wine border to the South, due to different reasons as better edaphoclimatic conditions and climate change disruptions.
Center’s objectives will be establishing technical criteria to vineyard handling in cold areas, study and description of terroir in Bio Bio and Araucanía, and the adaptability assessment of different grapes and clones to edaphoclimatic conditions in the central-south area of Chile.
This initiative is being developed by the Facultad de Agronomía y Departamento de Geología, Facultad de Ciencias Químicas de la Universidad de Concepción, Instituto de Investigaciones Agropecuarias (INIA Quilamapu), CIREN CORFO, Viñedos y Bodegas Córpora and Andes Wines Communications.
That is why on May 6th at 11:00 hours in Negrete rural area, the “CENTRO TECNOLÓGICO DEL TERROIR Y DEL VINO” project was introduced to start the organization and basics of it and was leaded by the government entity Secretaría Regional Ministerial (SEREMI) of Bio Bio’s Agriculture, Universidad de Concepción.
Among guests in the event were David Jouanett Valderrama IX Region’s SEREMI, Claudio Pérez, INNOVA Chile’s Executive Director, Juan Carlos San Martín, Innova Bio Bio’s Executive Director, among others.
Andrew Walker from the Department of Viticulture and Oenology, University of California traveled from USA invited by the Agronomy Faculty to Chile and highlighted to AndesWines.com that the south area is facing with an opportunity, unique in the world, because it has exceptional agroclimatic conditions for grape production, such as Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and sparkling wines.
Maximiliano Morales, Agronomist and one of the Project’s creator indicated that different projects associated with the Terroir and Wine Technology Center will be driven in the areas of tourism and investigation, in addition to viticulture support in rural areas to improve the quality and management of vineyards.
Project will be carried out in Chillán City in the wine region of the South, extended from Ñuble to edaphoclimatic conditions allow the development of vine. Following sub-regions are included: Valle del Itata, Valle del Bío Bío, and Valle del Malleco.
Within these sectors, Valle del Itata is highlighted composed by its districts of Chillán, Coelemu, Ranquil, Quillón, Portezuelo, Ninhue, Trehuaco, Quirihue, San Nicolás, Bulnes, and San Carlos, from Ñuble, and Florida, from Concepción. The Valle del Bio Bio, on the other hand, is composed by the districts of Yumbel, Nacimiento, Mulchén, Negrete and Laja from Bio Bio, and Valle del Malleco composed by districts of Angol, Collipulli, Ercilla, Los Sauces, Lumaco, Purén, Renaico, Traiguén and Victoria, from Malleco.
Andes Wines
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andes@andeswines.com
INTERVIEW TO ANDREA SARTORI, PRESIDENT SIMEI-ENOVITIS
Andes Wines interviewed ANDREA SARTORI, PRESIDENT SIMEI-ENOVITIS, the biggest international biennial trade show for those who make real innovation in the field of machines, equipment, products and services for wine preparation, bottling and packaging. About 9000 trade operators from 100 nations visit the fair every year.
How many exhibitors does Simei/Enovitis host this year?
The 2009 exhibitions will have to face an economic situation that shows some critical aspects at global level. However, following the state of the participation applications, which today are still going on and thus it is not possible to provide definitive data, we notice that our exhibitors are not frightened by this situation. On the contrary, they consider trade exhibitions as a possible antidote to fight the recession. Indeed, SIMEI and ENOVITIS carried out an interesting survey among the companies to understand which is today the validity of specialized trade shows in encouraging the meeting between demand and supply. It turned out that, taking part in a consolidated appointment, recognized as internationally strategic, is surely a sign of a company’s good health, a message of optimism and trust towards the market.
How many countries do exhibitors/visitors come from?
SIMEI and ENOVITIS are international events and welcome visitors really coming from all parts of the world (about 9000 trade operators from 100 nations), also thanks to the comprehensive promotional campaign planned in many foreign markets. On the exhibitors’ front, of course SIMEI and ENOVITIS have always been an exceptional showcase of the technological “Made in Italy”, as regards the enological and beverage worlds, as well as vineyard and olive-grove growing. This is a sector, whose leadership is recognized at world level. Indeed, the last edition hosted exhibitors coming from 28 countries, as a testimony to the worldwide validity of our exhibitions as real business opportunities.
What is the main objective of Simei/Enovitis? Is it open to public or just to people related to wine and olive oil industry?
SIMEI, International Enological and Bottling Equipment Exhibition, is the biggest international biennial trade show for those who make real innovation in the field of machines, equipment, products and services for wine preparation, bottling and packaging. It is the privileged showcase to display and allow to “touch” the results of the companies’ investments in research&development. Our trade shows offer a complete itinerary from the vineyard to the cellar. Indeed, ENOVITIS, International Vine and Olive Growing Technics Exhibition, is the strategic moment for the international vine- and olive-growing production chains, to have a closer look at all the last innovations of this productive sector and keep up to date on the technological evolution in progress.
SIMEI and ENOVITIS are specialized trade shows and thus, our visitors are almost all technical trade operators. They are a selected target, really interested in what is being displayed at the exhibition. However, the admittance is free and free of charge for everybody. Several initiatives, such as the Wine Bar and the Oil Bar, more related to relaxation and conviviality, which worked very well in the last edition, will be re-proposed and will represent an occasion to taste high-quality Italian wines and oils. Especially addressed to foreign visitors but also to the general public, this initiative has the further object to consolidate the promotion of Italian wine and oil abroad.
What type of activities did Simei/Enovitis plan for visitors? Any particular seminar or meeting?
As usual, SIMEI and ENOVITIS will not only be an exhibiting showcase, as we think that an exhibition should always be a business occasion, but also a moment of exchange of information, of views on the most topical themes regarding the field, in a perspective of growth and updating of the sector. Thus, also this year, insight moments will be proposed by a conference on vine-growing and another one on olive-growing and oil. In addition, a historical exhibition will be dedicated to bottling.
Andes Wines Communications
(56) 9 – 9-219 7117
andes@andeswines.com
JAPANESE WINEMAKER HIROFUMI HONDA BETS ON CHILE
Chile is becoming a great opportunity for foreign winemakers that want to learn more about new varieties, new techniques and also a good living standards. This is the case of the winemaker Hirofumi Honda from Japan who after working in several wineries will come to Chile and is looking for a job that offers him the chance to learn about Chilean Winemaking. He studied viticulture at the University of Adelaide in Australia, started to work for some wineries in South Africa, and is ready to learn more by travelling to Chile to do it. His expertise has been wine and grape analyses due to his work at analytical laboratories of a pharmaceutical company in Japan for fourteen years. Here is an interview with him:
Why did you decide to come to Chile?
Because the country produces many value-for-money wines and has some specialty wines which attract wine lovers in Japan; one is Sauvignon Blanc from Casablanca Valley, and another is Carménère
The vineyards in Chile must have something special and unique. One reason is that Chilean Sauvignon Blanc is, I believe, almost the only counterpart of New Zealand’s which has been successful because of the advanced viticultural practices there as well as the climate and soil. Another reason is that Bordeaux, the origin of Carménère does not produce more the variety because of very poor yield whereas the cultivar fits the climate and soil in Chile very much.
I like Sauvignon Blanc from Casablanca Valley so much because of rich aromas and flavours of wild herbs and grasses together with fruit such as melon, citrus, tropical fruit that I want to introduce the wine to wine lovers on the globe more. Unfortunately, the wine has been not so famous as Marlborough one.
Have you tasted Chilean Wines? Which varieties?
Although not so many Chilean Wines are yet available in Japan, I have tasted and enjoyed some whites and reds. Among them I was impressed by two labels of Sauvignon Blanc from Casablanca Valley, namely Cantaluna 2002 and Cono Sur 20 Barrels 2006, and Concha y Toro Terrunyo Carménère 2001.
What are you expecting from this travel to Chile to work?
I want to see how capable the vineyards are of producing really good, unique and competitive wines in the world and how Chilean wine industries are getting success in the global wine business, as well as the obstacles to overcome (they could be in the vineyards, cellars, marketing or transport).
How long are planning on staying in Chile?
I am planning to stay a year or so. I want to have the experience of working in Chile during the whole annual operation, where I can do all the practices and tasks in vineyards and/or cellars.
Which winemakers have you work with? Who has been your mentor?
I worked with Philip Jonker at Weltevrede and Marc Kent at Boekenhoutskloof. Philip is like my mentor since he guided me in the basic winemaking processes and allowed us employees to make wines in Gallon bottles (originally the bottles for the wines which could/would be filled into bag-in-box). I learned much from making my first wines of nine liters total (six liters of unwooded Chardonnay and three liters of Pinotage, the unique South African variety).
Marc is a friend of mine, and kindly provided his farmhouse to me to stay for a week when I was looking for accommodations after leaving Weltevrede. During the stay he allowed and recommended me to work at the cellar to get more job experiences.
I worked with Jaco Engelbrecht at Darling Cellars who is a promising viticulturist. It must have looked strange or funny to see me early forty being an assistant of him who is just twenty two!
When did you decide to work in the wine industry in Japan?
I decided to study winemaking (later viticulture) in 2004. I started enjoying wines in 2001 when my favourite wine shop was open in Tokyo. As I tasted and enjoyed their good wines (including Chilean) which they imported for themselves every weekend, I was no more satisfied with just drinking, enjoying and consuming wine, but wanted to be involved in wine industries or production.
Meanwhile, I was looking for a way to immigrate overseas for some reasons. One of which is that I prefer Mediterranean climate. Since I had no background of wine industries or productions at all, I decided to study winemaking at a university first before working in cellars and vineyards.
Andes Wines Communications ™
(56) 9 – 9-219 7117
andes@andeswines.com
WINE UNIVERSITY NETWORK – W.U.N
The creation of the Wine University NetWork (W.U.N) was announced during this week. It is aimed to incorporate all institutions and entities having programs or plans related to wine –MBA, Post graduated degrees, Diplomas- in order to make an interaction and exchange platform of information which is interesting to industry, carried out by Andes Wines. This challenge is led by Hugo Rodriguez, Journalist and Mastère Spécialisée en Commerce International des Vins et Spiritueux at University of Dijon, France and Maximiliano Morales, Agronomist and wine marketing consultant. They will be in charge of coordinating information coming from different countries as United States, Canada, Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, France, Italy, Spain, and Portugal. More
information on the services of W.U.N. write to andes@andeswines.com
Raúl Cerda, Dean of the Faculty of Agronomy at Universidad de Concepción (Campus Chillán), confirmed that it will be the first academic center to create this initiative. That is why a state-level gather information process related to wine and Agronomy studies and programs was made in order to boost the creation of new programs in the South of Chile.
The first stage will be calling all Wine Universities to develop an official record containing a program and study detail related to wine, and subsequently, to continue with the integration between Winemaking and Agronomy faculties all over the world. Thus, to carry out different activities, such as student exchange and/or internships, as well as joint thesis and studies.
In order to enhance this initiative, a professional group created the Club del Vino UdeC Chillán (UdeC Wine Club), which will be aimed to get all Agronomists former students together, associated direct or indirectly to wine industry, whether they be winemakers, grape-growers, input sellers, or brand managers.
Through this announcement, the Universidad de Concepción’s Faculty of Agronomy, is the first in Chile to organize a Wine Club, which will have the purpose of creating an Annual Working Plan, including an activity schedule, such as training, seminars, forum and talks related to vine and wine.
Every Club del Vino UdeC Chillán’s participant will have a monthly informative letter about innovations and advances of Agronomy Faculty in wine area. The closest plans include the promotion of experience exchanges with other Wine Clubs from foreign Universities of United States and France in order to boost international network development, forming alliance with AndesWines.com, which will develop foreign agreements.
The Club del Vino UdeC Chillán will be led by the Agronomist-Winemaker Carla Schmidt and the Professor of Economics, Alejandro Chandia.
Andes Wines Communications ™
(56) 9 – 9-219 7117
andes@andeswines.com
I INTERNATIONAL WINE COMIC COMPETITION
In order to create a new way to incorporate design and creativity from the talent of many wine lovers and fans, as well as publicists, this week the I International Wine Comic Competition (I Concurso Internacional de Comics del Vino) was launched. This initiative was promoted by the website AndesWines.com as a request of hundreds of questions from users regarding this new way to show wine culture, which has the Asian market revolutionized.
One of the main reasons to create this competition was the big success that wine comic strips have had in Japan and Asia, where there are a whole culture and fans of these graphic gambles, incorporating wine in their adventures, searching for the best wine of the world, for instance, and reaching young consumers and professionals over 25 years old who are just starting to know wine as an option to consume.
The competition will be open to all people, besides Design, Agronomy and Enology Faculties all over the world for those who want to make a comic having wine as a focal point.
Categories of I International Wine Comic Competition will be grape harvest, wine myths and legends, stories and wine characters. For those who are interested in participate can request the rules of the competition at andes@andeswines.com, which will be directly sent.
The spread of the competition at international level has already started in different countries, such as Spain, Mexico, Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, Chile, United States, Europe, and Asia with the purpose of reaching a big call, making wine be the core subject. In order to reinforce the internationalization of the competition, a world Facebook community was already created called “andes wines”, where participants are now interacting with one another.
The process of the reception will be on February 16, 2009, and it will be extended until July 31, 2009. Among prizes, there will be US$500 for the best work and a comic publication in http://www.andeswines.com, in English and Spanish, in addition to many other gifts that will be informed during the next weeks.
Andes Wines Communications ™
(56) 9 – 9-219 7117
andes@andeswines.com
Grapes are good…wine even better!!!
SUCCESSFUL BILATERAL WINE CAMPAIGN IN NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC EXPLORER CRUISE HAS CULMINATED
With great success the bilateral promotion of Chilean and Argentine Wines onboard National Geographic Explorer Cruise has culminated. Its crossing started in Puerto de Callao-Peru, went through Puerto de Coquimbo, Juan Fernández Islands (Robinson Crusoe), and crossed the whole Chilean coast, until it arrived in Chaitén, South of Chile. Most Nat. Geo. Explorer’s passengers were high purchasing power Americans who enjoyed Malbec, Carménère, Cabernet Sauvignon, Nebbiolo, Sauvignon Blanc’s wine tastings and mix of Botalcura, San Pedro, Santa Helena, Cabo de Hornos, Altaïr from Chile and A Lisa from Noemia de Patagonia, Rio Negro-Argentina.
Within the 15-day crossing, passengers were able to know more about the mentioned wines, and they had also access to carefully taste and analyze them in wine tasting events organized by Andes Wines. Wines that most surprised Americans were Nebbiolo and Cayao from Botalcura, Noemia de Patagonia, Cabo de Hornos from San Pedro and Vernus from Santa Helena, which participated in an exclusive Premium wine tasting.
According to passengers remarks, the eleven tasted wines were a surprise, as they were all often drinking Chilean wine during the year. However, they did not know that wine quality was in a high level. One of the wine characteristics that like the most was their complexity. The same was with the only Argentine tasted wine, which was very well received.
Other tasted wines were Botalcura La Porfia Carménère and Cabernet Sauvignon, San Pedro 1865 Single Vineyard, and two Sauvignon Blanc from Leyda and Elqui Valley 1865 and Castillo Molina.
Priscila Téllez, Global Marketing Manager San Pedro pointed out that “Viña San Pedro- present in almost 80 markets on all five continents- is a very important agent in Latin America and with great demand in United States-, that is why we supported this Chilean wine tourism and promotion initiative carried out by Andes Wines, because it is aimed to our target market, such as the American one; we also consider interesting and innovative the scenario of a cruise crossing the whole Pacific coast in order to show our wines. And because of the spreading level that this activity had in its previous versions, we think that it contributed to spread our brands.”
“We wanted to be in this cruise with our Premium wines, such as 1865 Single Vineyard and Cabo de Hornos, first of all, in order to show the audience San Pedro wine’s excellent quality: awards in international competitions and acclaimed by experts.”
This trip also went through that place- unique in the world- in the southern part of our country, which honors our wine, Cabo de Hornos .
We think that having tasted it “in situ” will be an unforgettable experience. Besides having presented two wines of our line 1865 Single Vineyard, that embodied all the work of our enological team and represented a hundred percent the typicality of every terroir through their grapes.
Verónica Barros from Viña Botalcura Marketing pointed out that “We participated in National Geographic Explorer Cruise because, undoubtedly, it has an associated attractive which gives it seriousness and recognition at international level. We are strategically focusing on the American consumer, just as most of these cruise’s passengers are, that is why we are interested in they knew Botalcura wine as part of Chile’s attractions, in order to reinforce country’s image with Chilean wine, specially the good ones, for those experts and wine lovers’ demanding palates.”
“In this adventure, passengers could taste Botalcura. This way, they could fix in their memory this wine which made them live an extraordinary experience, that they will never forget. Then, they will be able to buy Botalcura in United States through our web site or directly in specialized shops”, remarked Barros Verónica.
Tastings were carried out by the Agronomist, Maximiliano Morales –who has the II Level Certificate of Wine & Spirit Education Trust- being part of the Nat. Geo. Staff three years ago, performing wine tastings through Patagonian Channel.
Andes Wines Communications ™
(56) 9 – 9-219 7117
andes@andeswines.com
JOHN HOLL ANNOUNCED AS NEW AMERICAN COLUMNIST FOR ANDESWINES.COM
AndesWines.com is honoured to welcome John Holl as the new American Columnist. For nearly 15 years John Holl has worked as a journalist covering everything from politics to agriculture. The majority of his career was spent at the New York Times where he covered the events of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the New Jersey State House, various political campaigns and a variety of breaking news. A graduate of Seton Hall University, Holl has also covered the U.S. craft brewing industry and written frequently on drinks related issues. In addition to the Times, his work has appeared in Forbes Auto, The Newark Star-Ledger, The Indianapolis Star, Cosmopolitan, Scholastic Administrator, New Jersey Life Magazine and several other publications.
“When a person brings the right ingredients together with the proper technique, it is likely something wonderful will be created. This is particularly true in the beverage industry where a well made drink can excite the senses and transform the spirit,” writes Holl in his début letter to readers.
“From wine to beer and spirits, a drink does not only have to be a social experience but a personal one as well. Not everyone has the same tastes or taste buds, so while some might enjoy a smoky single-malt scotch, others would refuse and reach for a glass of merlot.”
“When it comes to a drink, the only opinion that matters is that of the person holding the glass,” said Holl. “I am grateful to Andes Wines for the opportunity to share with you some of the exciting and unique beverages that are being produced in the United States and to introduce American readers to the wonderful wines being produced in Chile.”
The United States and Chile have a unique and prosperious relationship and the column will attempt to foster better understanding behind the drinks culture of each country.
Situated along the west coast of South America, Chile is home to 16.5 million residents. The U.S. State department issues about 65,000 travel visas on an annual basis to Chilean residents wanting to visit the states.
Since the U.S.-Chile Free Trade Agreement went into effect on January 1, 2004, U.S.-Chilean trade has increased by 154%. Internal Government of Chile figures show that bilateral trade between the U.S. and Chile has grown over 60% since then. During 2006, Chile imported U.S. $26 billion from the Americas, representing 54% of total imports, followed by Asia at 22%, and
Europe at 16%.
Over the coming months Holl’s column will consider anything and everything that can be poured into a glass and even the vessels themselves. Nothing is off limits. Readers and beverage companies are encouraged to e-mail Holl and engage in a lively conversation. He may be reached at johnholl@andeswines.com.
John Holl
United States Correspondent
Andes Wines Communications ™
(56) 9 – 9-219 7117
andes@andeswines.com
Grapes are good…wine even better!!!
ON-LINE VIDEO OF THE WINE TRIP IN NEW ZEALAND BY ANDES WINES
CHECK THE VIDEO OF SCHUBERT IN THE WINE TRIP IN NEW ZEALAND http://au.youtube.com. The Journalist Jimena Cordovez and the Publicist Sebastián Pérez-Canto Orellana have started their adventure called “Wine Trip in New Zealand”, few weeks ago. In their first official visit, they met Kai Schubert, Schubert Wines’ Director and Winemaker. “We have to be honest… we are both wine lovers. Here, the real expert is Sebastián. He knows all about techniques and processes, I just know the basic part… we could say I know about the romantic side of the wine. A mixture that we did not know it would work out… Until recent October 6th. By Jimena and Sebastián from New Zealand.
CHECK THE VIDEO HERE “THE WINE TRIP IN NEW ZEALAND” http://au.youtube.com
It goes without saying, that anxiety was there in every minute: What would we find there? Who would we talk to: the owner or the winemaker? Where would we get there: a multinational or a small company? They would be able to understand our English or – which was more distressing- they would speak in a good English. I think that three questions were the most frequent ones of the whole trip.
Surely, one of you remember how you felt during the first day of internship. I think it was something like… everything you know, it does not mean anything… well, that was the same feeling we had when we faced our first person to be interviewed… Kai Schubert, Schubert Wines’ Director and Winemaker.
We parked our van near to a white wooden fence. There was nobody, and we decided to go in there. The house was small, but very cozy. It had a courtyard turned into a vineyard, or if you prefer, a vineyard turned into a courtyard. Time was going by and no one answered our constant “Hello”. Minutes later, somebody asked us: “Are you guys from AndesWines? Yes, we are… Perfect, come in, welcome!”. After that, nothing bad could happen.
So, that was how we knew one of the most successful Martinborough’s vineyards (100 km northeastern Wellington, New Zealand’s capital city), and although it looks contradictory, one of the less accessible place, at national level. Such is the vineyard success, that 90% of their production are foreign exports -25 countries exactly- and they are only producing 6,500 boxes a year.
It is said that those who are perseverant, they will achieve their goals. And Schubert family is the best sample of that. Their history started in 1998, when after traveling all around the world searching for the perfect spot to set up a vineyard, they settled in Martinborough. Ten years later, Schubert became famous because of two of their bottles: Pinot Noir, the couple’s favorite, and Tribianco, three premium white grape varieties, very successful in Japan.
However, what is the special about these very famous grapes in New Zealand which, at the same time, make this country so popular abroad? Firstly, Schubert has two types of Pinot Noir. The first one, called Marion’s Vineyard (2006), honoring Kai’s partner, is the two Pinot Noir clone-selections: Pommard and Able. The second one, Pinot Noir Block B (2006), is a selection of 5 Dijon-Pinot Noir clones
On the other hand, Tribianco (2006) is even more interesting. It is a mix (better to call it “blend”) of Chardonnay, Pinot Gris and Müller-Thurgau. The last one, a grape with very bad reputation among New Zealander experts (not so much the experts but the general wine consumer), because during the first grape harvest, they were not treated correctly and they were turned into salad dressing (not exactly the first harvest… but when Mueller Thurgau was initially planted it was harvested at very high yields, so the juice was not of high quality and therefore the wine not very good either.
That’s how this variety obtained its bad reputation…. And did I really say Salad dressing??? J Well it was just made into not so good wines. ). But now it is different. Schubert replanted and improved Müller-Thurgau’s process, becoming the only producer of this grape in Wairarapa. (We did not replant the Mueller Thurgau… it was already planted in our block in Martinborough when we bought it. What we did different however was to reduce the yield, which made much better juice and hence also better wine.
Thanks to these two productions, Schubert has many awards for his work. We had the opportunity of tasting these three bottles. High level flavors, worthy of each award. But we are addicted. Yes, addicted…. to our eternal and favorite Cabernet Sauvignon. The house has Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot that we cannot leave behind. Harvested in 2004, this bottle draw our attention because of its intense cassis flavor and a velvety ruby red color which will be attractive for any wine lover woman, just like me.
After four hours meeting one of the most successful Wairarapa’s producer, tasting his most popular wines, and going around the 12 hectare of terroir, we were happy. It was the least we could do. Our first interview was very successful. Vineyard’s Director, Winemaker and owner invited us to sit in his table to taste his collection. He tried very hard and had the patience to show us the wine world in English. Finally, he turned our work into pleasure.
For those who have the opportunity to visit Schubert Vineyard, it is located in 57 Cambridge Road, Martinborough 5711, New Zealand. There, its owner will serve you, a very kind German who will not only talk about wines, but tastes. And there is one thing for sure: all those who go and visit him will go out there with one, or maybe two, bottles under your arm… It happened to us. If you are in South America or just on vacations in Brazil, you can visit Fasano Restaurant in São Paulo. This place is nearer, but not cheaper, to understand of what we are talking about.
By Jimena and Sebastián.
Andes Wines Communications ™
(56) 9 – 9-219 7117
andes@andeswines.com
Translated by Paulina Rojas R.
CHECK THE VIDEO OF SCHUBERT IN THE WINE TRIP IN NEW ZEALAND http://au.youtube.com. The Journalist Jimena Cordovez and the Publicist Sebastián Pérez-Canto Orellana have started their adventure called “Wine Trip in New Zealand”, few weeks ago. In their first official visit, they met Kai Schubert, Schubert Wines’ Director and Winemaker. “We have to be honest… we are both wine lovers. Here, the real expert is Sebastián. He knows all about techniques and processes, I just know the basic part… we could say I know about the romantic side of the wine. A mixture that we did not know it would work out… Until recent October 6th. By Jimena and Sebastián from New Zealand.CHECK THE VIDEO HERE “THE WINE TRIP IN NEW ZEALAND” http://au.youtube.com
It goes without saying, that anxiety was there in every minute: What would we find there? Who would we talk to: the owner or the winemaker? Where would we get there: a multinational or a small company? They would be able to understand our English or – which was more distressing- they would speak in a good English. I think that three questions were the most frequent ones of the whole trip.
Surely, one of you remember how you felt during the first day of internship. I think it was something like… everything you know, it does not mean anything… well, that was the same feeling we had when we faced our first person to be interviewed… Kai Schubert, Schubert Wines’ Director and Winemaker.
We parked our van near to a white wooden fence. There was nobody, and we decided to go in there. The house was small, but very cozy. It had a courtyard turned into a vineyard, or if you prefer, a vineyard turned into a courtyard. Time was going by and no one answered our constant “Hello”. Minutes later, somebody asked us: “Are you guys from AndesWines? Yes, we are… Perfect, come in, welcome!”. After that, nothing bad could happen.
So, that was how we knew one of the most successful Martinborough’s vineyards (100 km northeastern Wellington, New Zealand’s capital city), and although it looks contradictory, one of the less accessible place, at national level. Such is the vineyard success, that 90% of their production are foreign exports -25 countries exactly- and they are only producing 6,500 boxes a year.
It is said that those who are perseverant, they will achieve their goals. And Schubert family is the best sample of that. Their history started in 1998, when after traveling all around the world searching for the perfect spot to set up a vineyard, they settled in Martinborough. Ten years later, Schubert became famous because of two of their bottles: Pinot Noir, the couple’s favorite, and Tribianco, three premium white grape varieties, very successful in Japan.
However, what is the special about these very famous grapes in New Zealand which, at the same time, make this country so popular abroad? Firstly, Schubert has two types of Pinot Noir. The first one, called Marion’s Vineyard (2006), honoring Kai’s partner, is the two Pinot Noir clone-selections: Pommard and Able. The second one, Pinot Noir Block B (2006), is a selection of 5 Dijon-Pinot Noir clones
On the other hand, Tribianco (2006) is even more interesting. It is a mix (better to call it “blend”) of Chardonnay, Pinot Gris and Müller-Thurgau. The last one, a grape with very bad reputation among New Zealander experts (not so much the experts but the general wine consumer), because during the first grape harvest, they were not treated correctly and they were turned into salad dressing (not exactly the first harvest… but when Mueller Thurgau was initially planted it was harvested at very high yields, so the juice was not of high quality and therefore the wine not very good either.
That’s how this variety obtained its bad reputation…. And did I really say Salad dressing??? J Well it was just made into not so good wines. ). But now it is different. Schubert replanted and improved Müller-Thurgau’s process, becoming the only producer of this grape in Wairarapa. (We did not replant the Mueller Thurgau… it was already planted in our block in Martinborough when we bought it. What we did different however was to reduce the yield, which made much better juice and hence also better wine.
Thanks to these two productions, Schubert has many awards for his work. We had the opportunity of tasting these three bottles. High level flavors, worthy of each award. But we are addicted. Yes, addicted…. to our eternal and favorite Cabernet Sauvignon. The house has Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot that we cannot leave behind. Harvested in 2004, this bottle draw our attention because of its intense cassis flavor and a velvety ruby red color which will be attractive for any wine lover woman, just like me.
After four hours meeting one of the most successful Wairarapa’s producer, tasting his most popular wines, and going around the 12 hectare of terroir, we were happy. It was the least we could do. Our first interview was very successful. Vineyard’s Director, Winemaker and owner invited us to sit in his table to taste his collection. He tried very hard and had the patience to show us the wine world in English. Finally, he turned our work into pleasure.
For those who have the opportunity to visit Schubert Vineyard, it is located in 57 Cambridge Road, Martinborough 5711, New Zealand. There, its owner will serve you, a very kind German who will not only talk about wines, but tastes. And there is one thing for sure: all those who go and visit him will go out there with one, or maybe two, bottles under your arm… It happened to us. If you are in South America or just on vacations in Brazil, you can visit Fasano Restaurant in São Paulo. This place is nearer, but not cheaper, to understand of what we are talking about.
By Jimena and Sebastián.
Andes Wines Communications ™
(56) 9 – 9-219 7117
andes@andeswines.com
Translated by Paulina Rojas R.
ALEXANDRE SCHMITT: THE NOSE CONSULTING THE WORLD’S MOST PRESTIGIOUS ENOLOGISTS
OLFACTION SEMINAR IN CHILE: The French perfumer, Alexandre Schmitt, who nowadays is working in Bordeaux Faculty of Enology teaching prestigious winery’s enologists and wine professionals on olfaction in Spain, France and United States, announced his visit to Chile between January 12th and 23rd 2009 in order to dictate the First Olfaction Seminar in South America. Schimitt works as a consultant to Jean-Claude Berrouet (Taransaud Barrels, Château Pétrus, Lafleur-Pétrus, Trotanoy, Magdeleine), Château d’Yquem, Château Margaux, Tim Mondavi, Geneviève Janssens (Robert Mondavi Winery), Michael Silacci (Opus One), Marimar Torres (Miguel Torres wineries), Kendall Jackson, among others.
He has been called the “Guard of the Essences”, the “Nose of the World”, and according to his words: “the smelling sessions are a new tool for winemakers, which offers the possibility to develop the sensitivity of our sense of smell and to record in our memory a large amount of aromas.” Evidently, the extent of our aromatic knowledge is related to the degree of our immersion in this universe.
Before and after the Olfaction Seminar, different meetings with well-known national winemakers, who have been interested in personally meet him, will be carried out. Even wine valleys that want to carry out private activities to their producers have been contacted. That is why a very hectic week is expected.
In Europe, seminars have been dictated successfully in different places such as Bordeaux, Barcelona, La Rioja, Madrid, Rueda, Porto, Alentejo, the Douro Valley, confirming the vast interest in participating on the exclusive seminar. Many important figures or famous wineries have been already trained such as Jean-Claude Berrouet (Château Pétrus, Lafleur-Pétrus, Trotanoy, Magdeleine), Château d’Yquem, Château Margaux, Taransaud Barrels in Cognac, Tim Mondavi, Geneviève Janssens (Robert Mondavi Winery), Michael Silacci (Opus One), Marimar Torres (Miguel Torres wineries), Kendall Jackson wineries, Viader winery, Diageo (Beaulieu Vineyards), Merryvale, Dominus Estate, etc. Alexandre Schmitt works as well with the Instituto dos Vinhos do Douro e Porto and the Catholic University in Porto.
Eighteen years ago, Schmitt met the Château Pétrus Technical Director- one of the most prestigious in the world- Jean-Claude Berrouet, who motivated him to specialize in the wine world. He recently said in an interview: “For the past fifteen years Alexandre has regularly enlightened me with his knowledge of the world of olfaction. First I became conscious of the discovery of the invisible, and then I learned how to develop my sense of smell in order to improve my enjoyment of everyday life. The ability to precisely identify certain aromatic components allows me to improve my assessments on a professional level, and, therefore, to feel self-assured and perform better in analytical wine tastings ……it’s a real pleasure!”
The Olfaction Seminar will be completely organized and coordinated by Andes Wines and Wine & Olfaction Consulting, and is aimed to Winemakers, Vine-Growers, Agronomists, Sommeliers, Vineyards owners and businessman who are actively participating in the wine world. The smelling sessions have a dual purpose: to structure our smelling universe and to teach us to describe smells with an accurate use of the rich vocabulary at our disposal. To memorize aromas is first and foremost to learn how to describe them.
It is clear that through a constant, stubborn and guided smelling practice we can acquire a sound knowledge of the aromatic descriptors of wine. It is surprising to see that wine professionals and amateurs taste wine without having ever received olfactory training. The best musicians spend years studying music theory and practicing scales on a daily basis. Why should it be different for wine professionals who use their sense of smell every day?
The First Level course will last four sessions of four hours each. On this introduction of what olfaction is in the wine field, all aromatic describers which are used in wine tasting and all smell families presented in wine will be analyzed.
GENERAL BACKGROUND
Schmitt is the only perfumer working with the wine world. He was born in Bordeaux in 1967. Firstly, he studied Chemistry at the University of Science of Bordeaux where he had an entrance examination on olfaction, and he trained himself in an autodidact way, smelling everything he could. Then, at 23 he began a creator of perfumes, thanks to his studies made in International Superior Institute of Perfumery, Cosmetics Food Aromas in Versailles.
Throughout the years, Alexandre Schmitt has been able to identify about 1500 different smells or aromas. Within the Seminar about 150 references are analyzed, as it is a matter of practice and a lot of perseverance.
If we compare a winemaker with a perfumer, both use the sense of smell in a very different way. Their two worlds are actually very different. It is why Alexandre Schmitt has been needed 10 years to adapt and to adjust his knowledge from the perfumery into the wine field. Regarding this point, Alexandre Schmitt says: “Perfume makers and winemakers are not used to smelling in the same concentration of alcohol. Ethanol plays an important role, because it spreads the smell. In perfume, ethanol concentration is around 90°, whereas in wine it usually varies between 12º and 18°. Besides this point, the concentration of aromatic components in perfume usually is around a few grams/litre whereas in wine we can perceive molecules in concentrations of around a microgram/ litre, a million times less concentrated.
More, the compounds are not the same in perfumes and wines. There are molecules in the wine that nobody will ever find in the perfume and vice versa… On the other hand, what is interesting is the fact that perfumers and winemakers, both use their sense of smell and try to identify, analyse, describe and, finally, to memorize smells. Concerning this last point, the advantage goes to the perfume makers, who usually get to know thousands of smells, while winemakers are only able to identify about one hundred different aromas.”
Although the perception and memory of each person is unique and different, everybody has more or less the same sense of smell and we feel the same way, and through an olfactory education, a universal vocabulary to describe aromas can be established.
Before learning to appreciate aromas in wine, original aromas must be recognized through an isolated reference used to give an intense and exact mark on mind. This way, wine professionals can practice in a better way. The idea is to structure their smelling universe and there is no other way to do it.
The reason why influential winemakers of France, United States and other countries trust his consultancy is because it gives them an opportunity to go in depth and specialize in the olfaction world, and at the same time, practice it. Generally, enologists are concentrated in knowing very well the defective molecule and forget that wine is a pleasure.
Andes Wines
andes@andeswines.com
(56) 9-9-219 7117
Translated by Paulina Rojas R.
NEW PLATFORM IS CREATED TO ATTRACT FOREIGN CAPITAL FOR WINE AND TOURISM
AndesWines.com and Metroprop.cl Property Management have seal an strategic alliance to create a platform for contact and business that wants to give a solution to the need of placement of new capital in Chile and to act as a consultant for the investors during the whole process of implementation. The main goal of this alliance is to seek and process information from all lands, properties and actives related to the viticultural and touristic area so that they will have a national register of available and ready to be sold properties. More information in andes@andeswines.com
These international networks of both companies will offer business opportunities through a selective search of potential national and international investors that are interested in developing a business in Chile.
According to Sebastián Salazar B., commercial manager and real state agent partner of Metroprop.cl: “We are now managing an important amount of lands in different regions suitable for developing projects of real state, tourism and forest, and thanks to this alliance with AndesWines we will expand the spectrum of business by adding the viticultural area.
Another area that will be develop thanks to this union is the promotion if touristic places for the construction of lodges and elite hotels due to the growing foreign interest in Chile and its natural beauty. This will be achieve by searching for the best lands close to areas of high foreign touristic flow, such as sky centers, San Pedro de Atacama and Patagonia. These places will be internationally available for foreign and national investors that are interested in developing elite projects in tourism of special interest.
The importance of some people or companies, as well as their nationality, makes them require highly specialized and efficient services, therefore, commercial and legal analysis of the properties is basic in order to develop projects that are profitable and sustainable in time so that they guarantee the investment of our customers.
Regarding the viticultural industry, the objective is to professionalize the first viticultural real state agency, which is now at days trilingual (German, English and Spanish). This specialization will be performed through the wine market place at http://www.andeswines.com that will make available a varied offer of information, such as vineyard and wineries for rent or sale, public or confidential at the web page, as well as lands that are suitable for developing viticultural projects aiming at attracting investors interested in inverting in Chile.
NEW TRILINGUAL WINE BROKER OF LANDS AND CELLARS OPENING
After six years of collecting databases from the wine industry and also from private investors such as the finance, oil, forest, mining and fishing industry, AndesWines.com announces the opening of the first specialized and trilingual (German, English and Spanish) wine broker through its wine market place where a varied offer of vineyards and cellars for sale or rent will be presented confidentially or published on the web site. Lands which are suitable for the development of new wine projects to attract capitalists to invest in Spain, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, which are countries that have great growth projections.
Thus, winegrowers and investors from different parts of the world will have access to a confidential search strategy of capitalists or joint ventures that begins since the potential client gets in touch with the company through the web site or the following e-mail address andes@andeswines.com. Afterwards, the client will be assisted by an executive of the company to receive the official request for a specific and personalized search.
GENERAL BACKGROUND:
The wine crisis, caused by the fall in dollar prices and other factors such as the high competitiveness of countries like Australia and Spain, is causing significant buying and selling of vineyards and wine cellars in Chile and Argentina. This constitutes a business opportunity that was predicted several years ago by financial specialists and the wine industry itself.
The wine marketing company AndesWines.com points out that in Chile, more than fifteen vineyards and cellars have been put up for sale confidentially in different wine lands such as Colchagua, Casablanca, Maule, Curico and Itata. The reason for this has been specific circumstances such as the fall in dollar prices and bad financial handling, but new solutions like the selling of these assets and products or the establishment of joint ventures between foreign and national capitals are being considered to provide new resources for their expansion.
Many Chilean cellars specialize in vinifying wine for other countries like Australia or Spain that have businesses in Chile with the purpose to generate resources and survive in the competitive world of bottled wine.
Other companies specialize in the production and export of wine in bulk, which in large volume (millions of liters) is a profitable business that unfortunately affects in a direct way the image and opinion that foreign people have of Chilean wine, due to this kind of wine has been exported in flexitanks and bottled in Germany or China to be sold at lower prices than those produced in the original vineyards. Furthermore, those countries destroy all the effort of the few private and state Chilean wine campaigns, in which the image of bottled wine with designation of origin has been improved.
SEARCH FOR WINE INVESTORS
In the last three years, AndesWines.com has contact more than 2.500 vineyards and cellars in twelve different countries, as well as with more than 350 private investors, investment banks, entrepreneurs from different industries and angel investors that follow and monitor the Spanish, Argentinen, Chilean and Uruguayan market, due to the great strengths that they have in key factors such as climate and ground variety, economic skilled labor, and the most important; an exceptional quality of wine that holds several representative vines such as Malbec, Carmenere, Tannat or Tempranillo as differentiating factors.
AndesWines.com is trying to attract investors from Argentina, Germany, United States and Australia because it can not be forgotten that many Argentinean cellars are handled by international investment banks unlike in Chile, country that maintains different free trade agreements with other countries and has more opportunities to generate businesses if wine marketing and global positioning strategies are developed.
CONTACT WINE FAIR SERVICE – OVER 2.500 WINERIES AND RELATED COMPANIES
AndesWines.com has a direct contact with over 2.500 wineries and wine & olive oil related companies from 16 countries like Chile, Argentina, US, Uruguay, France, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Australia, NZ, South Africa, Canada, Mexico, Brasil, India, China. If your company needs a contact service or looking for country representation, let us know to andes@andeswines.com or call us to (56) 9-9 219 7117 / (56) 41-2216106
WINE JOB – WINE INTERSHIPS IN CHILE – ARGENTINA – SPAIN – USA – FRANCE
If you are looking for a wine internship or a wine job, write to andes@andeswines.com to get more information. We have contact with over 2.500 wineries from Chile, Argentina, US, Uruguay, France, Italy and Spain, and we can help you out to look for job opportunity in any wine country. Contact us for more information to the email andes@andeswines.com
CARMENERE BLIND TASTING IN “CIRCULO DEL VINO IN CHILE – WINE CIRCLE OF ANDES WINES”
This past Saturday, “El Círculo del Vino de Andes Wines – Wine Circle of Andes Wines” organized the first Blind Tasting of Carmenere in Concepción incharge of consulting winemaker Francois Massoc. The event had an excellent attendence and was sponsored by Club de Lectores del Mercurio Newspaper. The group of 25 guests tasted eight wines of six wine valleys from Chile and the best evaluated were 1810 from Casa Donoso Winery and Cavas Submarinas from Casanueva Winery in Itata Valley.
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After six days of the 8.8 richter´s scale earthquake impacted Chile, the country is moving forward to recover from the devastation. Food and water started to be delivered along Constitución, Talca, Concepción, Dichato, Pichilemu and several small cities and villages. Seems like will never be enough, however, international and local help started to arrive providing some hope to the people. Report from AndesWines.cl
The last Chilean investors in arriving are “Espíritu de Argentina”, the name of the wine produced by the Chilean Winery Aresti in Argentina, in alliance with the German Distributor Racke. Also, Veramonte Winery of Casablanca valley in Chile, whose owner is the most well-known Chilean vintner in California, Agustin Huneeus, launched few weeks ago his Argentine Wine in order to conquer and expand his portfolio in the international market.
These international networks of both companies will offer business opportunities through a selective search of potential national and international investors that are interested in developing a business in Chile.
The wine crisis, caused by the fall in dollar prices and other factors such as the high competitiveness of countries like Australia and Spain, is causing significant buying and selling of vineyards and wine cellars in Chile and Argentina. This constitutes a business opportunity that was predicted several years ago by financial specialists and the wine industry itself.
According to the informations gathered by the viticultural marketing company Andes Wines during the last two years, Chile has learned to take advantage of the opportunities provided by the massive arrival of foreigners in the country. Nevertheless, the vineyards have not understood the real impact of having thousands of potential consumers tasting the products and that when they return to their countries they could continue buying wines.
Rolland, during the last thirty years as wine consultant has worked with over 200 wineries in 17 countries and now, he thinks, he would work with another Chilean winery if Casa Lapostolle authorizes him to do it, which is not the occasion now.
The ZAP tasting is touted as the world’s largest single-varietal wine event, and the lines of Zinfandel fans spanning the parking lot left little room for doubt. Approximately 2,000 people lined up outside the event’s two pavilions before the tasting began, and mounted police officers stood by to monitor the crowd. Once inside, tasters sampled an array of Zinfandel wines, many with tongue-in-cheek names like VineAgra (which, at 17% alcohol, probably has the opposite effect of its namesake pharmaceutical) and Z52.
Momento II Carmére is fermented in stainless steel barrels. In order to maintain its varietal carácter, only 15% is kept in barrels made of American oak, giving it flavours of red fruits and spices along with a bit of vanilla and chocolate.
Along with his neighbour Gary Figgins from Leonetti Cellars, whose interest stemmed from his desire to mix Carmenere, Colvin obtained the necessary permits and planted four acres. His first harvest was presented in the Holiday Barrel Tasting Weekend of 2002 and is made up of 90% Carménere, while the remaining 10% is Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot.
The encounter of Ca’ del Bosco and Carmenere began in 1990, when the Franciacorta estate decided to import Cabernet Franc seeds from a French nursery. By chance, which is always crucial part in history, the mixing of the plants has been compared to something like a wolf with lamb’s skin, revealing the qualities of a wine that, apart from the enthusiasm of the critics, should still be bottled as Vino di Tavola.
It goes without saying, that anxiety was there in every minute: What would we find there? Who would we talk to: the owner or the winemaker? Where would we get there: a multinational or a small company? They would be able to understand our English or – which was more distressing- they would speak in a good English. I think that three questions were the most frequent ones of the whole trip.
