chile: overview


selling their top wines into a market that is far less price sensitive than the UK. “Asia has our best average price,” says Sotomayor; while Christian Wylie, commercial director of Carolina Wine Brands, notes: “our Chinese importer wanted to take everything when we showed them our 2007 Herencia”, the producer’s recently launched icon wine. Certainly for Eduardo Chadwick, president of Errazuriz, China is all about the top end. “Our strategy is to go absolutely super premium,” he states. “We’re doing vertical tastings, blind tastings and really putting all our effort into the icon wines as that’s where the market is very active.”


BARGAIN-HUNGRY BRITAIN Back in the UK, Chile’s most expensive wines have yet to capture people’s imagination in the same way. After all, in contrast to its approach in the Far East, Chile largely founded its UK reputation on an ability to supply competitively priced wine at the cheaper end of the spectrum. However, given the paucity of these top Chilean wines on the shelves of independent retailers or high-end restaurants, you have to ask whether the obstacle here lies primarily with consumers or a lack of interest from the trade itself. Even if few producers are explicitly critical of the UK trade in this respect, this obstacle is regularly implied. Torres for one believes that Chile should not be afraid of showing its more ambitious wines to the UK market: “We undervalue what the consumer really wants. We’ve been told for such a long time that they are interested only in low prices, but there are some consumers who want different things, different valleys.” Chile’s ability to offer depth as well as breadth is emphasised by Ernesto Müller, general manager of Undurraga, who points out: “What Chile has done in the last 10 years, finding the right vineyards for the right varieties, is now showing in the quality. Today we can offer a fantastic portfolio of wines at every price point, but it will take time to convince the gatekeepers.” Again, the UK’s buyers come in for gentle criticism from


Chilean wine: exports to UK Year


2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010


2011 (MAT to June) Source: Wines of Chile Volume (‘000 litres) Value (‘000 US$)


66,593 127,912 84,019 159,298 78,738 153,118 79,783 163,317 101,680 230,584 96,564 222,945 113,430 218,320 123,789 237,206 118,390


244,852


THE UK IS STILL THE COUNTRY IN EUROPE


THAT EVERYONE LOOKS TO FOR NEW THINGS


Chadwick, who warns: “It’s sad; if the buyers continue to be so tough on Chile when other markets are growing, then the UK in the long term risks losing its position as a fine wine market.” Despite these concerns, many producers


are at pains to emphasise the importance of the UK as a place for introducing new styles, with the country often acting as an important precursor to launches into other, more conservative export markets. “The UK is still the country in Europe that everyone looks to for new things,” confirms Bascuñan. Likewise, Sotomayor


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Photo Courtesy: www.mattwilson.cl


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