Keeping The Faith

Chilean Winemakers Show Resilience, Mustering Quality In The Face Of Challenging Vintages

- Kim Marcus

Chile’s vintners are working from a strong foundation that inspires their efforts as they look to the future. As a whole, the country continues to over deliver on quality for price, establishing a record of enduring market vigor that gives producers some breathing room to discover what comes next. Top winemakers seem in constant motion to solidify their identity on the world stage, and veterans and newcomers alike are exploring the country’s overlooked grapes and terroirs.

But challenges are constant, particularly the hurdles put up in recent vintages courtesy of Mother Nature. Beginning in 2014, when a severe spring frost cut yields significantly, the skill and ingenuity of Chilean winemakers has been put to the test.

The warm 2015 vintage saw an early harvest, requiring vintners to be extra-diligent in the cellars to achieve fresh-tasting wines. In 2016, rain plagued many regions, and in some instances, rot affected quality. To cap it off, forest fires ravaged the country in the austral summer just past, burning some vineyards and raising the prospect of smoke taint, especially in the southern regions of Maule and Itata.

It’s a turnabout from the country’s usually beneficent conditions. The Mediterranean climate normally provides a warm, dry growing season, and waters from Andean snow melt offer a plentiful irrigation supply. But that regime has been disrupted lately, with cycles of drought offset by ill-timed rains.