In focus: Southern Chile
There’s something primal about man’s desire for exploration, to push the boundaries of possibility and forge new frontiers. An adventurous spirit is what drove Neil Armstrong to plant his flag on the moon, Christopher Columbus to reach America, and Roald Amundsen to win the race to reach the South Pole.
Feature findings
> Chile’s southern reaches have become a hotspot for intrepid winemakers intent on seeking out cooler sites in the face of climate change, as well as a more reliable water supply.
> The majority of commerial activity
is happening in Itata and Bìo Bìo, but investment is also increasing throughout Malleco, Osorno
and beyond.
> This year Casa Silva will release its debut traditional method sparkling wine from Lake Ranco in the Osorno Valley, home to the most southerly commercial vineyard in Chile.
> Montes has planted a two-hectare vineyard even further south, on the island of Mechuque off the Chilean archipelago of Chiloé.
While the stakes are not quite as high, the same is true of viticulture, with the urge seek out the highest, coldest or most extreme sites that teeter on the edge of viability hold a devilish allure for winemakers. So it’s not surprising to see vintners in Chile, a country so long and thin that it spans every climactic extreme possible, keen to push their viticultural potential to the limits. Chile’s extreme south provides the perfect playground for them.
Compared with the country’s arid north, which is also a rapidly developing wine region, Chile’s southern reaches have become a hotspot for intrepid winemakers intent on seeking out cooler sites in the face of climate change, as well as a more reliable water supply. “The weather is changing, so when you think about projects for the next 20 to 30 years, it’s something we need to look at,” says Paul Konar, managing director of Cono Sur, which two years ago bought a 200-hectare estate in Bío Bío.
“In the past 10 to 15 years things have been moving south, and it’s very good to diversify our vineyards.”
A move south also represents a return to their roots for Chilean winemakers, bringing modern viticulture to a region dominated by small growers, once known only for their production of ‘rustic’ village wine made from País, but also where some of the country’s oldest vines still thrive. For the past decade, winemakers have been migrating south to the likes of Itata, Bío Bío, Malleco and Osorno, paying a fairer price for small growers’ produce, as well as developing their own sites for the future. While climates between these valleys vary greatly, production remains on a knife edge, particularly in Osorno, where whole crops can be lost from year to year. But the benefits, should they succeed, are promising, and swiftly reaching fruition.
This year will mark two major milestones in Chile’s exploration of its deep south. First is the release of Casa Silva’s debut traditional method sparkling wine from Lake Ranco in the Osorno Valley, which at 600 miles south of Santiago at 40 degrees latitude, is the most southerly commercial vineyard in Chile. Second is the planting of a two-hectare vineyard by Montes even further south, on a tiny island on the Chilean archipelago of Chiloé, 1,000km south of Santiago. So what do winemakers stand to gain from their exploration of the south, which varieties are showing the most promise, and where are producers placing their bets?
ITATA
At 400km south of Santiago, Itata is the most northerly part of southern Chile, and is described by winemaker Sebastian De Martino as the land of “pines and vines”. Planted largely with País and Cinsault, as well as Muscat, Chardonnay and Chasselas, some of which are believed to be 200 years old, it is perhaps the most conducive to winemaking of Chile’s southern reaches, with a plentiful 1,107mm rainfall a year, making dry farming possible, and only a 21% risk of frost. This compares with 42% in the more northern Maule, 33% in Colchagua and 43% in Curico, according to Wines of Chile. Further south, frost risk increases to 64% in Bío Bío and Malleco, while the furthest reaches of Osorno Valley and beyond are so unchartered that a risk factor has not yet been calculated.
In Itata, and, indeed, southern Chile as a whole, a trend for less use of oak, or none at all, and minimal intervention is resulting in lighter, fresher wines, with the aim of showing more of the place in the liquid. De Martino released its first wine from Itata in 2011, and produces a 100% Cinsault from there, fermented and aged in clay amphoræ, called ‘viejas tinjajas’. “In Itata you can find more charming fruit, if you like wines that are fresh, like Cru Beaujolais, along those lines – I love them,” says De Martino. “Cinsault can be a very nice variety as well. Light in colour, very gentle, perfumed and charming too. When we first went to Itata we said we want to farm this site, but we want to pay per hectare, not per kilo.
“The growers were used to being paid by the alcohol level, so they were waiting for the grapes to ripen. We changed that and paid per hectare, but also purchased our own vineyard in 2013. We are financially committed to this project.”
While wines from Itata are largely targeted at the on-trade, retailers like Waitrose are “taking the risk” to stock something different from Chile, says De Martino, listing his family’s old-vine Cinsault from Itata. “It’s about buyers taking a risk,” he adds.
“I love and respect that. They need to get behind it. To the buyers we have worked with for many years, we say ‘this is different; try it’; we need them to take that risk.”
But its not only smaller producers that are looking at Itata. Concha y Toro has been buying grapes from the region since 2014, and this year replaced its Casillero del Diablo Rosé, previously made from Shiraz, with a lighter version made from Cinsault grapes grown in Itata. Four years ago Miguel Torres Chile, owned by Spanish wine giant Torres, bought a 200-hectare estate in Itata, prompted by its search for a cooler site with a reliable water supply.
The group has already planted 60ha of País, Cinsault, Moscatel, Carignan and Cabernet Sauvignon, but has been buying grapes from small growers in the meantime, primarily for its La Causa label. “Our main focus is for sommeliers to have something new from Chile, a new variety and place to talk about,” says Jaime Valderrama Larenas, Miguel Torres Chile’s managing director. “We are still looking for more extreme areas, and global warming is really changing the climate – resulting in more rain and frost. So we are still looking for some other places in the south, maybe for sparkling, but we are seeing more and more wines in the south. Obviously, it’s tougher because of the weather conditions, and you can lose vintages, but that’s the risk of being a pioneer.”
BÍO BÍO & MALLECO
A further 100km south lie the valleys of Bío Bío and Malleco, where a slightly higher rainfall and concentration of clay in their soils make the cultivation of Pinot Noir more attractive, alongside País, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Muscat and Riesling. Cono Sur has been working in this valley for the past decade, and two years ago bought an estate, planting the first 70ha last year, with the third and final stage of planting set to be completed next year.
“We are planting cool-climate varieties – Riesling, Gewürztraminer, Pinot Noir and Sauvignon Blanc, and maybe also Pinot Grigio,” says Konar. “Since the start, Cono Sur bet on non-traditional varieties from Chile; Pinot Noir and aromatic whites such as Riesling and Gewürztraminer. That’s why we went to Bío Bío. This part of the south is different from Itata, and Bío Bío, I think, is the limit of viticulture. There are some wineries or vineyards further south but they are very limited in terms of weather conditions. Bío Bío has established itself as a great area for cool-climate varieties; maybe the same varieties you would find in Casablanca and Leyda, which is the main area for producing Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Sauvignon Blanc. We also have very interesting conditions for these varieties in Bío Bío.”
Partner Content
OSORNO
Further south still, 925km from Santiago, is Osorno, an even more extreme, and much wetter (2,020mm a year), valley, where very few winemakers have dared tread. Located at 40 degrees latitude, there is only 26.5ha planted in the whole valley, comprising small plots of Pinot Noir, Syrah, Pinot Meunier, Chardonnay, Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, Marsanne and Roussanne. Casa Silva owns 14ha on the shore of Lake Ranco in Chilean Patagonia. While its 40-degree latitude puts it on par with Valencia in Spain, oenologist Matias Pincheira is quick to point out its climactic differences. “It’s not similar to Europe, and the conditions are extreme. In the central valley of Chile you get 500mm of rain annually. In Ranco you have 2,000mm rain on average. It rains the whole year, the pH is close to 5.3, and the soil is volcanic trumao. It’s a soil that is very porous and has very good drainage. Because it rains a lot, we planted on a slope that is on a 25-degree incline. On that hill you have the conditions to plant. It doesn’t mean that you will have the same ability in other parts. For us, that hill represents what we can plant – 14ha. We can’t plant more than that.”
Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay were first planted at the site in 2006. In 2014, the winery released its first wines – Lake Ranco Sauvignon Blanc 2013 and Lake Ranco Pinot Noir 2013 – which has since been followed by a Riesling. But it is in the production of sparkling wines that the team believes Lake Ranco’s strength lies.
Later this year, Casa Silva will release its first sparkling wine, Fervor del Lago Ranco – a traditional method Pinot Noir/Chardonnay from the 2012 vintage that has spent three years ageing on its lees, matching the minimum imposed on a vintage Champagne.
“Some years you can do still wines, but not every year,” says Thomas Wilkins, Casa Silva’s marketing director. “Our first four to five years we had extreme summer conditions and it was easy to make still wine, but these were not regular conditions in the south. But we can produce a sparkling wine every year. It’s going to take us 20 years or more to fine tune. We need to build a cellar there – this is a high-end hot spot for tourists. The important thing is that there were no other sparkling wine regions in Chile before this. There were a lot of sparkling wines, but not from a specific region. The future of this region will be high-end sparkling. The quality is there and the sense of origin. It can’t be compared with any other sparkling wine in the world.”
CHILOE AND BEYOND
While Casa Silva has been in Osorno for more than 10 years, and is already producing and selling its wines on a commercial scale, it has competition for the title of Chile’s most southerly commercial vineyard.
This year, Montes planted a 2ha vineyard on the “totally wild” island of Mechuque, off the northeastern edge of the Chiloé archipelago, known to winemaker Aurelio Montes thanks to his love of flying and sailing, which has often led him to explore the many islands of Chilean Patagonia. “If we thought that it wasn’t possible to obtain interesting results, we wouldn’t have tried it,” says Montes. “We have always moved based on our gut. We believe in our instincts and we have been wrong only a few times. When we feel that a project fits Montes’ strategy, we put all our heart into it.”
The project has seen the winery plant five grape varieties – Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Sauvignon Blanc, Albariño, and Riesling – with plans for still and sparkling wines. “Once the idea took hold we began researching the area in detail,” says Rodrigo Barría, Montes’ agricultural manager. “We hired the University of Chile to conduct a temperature and precipitation study that enabled us to choose the site with the best climatic and soil conditions. This is a location naturally protected from the maritime influence and cold Humboldt Current, thanks to its location in a horseshoe-shaped bay.”
In terms of latitude, the isle is at 42° and is aligned with the cool-climate sparkling wine region of Tasmania. In summer, the temperature ranges from a maximum of 23° Celsius to a chilly 10°C, while in winter the temperature ranges from 12°C to 4°C. Mechuque has a humid climate, with 1,300mm of rainfall each year, less than in Osorno, which, Montes says, is comparable with the Mosel and Rheinhessen in Germany, and the Champagne region of France. Additionally, Montes argues that the location of the isle, inside waters that resemble a lagoon, traps warm ocean currents so that “frost will never be a problem”. The soil consists of volcanic ashes from the Andes Mountains, with good drainage. Montes hopes that its presence on the isle will help provide jobs and prosperity for its inhabitants. “We will work in collaboration with the residents of Mechuque and provide agriculture training for them, so they can start projects of their own. That way, we all benefit,” he says. He has tentatively set a 2021 release date for its first wine.
Montes has described its Chiloé project as its “most ambitious yet”, on the edge of viability. However it should be noted that there is a vineyard that sits even further south, at 46 degrees – one degree further south than Central Otago. Underraga operates a research vineyard in the Chile Chico, established in 2007. It is, according to Rafael Urrejola, Undurraga’s head winemaker, not only Chile’s most southerly vineyard, but the most southerly planting in the world. However Urrejola is yet to release a commercial wine, and has thus far only produced experimental plantings of Pinot Noir, Riesling and Sauvignon Blanc.
While such projects are exciting, much of the action in terms of Chile’s southerly expansion is taking place in the relatively warmer regions of Itata and Bío Bío, producing wines that represent Chile’s new wave – lighter, fresher wines with less intervention, which are finding a growing market.
“There’s a segment of consumers, older people from the age of 60 up, who are very conservative and want to stay with what they know,” notes Marcelo Papa, technical director at Concha y Toro. “Young people are the new target; people that are not afraid to try new things. They might not earn that much but are willing to spend money on something different; on new wines.”
Chile might still be thought of as the ‘steady Eddie’ of the wine world, but its exploration south, and the tenacity that its winemakers are demonstrating, is giving consumers a glimpse of its vast vititcultural potential, and showcasing wines with a story of survival and heritage and their heart.
