14 exciting white, rosé and sparkling wines from Chile

We bring you 14 exciting white, rosé and sparkling wines from Chile following a comprehensive tasting of new releases from this Latin American nation.

ERRAZURIZ BLANC DE BLANCS, BRUT NATURE, NON-VINTAGE

Varieties: 100% Chardonnay
Region: Aconcagua Costa
ABV: 12%
RRP: £30
Score: 93

What an exciting addition to Chile’s emerging top-end sparkling wine scene, which, as one would expect from Errázuriz, is very fine indeed. Using Chardonnay from the group’s prized schistose Aconcagua Costa vineyards near the Pacific, the base wine for this first-rate fizz is a deliciously fresh and salty one, two-thirds of which was fermented in used French oak barrels – adding a subtle almond-like element – with one third undergoing the malolactic conversion, bringing a hint of creaminess. Then, following a second fermentation in the bottle, the wine has been aged for five years in contact with its lees, before disgorging and final corking as a Brut Nature, with less than 1g/l of residual sugar in the fizz. The end result is a bone-dry sparkling of elegance and complexity, with a fine stream of bubbles, a lovely mix of firm fruit, from crisp apple to citrus zest, along with softer notes of marzipan, pineapple and beeswax, combined with a salty-bready character like delicate Manzanilla, then an intense, lemon-fresh finish. While there’s an impressive depth to the flavour, the absence of dosage does ensure a firm edge to the fizz that might please the purist but leave the Champagne drinker craving a little bit of sweetness – I would love to see this brilliant wine moved from Brut Nature to Extra Brut (in my view, 3-5g/l would bring a touch of welcome mid-palate richness, and softness to the finish).

CASA SILVA, LAGO RANCO RIESLING, 2021

Varieties: 100% Riesling
Region: Futrono vineyard, Austral region, Chilean Patagonia, Osorno Valley
ABV: 11.5%
Residual sugar: 7.4g/l
RRP: £20
Score: 92

Proving that Chile is becoming a source of fine Riesling, as well as great Chardonnays, Sauvignons and, albeit more niche, lovely Semillons too, is this beautiful off-dry example from Patagonia. Made by Casa Silva from a sloping vineyard overlooking the Ranco lake in the Osorno Valley – an area this producer pioneered – this cool, wet, southerly part of Chile appears brilliantly suited to Riesling. With fermentation stopped to leave 7.5g/l of residual sugar in the wine, there is a drop of sweetness to balance the naturally fresh acidity of this cool climate Riesling – it has a pH of just over 3. Clearly displaying this grape’s most famous traits, this youthful Riesling is bursting with lime cordial characters, a hint of petrol, and smoke, along with some ripe notes of whitefleshed peach. Although slightly oily in texture, with just a hint of mid-palate sweetness, the wine finishes with an intensely citric character that leaves the mouth clean and dry. It’s an impressive wine that’s delicious to drink now, but one that could age and develop greater complexity over the next five to seven years.

CASAS DEL BOSQUE, LA CANTERA, SAUVIGNON BLANC, 2022

Varieties: 100% Sauvignon Blanc
Region: Casablanca
ABV: 13.5%
RRP: £15
Score: 92

Hailing from the coolest, westernmost part of the Casablanca Valley, this is a bright and aromatic Sauvignon Blanc that strikes an appealing middle ground between greener fruit and tropical characters. Bursting with flavour, there’s a touch of passionfruit and blackcurrant, but also plenty of grapefruit and lemon, along with a hint of boxwood and capsicum, following by a persistent citrus-and-salt finish. While there appears to be a trace of sweetness to the mid-palate (there’s just 2g/l of residual sugar in the wine), the lasting sensation is one of fresh lemons and dry chalk dust in this impressive and layered Sauvignon.

LOS VASCOS SAUVIGNON BLANC, 2022

Varieties: 100% Sauvignon Blanc
Region: Colchagua Valley
ABV: 13%
RRP: £16
Score: 91

This wonderfully citrusy Sauvignon Blanc comes from Los Vascos – the wine estate in Colchagua Valley that’s owned by Domaines Barons de Rothschild Lafite. Almost Riesling-like with its mouth-watering, linear and lime-like character, it’s a really refreshing drop, benefitting from the cooling influence of the nearby Pacific Ocean, as well as early harvesting, night-time picking and cool fermentations in stainless steel. Mingling with the green fruit are notes of pea and lemon peel, along with a touch of saltiness, in this intense, pure and super-clean Sauvignon.

GARCES SILVA, AMAYNA SAUVIGNON BLANC, 2021

Varieties: 100% Sauvignon Blanc
Region: Leyda Valley
ABV: 14%
RRP: £19
Score: 93

This pungent and powerful Leyda Valley white was my top-scoring Sauvignon in this year ’s blind tasting. The reason? It’s so expressive, as though this popular grape’s key traits have been turbo charged, boosting the subtle until it’s wonderfully obvious. And that’s not to suggest it’s one-dimensional. Rather, there are layers of flavour, from passionfruit to pear, lemongrass to lime zest, then grapefruit and green pea, followed by nettles and rock salt, all vying for supremacy in this gently oily but pleasingly tangy drop.

MONTES, OUTER LIMITS SAUVIGNON BLANC, 2021

Varieties: 100% Sauvignon Blanc
Region: Zapallar
ABV: 13.5%
RRP: £15
Score: 91

If you like your whites green and crunchy, then this crisp Sauvignon is definitely for you. Hailing from the Zapallar DO, which was pioneered by Montes in the most coastal part of Aconcagua, it’s bursting with bell pepper, lime and nettle aromatics, with flavours of asparagus, grapefruit and crushed chalk too. While this wine is cool and citric in style, it’s neither thin nor harsh – ensuring it offers a pleasurable form of intense refreshment.

CONCHA Y TORO, TERRUNYO SAUVIGNON BLANC, 2020

Varieties: 100% Sauvignon Blanc
Region: Casablanca Valley
ABV: 13%
RRP: Approx £25
Score: 92

A top-end Sauvignon Blanc from Concha y Toro under its Terrunyo brand, this intensely flavoured white hails from the coolest part of the Casablanca Valley. As a result, there’s plenty of fresh, citrus fruit, which mingles with lots of other characters in this complex wine, from ripe pear to pink grapefruit, lemongrass and blackcurrant leaf, as well as a touch of chalkiness – both in terms of taste and texture – that comes to the fore on the long, fresh, gently smoky finish.

EMILIANA, ANIMALIA ORANGE WINE, 2021

Varieties: 100% Sauvignon Blanc
Region: Casablanca Valley
ABV: 13%
RRP: £14
Score: 91

And now for something completely different… which comes in the form of an orange organic wine made with Sauvignon Blanc from Casablanca. To craft it, the grapes are destemmed and crushed, then fermented with their skins. After this, the resulting juice remains in contact with the Sauvignon skins for five months, giving it a pale amber appearance and a significantly higher phenolic contact than a white wine – as one might expect. But, importantly, it’s dry, fresh, and not oxidative in style, nor grainy and coarse in texture. Its flavour is distinctive and powerful, with notes of tangerine and smoky black tea, peach and pear, followed by fresh orange then a tangy, slightly salty character on the finely tannic finish. With its strong structure and personality, this is a wonderfully versatile drink that could pair with a wide range of fatty foods, from cured meat to aged cheese. And, as an orange wine, it’s an excellent example.

MORANDÉ, BLACK SERIES CHARDONNAY, 2020

Varieties: 100% Chardonnay
Region: Malleco Valley
ABV: 13%
RRP: £18
Score: 93

Sourced from the more temperate conditions of Chile’s southerly Malleco Valley wine region, this is a cool-climate Chardonnay of class. Treated similarly to a fine white Burgundy, the grapes were whole-bunch pressed, fermented in large-format French oak – around one third of which was new – with periodical battonage, followed by partial malolactic fermentation (10%- 15%), followed by 10 months ageing in 300-litre-400l barrels (35% new). The result is a gently creamy Chardonnay with notes of melon and pear, but also lemon peel, grapefruit pith, grilled nuts, oatmeal, and a touch of charred bread. While there are lots of characters to this wine, it is relatively light in mouthfeel, with a citrus tang and just 13% ABV. An appealing, balanced, good example of ‘modern’ Chardonnay.

VIU MANENT, TINY TRIALS CHARDONNAY, 2020

Varieties: 100% Chardonnay
Region: Colchagua Costa
ABV: 14%
RRP: £19
Score: 91

This Chardonnay from Malbec specialist Viu Manent comes from a specific plot of vines around 18km from the Pacific Ocean in the coastal area of Colchagua. Clearly identifiable as Chardonnay, there are notes of melon and pear, lemon, cashew and toast, while texturally, this is not a heavy style, but bright, balanced, with some fine dry phenolics to add refreshment. In short, another good example of Chile’s ever improving – and expanding – Chardonnay scene.

CARMEN D.O, QUIJADA SEMILLON, 2020

Varieties: 100% Semillon
Region: Apalta
ABV: 12%
RRP: £30
Score: 90

I love the look of this wine – with its yellow wax capsule and white, high-quality paper stock – and the vineyard behind it: a dry-farmed 64-year old plot of Semillon in Apalta. And I love the fact it takes its name – Quijada – from the family that farm the vines. I have also loved this wine since its first release a few years ago. However, this year, while I still enjoyed it, the style has moved away from being slightly creamy tasting, oily textured, even a touch oxidative, to one that’s more delicate, lean, even austere. The result may well be a longer-lived, more stable wine, but when tasted in August this year, it was a little closed, and I missed some of the previous vintage’s characters of pineapple and toast, which complemented its tangy citrus edge. But others may prefer this tauter expression, with its pear, citrus, and salty notes, and light mouth feel, with a relatively lowalcohol (12%) too. Maybe it’s a wine to try again after a year or two in bottle, when it should start to develop the more expressive toasty characters of aged Semillon – like a great Hunter Valley sample does so reliably well.

SANTA RITA, FLORESTA FIELD BLEND BLANCO, 2020

Varieties: Mix of Semillon, Sauvignon Vert, Moscatel, Torontel, and Corinto
Region: Apalta
ABV: 13%
RRP: £25
Score: 90

Capturing the plantings of Chile’s past, Santa Rita should be commended for this wine, which sees a ‘field blend’ of grapes from the 1940s harvested and fermented together in small concrete tanks – followed by nine-months ageing in contact with its skins. The resulting drop, which incorporates Semillon and Moscatel, Sauvignon Vert and Corinto, among others, is straw-coloured, with some fine-grained tannins to dry and refresh the palate – not that this wine has any sweetness. Indeed, it’s fresh, yeasty and salty, with flavours of tea leaf and tangerine, as well as pear and apricot, along with white flowers and raisins. A versatile and refreshing white with a powerful personality.

VALDIVIESO, ECLAT BOTRYTIS SÉMILLON, 2020

Varieties: 100% Semillon
Region: Curicó Valley
ABV: 11.5%
Residual sugar level: 96.5g/l
RRP: £13 (37.5cl)
Score: 94

One of the exciting finds from this year ’s tasting was this sublime sweet wine from Valdivieso. Made from 90-year-old Semillon vines in the Curicó Valley, its wonderful character stems from the decision to harvest the grapes late, bringing them in with three separate pickings after botrytis has shrivelled the berries, before whole-bunch pressing the slightly raisined results, and fermenting them in a mix of used oak barrels and stainless steel tanks. What you get is a magnificent mix of ripe tangerine and dried apricot fruit, along with a wonderful honeyed richness. And while it’s certainly sweet – with almost 100g/l of residual sugar – it’s not an unctuous wine, making it surprisingly easy to drink. Key to its lovely sweetness-freshness balance is an orange-zest edge to the finish, drawing out the flavours, and cleansing the palate at the same time.

VENTISQUERO, GREY GCM ROSÉ, 2021

Varieties: 80% Garnacha, 10% Carignan, 10% Mouvèdre
Region: Apalta
ABV: 14%
RRP: £25
Score: 91

It’s exciting to see Chile enter the growing sector of top-end rosé, especially when it’s done well, as is the case with this new £25 barrel-influenced pink wine from Ventisquero. Like Provençal rosé – the benchmark for smart, dry pink drops today – this example is dominated by Grenache. Supporting this are other red Mediterranean varieties: Carignan and Mouvèdre, with all of the grapes hailing from Apalta in Colchagua. Salmon pink and dry (there’s 1.7g/l of residual sugar), it’s on trend with current tastes, and benefits from six months’ post-fermentation ageing in large oak foudres to add some textural richness. The overall result is a wine with pomegranate, peach and wild strawberry characters at its heart, complemented by subtle notes of bread, and peppery spice, and then a refreshing pink-grapefruit finish, backed up by some fine chalky phenolics to augment the dry nature of the drop. While attractive now, and on its own, it’s the sort of rosé that would work well with a wide range of foods, and could even benefit from a little time ageing in bottle.