Last month we had a special opportunity to immerse ourselves in Chilean wines when we went to Santiago as judges for the fourth annual Wines of Chile Awards. Over three days, together with seven other American wine professionals, we sampled 400-plus Chilean wines that retail in the $10 to $25 price range. The experience convinced us not only that Chile is making very impressive wines, but also that the wines are getting better and better.
One area in which Chile has made tremendous progress in recent years is its Sauvignon Blanc wines. We can recall a time not so long ago when most of Chile’s Sauvignon Blancs came from the same Central Valley regions as the red wines, but today the majority come from coastal regions, especially Casablanca, where the cooling ocean influence creates a very different taste in the wine.
We also recall that many so-called Sauvignon Blanc vines were once in reality a different grape, Sauvignonasse. What had previously been thin, watery wines with anemic flavor today are fresh, vibrant, crisp wines with fairly intense flavors of passion fruit, citrus and/or minerally character. Before long, we expect to hear critics naming Chile as one of the world’s Sauvignon Blanc superpowers.
We American judges named a Sauvignon Blanc wine from Casablanca as the Best of Show for the competition. This was a huge departure from each of the previous years, when powerful red wines—Syrahs and blended reds—took the top honor.
Another impressive category was blended red wines. This was a challenge to judge because the wines varied so much, depending on their dominant grape variety. They essentially fell into three styles: Cabernet Sauvignon blends, Syrah blends and Carmenère blends. The top wine in the blended red category combined Cabernet, Carmenère and Petit Verdot varieties.
Syrah is a fairly new grape variety in Chile, but it is achieving excellent results whether planted in fairly cool coastal regions, such as San Antonio Valley, in the Apalta district of Colchagua, or in high-altitude terrain such as the mountains of Aconcagua. The tasting of gold-medal Syrahs to determine the best of the category saw judges polarized between two extremely fine wines: a lean, tight Northern-Rhônish wine from San Antonio Valley and a rich, soft, powerful Syrah from Aconcagua Valley, which won the showdown. Although a Syrah did not win Best of Show, as it has in the past, the category was exciting.
Carmenère—what many would consider Chile’s signature grape—also had some impressive wines. A soft black-fruit character emerged in the finest wines, along with firm oak tannin and a generally powerful style. But the wines were controversial in the lower price category, $10 to $15. For example, we found some wines combining herbal characteristics along with candied fruit notes, an unusual combination that we disliked but that other judges approved of.
WINE OF THE WEEK 2006 Veramonte Sauvignon Blanc, Casablanca Veramonte’s Sauvignon Blanc is not only delicious but also a surprising value. It’s an unoaked wine with penetrating fruity and herbal aromas, crisp acidity and pronounced citrus flavor. It’s a terrific match with seafood ceviche. Wholesale case price: $80
In the end, we saw Chile with new eyes. More than just a steady source of decent, inexpensive varietal wines, Chile is discovering its own wine potential with new grape varieties and new regions for its classic grapes and establishing a permanent place for itself on the world stage of fine wine.
