Having just finished an extensive tasting of Chile’s top drops, we bring you 10 styles of wine that this nation does brilliantly, and the bottles to prove it.

In advance of a major focus on the Chilean wine scene in the September issue of the drinks business, I sampled a broad range of bottles from as many as 30 top producers in the nation.

Each one of these major players were asked to submit no more than two wines by Wines of Chile for sampling by myself in London, as sadly, due to Covid-19 travel restrictions, I wasn’t able to visit the country as I usually do in August (although I had spent almost two weeks there last November).

In each case, the wineries put forward commercially-available labels that they were most proud of, representing new and exciting bottles, along with the latest vintages of established brands.

And, having sampled the selection in full, I have developed a stronger sense of what Chile is doing well today, which I’ve condensed into 10 key styles below.

Before revealing these strengths, it should be said that Chile is undoubtedly one of the most exciting sources of wine right now, crafting an extremely diverse range of high quality and affordable wines from a broad sweep of sites, from the cool and relatively wet to the bone dry and coastal, as well as the extreme and altitudinal.

It also benefits from a set of unusual advantages: it has amazing unsullied natural landscapes, climates that are both cool and dry, and an extraordinary wealth of very old, ungrafted vines.

Now, please read on for my top 10 Chilean wine strengths of 2020, and in each case, I’ve selected a wine (or two) to best illustrate the style.

Meanwhile, if you want to see my review of all the wines put forward for the tasting, please see the September edition of the drinks business.

10. Chile has become the go-to place for light reds using historic grapes from ancient, ungrafted vines.

Whether it’s País from Itata, or Carignan from Cauquenes, there’s a wealth of very old vineyards in Chile, which are only recently being used to craft delicate, appealing drops – which, I sincerely hope, will find enough consumers to save these remarkable relics of Chile’s far-reaching winemaking past.

Try: Espiritu de Chile Intrépido Patrimonial

• Vintage: 2019
• Region: Maule
• Grape variety: Carignan, País, Cinsault
• ABV: 13%
• Closure type: natural cork
• Price: £11

Taking in a range of grapes from a time before Bordeaux varieties became fashionable in Chile, particularly the hardy Carignan and País grapes, this is a lovely Maule-sourced new red blend from Aresti Wines.

In terms of taste, it’s packed with pure fresh light red berry fruit, including fresher cranberry notes and sweeter strawberry characters. Quite light in the mouth, it is Pinot-esque in style, with a long, mouthwatering finish and a touch of dry tannin. In short, this is a lovely light red with layers of bright berry fruit.

Score: 91

9. Chile has cracked fresh-tasting, complex, traditional-method fizz.

Yes, with sparkling wines such as the one below, Chile should be added to growing list of Champagne contenders, from California to Tasmania, or Marlborough to England, as well as Franciacorta to the Western Cape.

Try: Valdivieso Centenario Blanc de Blancs

• Vintage: 2014
• Region: Bío Bío
• Grape variety: Chardonnay
• ABV: 12.5%
• Closure type: Agglomerated cork
• Price: £25

Hailing from Chile’s leading and largest producer of sparkling wine, Valdivieso, this is an exciting find for lovers of fine fizz, especially those who crave the brightness of a Blanc de Blancs – that is, a sparking made from just Chardonnay.

As for what you can expect, well, this has an enticing, gently creamy and slightly nutty nose, with a touch of brioche, and a bright grapefruit scent, along with fresh apple – it’s a serious fine, fresh, clean slightly roasted lees-aged style.

And the palate doesn’t disappoint, with a creamy-textured fizz, some lightly toasted bread, roasted hazelnut, and a bit of breadth to the mid-palate, with a touch of pineapple.

It finishes chalky, fresh, and surprisingly youthful, with tangy citrus peel and juicy pink grapefruit. Impressive, persistent, and clean as a whistle. There are no oxidative notes. The nose is particularly lovely, and while £25 is pricy for Chilean sparkling, it’s actually a lot of fizz for the money.

Score: 93

8(a). Chile has taken Sauvignon Blanc to new stylistic extremes, from the cool and crunchy to the rich and barrel-influenced.

To prove it, I’ve picked out two opposing styles, as well as one further, particularly impressive sample that fell into the latter camp, but wasn’t strictly a Sauvignon Blanc…

Try: Montes Outer Limits Sauvignon Blanc

• Vintage: 2019
• Region: Zapallar – Aconcagua
• Grape variety: Sauvignon Blanc
• ABV: 13.5%
• Closure type: Screwcap
• Price: £16

Illustrating the former style is this fresh, taut, crunchy Sauvignon from Montes, under its Outer Limits label. It’s has masses of lime and capsicum aromatics; it’s green, grassy and very cool and fresh smelling. It’s also pristine and youthful.

In the mouth this has a pleasing textural mid-palate, with a touch of oiliness, then lemongrass and salt on the finish, with lots of fresh lime and a touch of capsicum too. Bright, fresh, expressive, and although it tastes cool, it’s not hard.

There is good persistence too – it’s pleasingly salty and tangy.

Score: 91+

At the other end of the Sauvignon spectrum, there are an increasing number of producers, from Garces Silva – with its Amayna Barrel Fermented Sauvignon Blanc – or boutique winery, Calyptra, which also uses oak to add richness to ripe Sauvignon. But an impressive sample in this recent tasting came from Morandé, which ferments its top Sauvignon expression in foudres – see my thoughts on it below.

Try: Morandé Gran Reserva Sauvignon Blanc

• Vintage: 2019
• Region: Casablanca
• Grape variety: Sauvignon Blanc
• ABV: 13.5%
• Closure type: Natural cork
• Price: £15

Unusually for a Sauvignon Blanc, this has quite a delicate nose, with a touch of smoke, and a mix of grapefruit, sweet orange and a hint of nettle.

In the mouth, this is an interesting Sauvignon, with a touch of dry tannic grip, like biting on a Brazil nut, even though it doesn’t taste nutty, just gently smoky, with notes of ripe grapefruit, even some sweet orange at the core, then a lime-like acidity on the finish, mixing with the fine tannins.

Quite different from the usual intense citric linear, light Chilean Sauvignon. Lots of personality, persistence and flavour intensity plus structure, which would make it a fine partner for fish or chicken, even in creamy dishes.

Score: 92

Finally, on the subject of richer Sauvignon expressions, a fantastic find in last month’s sampling was made from oak-influenced Sauvignon Gris, as opposed to the usual Sauvignon Blanc, and it was crafted by Casa Marin.

Try: Casa Marin, Sauvignon Gris, Estero Vineyard

• Vintage: 2019
• Region: Lo Abarca, Valle de San Antonio
• Grape variety: Sauvignon Gris
• ABV: 14%
• Closure type: Natural cork
• Price: £22

A very expressive nose bursting with lemongrass, bell pepper, fresh grapefruit, and a touch of smoky toast.

In the mouth, this is textural, with some beeswax and honey notes, orange blossom, along with lemongrass and pea, then a touch of fine chalky grip on the finish – phenolics are present, but not bitter. It is slightly oily at the core, and like the nose, there is just a hint of smoke, and a touch of toast. As for the finish, it’s long, with a tangy grapefruit character. A fascinating highly expressive fresh wine with depth and texture.

Score: 93

8(b). But if you’re tiring of Sauvignon Blanc, then there’s a new source of refreshing vinous excitement from Chile: Sémillon (particularly when sourced from very old vines, and fermented in wooden vessels).

Two examples stand out in my view, and rank right up there with Chile’s best whites, whatever the variety. Both comprise barrel-fermented Sémillon from very old, dry-farmed vineyards. One is J Bouchon’s Granito Sémillon from Maule, and the other, reviewed below, is from Carmen, using a historic Sémillon plot in Apalta.

Try: Carmen D.O. Quijada Sémillon

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• Vintage: 2018
• Region: Apalta, Colchagua
• Grape variety: Sémillon
• ABV: 12.5%
• Closure type: natural cork
• Price: £25

An inviting nose combining cream, toast, lemon, and a bit of beeswax.

The palate is layered, with delicate fruit characters; there’s a touch of lemon and fresh apple fruit, a hint of apple skin, then some creaminess, with some vanilla, plus beeswax. It has a lovely, dry finish with a fine phenolic chalky grip, then fresh acidity, but it’s not hard. A serious, fascinating, fresh, structured, barrel-influenced white wine – and, while it has some of the hallmarks of a top Chardonnay, this Sémillon offers something different: it is more taut. Also, being both complex and bright, it’s hard not to drink.

A delicious and distinctive addition to the small world of oak-aged Chilean fine whites.

Score: 93

7. Chile’s Pinot prowess is proven, particularly from great, maturing vineyards in San Antonio/Leyda and Limarí.

While there a lot of great Pinots now coming out of Chile, from Errázuriz’s Las Pizarras, to Escaleras de Empedrado from Torres, and the pioneering ‘icon’ Pinot expression called Ocio from Cono Sur, not forgetting the new top Pinot from Concha y Toro under the Amelia label, using Limarí fruit, my pick for perfectly illustrating the Chilean Pinot style of today is Viña Leyda’s Lot 21.

Try: Viña Leyda, Lot 21

• Vintage: 2015
• Region: Leyda
• Grape variety: Pinot Noir
• ABV: 13.5%
• Closure type: Natural cork
• Price: £30

This has an intriguing, complex nose with some development starting to show; a touch of hay, cedar and orange zest, along with red berry and ripe tomato fruit.

It’s delicious in the mouth, with fleshy, ripe black cherry and soft strawberry, and a touch of gently stewed red fruit, some hay, a subtle background note of toast, then a long dry finish, with an orange zest lift. This is layered, with some stone-like dry tannin. In short, it’s a complex, fine medium-weight Pinot that’s just starting to mature – and it shows well the quality potential of Leyda Pinot.

Score: 94

6. Chile can now silence Carmenère sceptics with the soft, fleshy and peppery appeal of this grape when grown in Colchagua, above all Apalta, but also Puemo in Cachapoal.

Not surprisingly, there is a lot to choose from, and among the wines I sampled I was particularly impressed with two from Colchagua: Santa Rita’s Pewën Carmenère from Apalta, as well as Koyle’s Cerro Basalto Cuartel G2 from Los Lingues. However, my top scorer was a Carmenère made under the watch of Michel Rolland, using biodynamic vines from Apalta.

Try: Clos Apalta – 20th Anniversary Special Edition

• Clos Apalta – 20th Anniversary Special Edition
• Vintage: 2017
• Region: Apalta, Colchagua
• Grape variety: 48% Carmenère, 26% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot and 1% Petit Verdot
• ABV: 15%
• Closure type: Natural cork
• Price: £100+

Tasting notes: A wine with a deep ruby appearance and a narrow red rim. A powerful open nose with ripe red and black fruit, berries and currants, cherries and a touch of green pepper spice, black olive, with a hint of ripe orange, tobacco leaf, then cigar box and creamy coffee.

In the mouth this is an explosive wine, with so much delicious fleshy fruit bouncing off the tongue: sweet black cherry, cassis and some ripe plums, then some lingering smoky cigar box, tobacco, toast and cappuccino. The finish is very long, with lovely grippy ripe dry tannins, and, despite the high alcohol, no burn. The multiple layers of fruit gradually fade into a pleasing distance as a subtle orange zest note keeps the mouth watering. Powerful, but very fine. Is there a better (or more expensive) way to win over the Carmenère sceptic?

Score: 98

5. Chile has become a source of serious Chardonnay, with Limarí the flagship region for delicious and distinctive results.

From this region, two producers are leading the way at the top-end. One is Tabalí, particularly its Chardonnay from the Talinay vineyard, and the other is Concha y Toro, specifically with its Amelia label, which is the wine I’ve featured below, because I prefer its slightly more textural style. However, Chile has other sources of great Chardonnay, in particular the relative newcomer to the country’s fine white scene: Las Pizarras – a label from Viña Errázuriz using grapes from a cool site with slate soils near the coast in Aconcagua.

Try: Amelia, Quebrada Seca Vineyard, Limited-release

• Chardonnay
• Vintage: 2018
• Region: Quebrada Seca, Limarí Valley
• Grape variety: Chardonnay
• ABV: 14%
• Closure type: Natural cork
• Price: £45

An inviting, creamy, toasty and slightly smoky nose, with a touch of struck match and ripe grapefruit. Smells serious, fine and quite Burgundian in style.

In the mouth, this is quite a tense style of Chardonnay, with lots of grapefruit and fresh lemon; it’s pristine, bright, medium-weight, with a fresh acid finish. Complementing this linear style is toasty oak, and a hint of smoky gently reductive notes too. It finishes with lingering flavours of roasted nuts, and pure, ripe lemon. A complete Chardonnay in a youthful state, with great potential to age and develop greater complexity. Having said that, it’s delicious now, and hard not to drink. A great addition to the world of fine Chardonnay.

Score: 95

4. Mediterranean grapes have taken a successful root in Chile’s granitic soils, above all Syrah, which is the underrated star of the country’s vinous output today.

And when it comes to great producers of Syrah, there’s plenty to choose from, including Lapostolle, with its Cuvée Alexandre Syrah from Apalta, and Undurraga, with the Terroir Hunter Syrah from Leyda. But a stand out for me comes from Limarí, which you can read about below.

Try: Sutil Limited Release Syrah

• Vintage: 2018
• Region: Limarí
• Grape variety: Syrah
• ABV: 14%
• Closure type:
• Natural cork
• Price: £18.50

An open, expressive nose with plenty of ripe fleshy black fruit flavours, from cherry to blackcurrant and olive, and a plummy lift, with a background creaminess and a touch of pepper.

The palate is lovely, with smooth fleshy dark fruits, berries, a touch of black olive, then plums, and a hint of pepper, with fine-grained tannin, and an appealing soft refreshing acidity on the finish. There’s also a note of smoke, cream and some warmth. Overall, this is a beautifully-balanced, ripe, smooth style of Syrah – this is not in the super-peppery tapenade camp. And, it shows another strength to winemaking in Limarí. In my view, a benchmark for Chilean Syrah.

Score: 93+

3. If you love structured, intense, balanced, Cabernet-dominant red blends, then head for Andean foothills of the Maipo Valley, particularly Puente Alto.

I say this as the altitudinal Maipo sub-region is the source of Chilean vinous greats from Viñedo Chadwick to Don Melchor and Almaviva. And, while nearby Alto Jahuel is also a go-to place for Cabernet lovers – it is the source of Santa Rita’s consistently brilliant Casa Real and Carmen’s delicious ‘Delanz’ Cabernet blend – I tasted something new this year that provided a particularly affordable taste of Puente Alto, which is why I have majored on this area. You can read about the wine below.

Try: Marques de Casa Concha, Etiqueta Nergra, Puente Alto Cabernet Sauvignon

• Vintage: 2016
• Region: Puente Alto,
• Maipo
• Grape variety: Cabernet Sauvignon
• ABV: 13.5%
• Closure type: Natural cork
• Price: £17

An inviting, intense nose with sweet ripe black cherry and cassis, some chocolate and creamy coffee, and just a touch of stewed fruit and cigar box character suggesting the beginning of some evolution.

The palate is delicious, smooth, intense, with plenty of fine pure dark berry and cherry fruit, a nice lift on the finish, with a note of orange peel, just a touch of warmth, and delicious, lingering notes of cigar box and cedar, with fine-grained, ripe, high, dry tannin. An impressive and structured wine for the price, plus a fantastic entry-point for Puente Alto Cabernet Sauvignon.

2. Chile’s top-end wine output is a serious proposition, and one that can sit happily alongside the great wines of France and elsewhere.

Whether it’s the country’s famous ‘icon’ Cabernet-dominant wines, pioneered by Puente Alto Cabernet Don Melchor, or top-end Pinots, such as the aforementioned Ocio or Leyda Lot 21, Chile is now a source of serious, age-worthy wine with a distinctive, Latin stamp.

But there was one wine that really impressed me in last month’s sampling exercise, as it combined a pleasingly-classic, claret-like finesse, with the juicy concentration one would expect of a Chilean Cab. And, perhaps that’s no surprise when one learns that it comes from the Los Vascos estate, as this is owned by bastion of Bordeaux brilliance: Domaines Barons de Rothschild (Lafite).

Try: Los Vascos Le Dix

• Vintage: 2016
• Region: Colchagua
• Grape variety: 85% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Syrah, 5% Carmenère, 5% Cabernet Franc
• ABV: 14%
• Closure type: Natural cork
• Price: £45

An attractive nose with a mix of red and dark berry fruits, notably blackcurrant, with cedar wood notes, and generally a lifted, fresh and youthful seeming character for the age – it’s already four years old.

In the mouth, this is very fine, classic, quite claret-like Cabernet blend, with cigar box notes, fine tannin, and a gentle fruit feel, with soft raspberry and blackcurrant characters dominating. While there are no crunchy greens, there is a hint of dried rosemary, and nicely balanced fresh berry fruit – nothing overripe, sweet or heavy here. It finishes with freshness, and a lingering cigar box character. It’s a delicious wine in a restrained style by Chilean standards, and I’d like to try it again ten years time, as I would imagine it will develop into something even tastier.

Score: 94+

1. Chile is becoming a leading source of well-made, affordable organic wines – and it has the natural conditions to go much further.

After all, with pristine environments and dry conditions, Chile could be the world premier for clean viticulture. The question is, will it go 100% organic? A lot of producers in this country are certainly heading that way, with one brand especially impressing me for embracing this viticultural movement by crafting organic wines that are fine and inexpensive. Yes, I’ve chosen to finish this list with an everyday drop; a consistent, easy, affordable wine – the sort that’s made Chile so popular with drinkers. But it’s also one that is notable for two further reasons. Firstly, this wine highlights Chile’s great competitive advantage in creating organic wine at a relatively low cost. Secondly, in my view, it shows that Chile now makes the global benchmark for sub £10, sustainable, varietally-correct Pinot Noir.

Try: Cono Sur Organic Pinot Noir 2019

• Vintage: 2019
• Region: Chile
• Grape variety: Pinot Noir
• ABV: 14%
• Closure type: Screwcap
• Price: £9

This is a pale bright translucent ruby wine. It is open and aromatic, with a style like Italian bitters, comprising sweet cherry fruit and gently herbal slightly stemmy notes.

On the palate there is plenty of fruit, with lovely, light, soft ripe red berries, and a fresh finish, with a touch of fine tannic grip, and just a hint of tomato leaf. It’s a good, easy and soft but structured Pinot Noir, and a great-value organic red.

Score: 88