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THE CENTRAL

l ineWhile most of Chile’s wines come from the Central Valley, they have a reputation of

being the least exciting the country has to offer. That is changing, however, with

winemakers injecting passion into their products, writes Amanda Barnes

Chile’s Maipo Valley

IT IS easy to become distracted by whatis happening on the fringes of Chile’swine scene. As a country that isconstantly pioneering new regions at itsextremes there is always something, orsomewhere, new to try. Although the fringes are exciting towrite about, they don’t represent theoverwhelming reality. More than 90% of Chile’s wineproduction comes from its ‘CentralValley’, a ubiquitous superzone thatcovers the Maipo, Rapel, Curicó andMaule regions, and usually translates tothe most economic, and least exciting,wines. The Central Valley is, however,undergoing a revolution. It is a gradualrevolution that won’t rock the boat, butvintage by vintage there’s a sure andsteady change of tide as traditional Chileis being reinvented by winemakersseeking fresher, purer expressions of thegrape varieties and region.

Chile’s Central Valley stretches over 300miles, making it nigh on impossible togeneralise about anything. However, onething that can be said is that when PabloMorande pioneered the coastal region ofCasablanca in the 1980s, many wineproducers followed suit, looking forcooler climates by the coast. The samedesire for cool climates pushed producersup the foothills of the Andes, seeking thelower temperatures of high altitude. Although the majority of wine

production still came from the CentralValley, it was no longer considered ‘cool’.In recent years, though, wine producershave looked at ways of changing theirviticulture to capture the freshness thateven the warmer middle ranges of Chilecan offer.

INSTIGATING CHANGE“In Maquis I wanted to make wines thatwere balanced and fresh from thevineyard, and so we started making testswith an earlier harvest,” says JuanAlejandro Jofre, the former winemaker forViña Maquis in Colchagua, who helpedsteer the wines to a fresher style,instigating a greater change in the CentralValley style. “We controlled irrigation to provokesome hydric stress just before véraison toget an earlier maturation. To do this youhave to interpret the climate of eachvintage and make good decisions about

when to irrigate, carefullymeasuring the levels ofnitrogen in the soil.”This discipline is one thatMaquis still pursues today andJofre has continued to use inhis own line of wines – VinosFríos del Año – whichtranslates as ‘cold wines of theyear’ yet always comes fromwarmer regions such asCuricó, by managing theviticulture. The naturally loweralcohol and higher aciditymean there is no need forcorrection in the winery, and

the resulting wines are bright and juicywith a punchy acidity.Larger producers too have been seekingfresher expressions from the vineyard,and we have seen the mass production ofChile shift a gear in recent years, asMarcelo Papa, winemaker at Concha yToro – Chile’s largest wine producer –explains: “Ten years ago we were morefocused on getting fully ripe and maturefruit, and we were ageing wines withmore oak, the alcohol was higher, we

were looking for more opulence. Buttoday we are coming back, we arebringing everything into better balance –good maturation but not overripe, abalanced acidity and freshness. I thinkthis has changed the style of wines in avery positive way.”Along with a change in viticulture,there’s a slow change happening in thewineries too. While the early 2000s saw aboom in winemaking technology andadditives in Chile, the pendulum is nowswinging the other way and producersare moving away from heavy-handed oakand ripe concentration.

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> More than 90% of Chile’s wineproduction comes from its CentralValley, a superzone that includesMaipo, Cachapoal, Colchagua,Curicó and Maule.> The Central Valley is undergoing arevolution as traditional Chile isbeing reinvented by winemakersseeking fresher, purer expressions ofthe grape varieties and region.> The Central Valley is over 300 mileslong, meaning its terroirs are diverse.> Chilean producers are moving awayfrom heavy-handed oak and ripeconcentration in their wines.> In the past decade producers haverescued the old vines that were beingpulled out in the country, bringingChile’s oldest wine varieties as thenewest addition to their portfolios.> The differences between regionswithin the Central Valleys isbecoming more distinct. Vineyardlots are being separated by soil typesand smaller regions are beingrecognised for their differentclimatic characteristics.

chi le: central val ley

>

‘Today we are coming back, weare bringing everything into

better balance – good maturationbut not overripe, a balanced

acidity and freshness. I think this has changed the styleof wines in a very positive way’

Feature findings

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“We realised that not even the ownersliked our red wines,” says MarceloRetamal, head winemaker at De Martino,a producer that has led the mainstreamstyle revolution. “Before 2011, we had ripe wines withhigh alcohol that were very dark incolour, over-extracted and had a sweetflavour because of the alcoholconcentration and heavy use of oak. Wewere taught at university to pick thegrapes when they were all fully ripe.When you harvest raisins, whether they

are raisins of Cabernet Sauvignon orMerlot, they all taste the same. Add oakand even though it could be a wine fromBordeaux, Napa, Mendoza or Maipo, theyall taste the same.”De Martino decided to throw out therule book and formula that it – and mostof Chile’s producers – had beenemploying for years: “Today we pickbalanced grapes – not green, nor overripe(and never raisins, which we see as afault). We don’t inoculate with yeast, noruse any additives. We only use old barrels

chi le: central val ley

with an average of 14 years old or more; the taste of oak is like make-up that doesn’t look good on young Chilean wines.”This minimal intervention style hasbegun to spread in Chile, with manyother wineries adopting similartechniques. Carmen, part of the Santa Rita group, was another largecommercial producer in Maipo to go backto basics in the cellar. “From awinemaking point of view, the idea wasto have very traditional winemaking – ashandcrafted as possible,” says winemakerSebastián Labbé. “Instead of using chillers, we let thegrapes cool naturally at night and usenative yeasts for fermentations. We see this trend in some producers; even in larger wineries like Santa Rita we are trying to show the purity of the wines and let the grapes speak of theplace more.”

Sebastian Labbé of Santa Rita Marcelo Retamal of De Martino

once again, such as De Martino’sMoscatel, made as an orange wine agedin clay amphorae. It is a wine that is trueto the historical winemaking methods ofChile but also happens to be the height ofcool in natural wine bars today. Other producers, such as ViñaterosBravos, Huaso de Sauzal, CaciqueMaravilla and Louis-Antoine Luyt, arealso advocates of using traditional naturalwinemaking techniques to revitalise thelocal wine industry.

EMERGING CATEGORYThere is also a modern spin on the oldvarieties emerging and Torres is oneproducer that has taken the grape Paísunder its wing in many different forms.Using century-old País vines in thecoastal region of Curicó, the winery beganmaking a crunchy País wine usingcarbonic maceration (Reserva del Pueblo)and a sparkling País using the traditionalmethod of bottle fermentation to producea delicate and fruity sparkling rosé. Itslatest innovation is a sparkling whitePaís – bright and fresh with a silver hue – which is an emergingcategory with other producers, includingSchwaderer Wines.There’s no shortage of reinventionhappening with Chile’s more traditionalvarieties and the old vines of the CentralValley are a hub of innovation whilesimultaneously revisiting traditional,artisan techniques.As winemakers have begun to focus onwines ‘without make-up’, the differencesbetween regions within the CentralValleys is becoming more distinct.Vineyard lots are being separated by soil types and smaller regions are being recognised for their differentclimatic characteristics.

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Producing wine since the 16th century,Chile has no shortage of old vines.However, at the turn of this century thecountry’s wine regions expandedaggressively in search for soils andclimates that better suited the sexier,better-selling international – mainlyFrench – varieties rather than the existingvineyards of somewhat less glamorousMediterranean varieties.

“Chardonnay is much easier to sell thanPaís,” says Miguel Torres winemaker,Fernando Almeda. “Nobody knew whatPaís was when we were starting to export25 years ago, so Chile started to focus on

the most internationally-known varietiesthat were easier to sell by name:Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay andCabernet Sauvignon.”País went from being the most plantedgrape in Chile less than 15 years ago, tothe fifth-most today. With the decline inpopularity of these grape varieties the oldvineyards and traditional wine regionsdeclined too, in favour of more lucrative

businesses like papermanufacturing and timber. However, in the past decade,wine producers have taken itupon themselves to rescue theold vines that were being pulledout and add value to theseregions – bringing Chile’s oldestwine varieties as the newestaddition to their portfolios. Itstarted in 2012 with the VIGNO,movement that focused onmaking top-quality Carignanfrom vines over 65 years old in

Maule, and has continued into othertraditional varieties, including Semillon,Cinsault, País and Moscatel. Many of the traditional varieties aretoday being vinified in a traditional way

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‘Nobody knew what País waswhen we were starting to export25 years ago, so Chile started to

focus on the mostinternationally-known varietiesthat were easier to sell by name’

Concha y Toro’s Peumo vineyard in Cachapoal

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The future of the Central Valley will seea greater acknowledgement of differentappellations and regions from within.Central Valley blends are also benefitingfrom this greater complexity offeredwithin the super zone. The benefit ofbeing able to blend in fruit from thecooler coastal regions of Curicó,Colchagua and Maule is an advantageconsumers will already be able to taste inthe bottle.The future is definitely brighter in theglass, but also on the ground. Whereasthe 1990s were characterised by hydricstress and ripe concentration, the new erais focusing on bringing a vibrance to thewines and vines.“Ten years ago we were focused on bigmaturity and power – blockbuster-stylewines,” surmises Papa. “We were morerestrictive with our irrigation, we tried tostress the vineyards for higherconcentration, but today we are changing that. We are a bit more relaxedin terms of water – we want to see thevineyard more alive, and feeling happierin the landscape.”Chile’s Central Valley wines are lookinga lot happier today too. More at ease with themselves and not trying to beanything else, these wines are proudlyfrom the fertile Central Valleys anddistinctly Chilean. db

Grapes in Maipo

All of Chile’s wine valleys are split into different geographical regions determined byCosta (coastal), Entre Cordilleras (between the coastal and Andes mountain ranges)and Andes (in the foothills of the Andes mountains). Here’s a guide to the mainDenominación de Origen (DOs) of Chile’s Central Valley.

Maipo (13,000 hectares) The closest wine region to Santiago ranges from low to highelevation sites (up to 600m altitude). Mainly well-drained alluvial soils with someclay and gravel, Maipo is best known for its Cabernet Sauvignon, Carmenère andBordeaux varieties. Top Chilean Cabernet is found in Puento Alto and Pirque, at thefoothills of the Andes; and warmer Isla Maipo, with its fine clay-based soils, is bestknown for Carmenère. Notable producers include Almaviva, Viñedo Chadwick,Domus Áurea, Cousiño Macul, Don Melchor, Santa Rita, Carmen, Antiyal, TresPalacios, Undurraga and De Martino.

Cachapoal (10,000 hectares) sits between Maipo and Colchagua in the EntreCordilleras and Andes. The warm, Mediterranean-like climate and brown clay andalluvial soils are well suited to Carmenère, Syrah and Merlot, most notably inPeumo; however top quality Cabernet Sauvignon is produced in the Andes,especially Alto Cachapoal (up to 1,000m altitude). Top Cachapoal producers includeAltaïr, Antiyal, Clos de Fous, Aristos and VIK.

Colchagua (23,000 hectares) encompasses regions in the Andes, Entre Cordillerasand Costa including notable sub-regions Los Lingues, Sierras de Bellavista,Marchigüe, Lolol, Pumanque, Paredones and Apalta. Top varieties include Syrah andCarmenère, although with a wide range of sub-zones you’ll find anything fromSauvignon Blanc to Grenache in Colchagua. Top producers include Koyle, Lapostolle,Polkura, Montes, Maquis, Casa Silva and Neyen.

Curicó (22,000 hectares) is based on clay, with higher rainfall than the regions furthernorth. Several grape varieties are planted with notable País, Sauvignon Blanc andold-vine Cabernet Sauvignon, including Miguel Torres’ century-old Manso deVelasco. Other notable producers include San Pedro and Vinos Frios del Año.

Maule (50,000 hectares) is the largest DO in Chile. Much is used for bulk wine butMaule is also home to excellent Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon and particularlythrilling old-vine Carignan, Malbec, País and Semillon. Stand-out producers includeDe Martino, Garage Wines, Bouchon, Odfjell, Bodegas RE, Erasmo, Torres andLaberinto. Vineyards range from dry-farmed old vine regions sich as Cauquenes, tomodern Andes plantations in Colbún, and new coastal plantations in Empedrado,with soils ranging from alluvial to granitic with quartz in the Costa regions.

Chile’s Central Valley in detail

The future is definitely brighter in the glass, but alsoon the ground. Whereas the 1990s were characterisedby hydric stress and ripe concentration, the new era isfocusing on bringing a vibrance to the wines and vines