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.

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