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WINING & DINING - WINE EXPERT


If you look to the east, up into the Andean foothills, the extra altitude lowers the temperature at night, but most of the work here is experimental at present, but that’s not to say in ten years’ time that we won’t be drinking Andes designated sub- appellation wines! Signs of climate change are apparent in the receding snowline of the Andes and irrigation is no longer regarded as a given.


The dry-farmed vineyards of southern Chile – with wines labelled Maule, Itata and Bio Bio – are attracting serious and ambitious producers. Old bush vines have balance here and, in addition to Cinsault, Carignan, Muscat and Pais, grapes such as Riesling, Gewurtztraminer, old vine Carignan, Sauvignon Blanc and in particular Pinot Noir (the sulky child of the grape world) have a style of their own. Fruit is ripe, but less up-front than if grown further north.


I think for most people in the trade it is the Casablanca Valley (situated halfway between Santiago and the coast) that remains the birthplace of ‘cool climate’ Sauvignon Blanc and it is fog which is the key to its success, with huge clouds of it sitting over the vineyards until lunchtime, then burning off to allow ripening of the grapes in the afternoon and then more fog rolling in again at night. Incidentally, vineyards in Casablanca Valley were not affected by the fires.


Although relatively speaking Casablanca Sauvignons have a riper, more tropical flavour than New Zealand Marlborough Sauvignons (with less grassy characters), the structure is similar with an often powerful aromatic blast of fruit which then tapers off gently.


The most elegant Pinot Noirs are now emerging not from the


Casablanca Valley, but from Leyda, part of the north/south running San Antonio Valley. Some of the vineyards are just two miles from the Pacific and even on the hottest summer days, cooled by the sea breeze, the temperature never exceeds 21˚C.


To illustrate further, Limari and Elqui, regions all the way up north, are both considered cool climate, despite being on the fringes of the Atacama Desert, thanks once again to the cooling sea breezes.


Limari Syrahs are extremely impressive and very European in style and I suspect some merchants would place the wine from Europe in a blind tasting. However, although I personally have a huge fondness and respect for Pinot Noir, it is the Syrah grape (in my opinion) which holds the key to the rest of the wine trading – and drinking – world giving Chile the recognition it deserves when climbing the quality ladder.


Take my advice and buy a case or two of Syrah from an up and


coming ‘Boutique’ winery or an ‘Icon’ flagship wine from a more mainstream winery and I can guarantee that in the not too distant future you will look back and recall wistfully to friends that, “I used to buy that wine for..., wish I had bought more at that price when I had the chance”!


And now I have all spent your hard earned cash on Chilean Syrah, it’s time to sit back, relax and see what the New Year, in all its glory, will bring for us all. Whatever it may be, I hope it comes with health and happiness attached.


HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU AL L Santé


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