I came to Chile to drink wine, but wine doesn’t come in a vacuum, and every dinner, every wine tasting I had with Chileans was an opportunity to talk about politics and the need for change. Capitalism is undeniably at the heart of winemaking, with its grand estates, international owners, and global trade. In Chile, I visited some wineries that were established under the neoliberal policies of the Pinochet era. Yet there is an energy already emerging in Chilean wine that, if not anti-capitalist in itself, reflects the country’s political passions. Chileans are in the midst of an awakening, both in food and wine. “It’s the spirit of the new versus the old,” Rocío Marchant, a young winemaker and marketer, told me of the protests. “I think the same is true of Chilean wine. It’s trying to do something different.”
Some of the young winemakers are taking over established wineries, while others are entrepreneurs. Overall, they have been disrupting the old ways, abandoning traditional production methods for organic, low-intervention methods; discovering new terroirs; and forming new alliances to market their wines.
“I think the work of the younger generation is very important,” says María Luz Marín, a veteran winemaker whose career spans 44 years. “They’re passionate, they travel, and I think our future is interesting. Chile is moving forward, making a lot of noise, doing interesting things.”
It may not be a revolution, but it is a transformation, and it’s being driven by other contemporary events, as producers innovate in the face of Covid-19 and climate change-induced droughts. “Virtual tastings are more transparent,” Sofia Araya told me when I spoke to her via Zoom. I first met Araya, 41, at Veramonte, which was founded in the Casablanca Valley in the late 1980s. Its mall-like reception center has hosted large crowds of visitors, but for now, as Chile’s coronavirus curve peaks, Araya is hosting virtual tastings for a handful of consumers. “It makes us more approachable. You can easily talk directly to the winemaker,” she said.
Although Araya has been with the old winery (now owned by multinational González Byass) for a decade, she represents the new guard. In 2018, after helping the winery go organic, she was promoted to chief winemaker. Now, she’s converting 500 hectares to certified biodynamic farming. It’s good for the environment, and it’s good for the wine. “Conventionally farmed vines are sporadic,” she told me. “It doesn’t read the terroir. It’s almost like planting it in a pot. The soil isn’t fertile, it’s not even alive. There’s a certain balance in any biological system, and it’s not here because it’s a monoculture, so let’s keep the grasses to restore the balance.”
I tasted that balance most obviously in the Sauvignon Blancs she was transporting. In fact, everywhere I went in Chile, Sauvignon Blanc wowed me. Sauvignon Blanc, Chile’s second-most planted grape variety after Cabernet Sauvignon, used to be simple, direct, and boring. But as producers expand into cooler regions off the coast, in the Andes, further south, and now even on Chile’s islands, Sauvignon Blanc has gained layers of complexity, vibrant acidity, and rich texture—as well as great aging potential.
Not only that, but Chileans have explored a variety of climates and soil types, and their Sauvignon Blancs show a variety of terroirs. With summer just around the corner in North America, it’s a great time to try Sauvignon Blanc. Here are 11 wines from different terroirs to try.
2019 Veramonte Organic Sauvignon Blanc ($12)
Sofia Araya’s Everyday Sauvignon Blanc from the Pioneer Estate in Casablanca Valley starts out with an herbaceous aroma and ends with a refreshing but not too sharp acidity. In the middle, it’s smooth. A great bargain for summer brunches.
2018 Ritual Sauvignon Blanc ($17)
“We wanted to express something different besides aromas and acid, so we started picking later and focusing on the palate, because that’s hard to achieve here,” Sofia Araya says of this lush Sauvignon Blanc from the usually lively Casablanca. A portion of whole bunch, concrete egg fermentation, plus stirring the lees on fruit days on the biodynamic calendar helped achieve the desired effect. Some barrel-fermented oak notes were almost reminiscent of Chardonnay. However, the wine tempered Sauvignon Blanc expectations with a citrus bittersweetness.
2017 Montes Alfa Cuvée Sauvignon Blanc ($40)
Using grapes grown in the Leyda region, less than two kilometers from the Pacific Ocean, this Sauvignon Blanc is macerated with a bit of saline at the end for a crisp finish. During the maceration, the wine developed intense aromas of peach, lychee, and more. Maceration and three years of aging give this wine a velvety mouthfeel from Aurelio Montes, a new generation of eco-friendly Viña Montes.
2019 Outer Limits Sauvignon Blanc ($14)
Aurelio Montes makes this wine from late-ripening grapes grown in Zapallar, seven miles from the ocean, where a gap in the coastal mountains brings chilly winds almost all day long. The wine has lots of herbal pyrazines on the nose, a fresh, tropical mid-palate, and a crisp, savory, acidic finish.
2016 Mako Sauvignon Blanc ($22)
MOVI, or El Movimiento de Viñateros Independientes, was founded 11 years ago and now has more than 30 wineries as Chile’s first independent winemakers’ association. Third-generation producer and MOVI member Maurizio Garibaldi launched his own label in 2013. Made from Casablanca grapes that are aged on the lees for up to 18 months, the wine is full-bodied with flavors of wild pineapple and mixed tropical fruits. Intoxicating.
2019 Lapostolle Select Sauvignon Blanc ($13)
Alexandra Marnier Lapostolle, part of the family that owns Grand Marnier Winery, built an organic and biodynamic certified estate in the Colchagua Valley near Santa Cruz, a Chilean Napa town 180 kilometers southwest of Santiago. The cellars at her showcase winery spiral into the hillside to naturally control temperature. Her Sauvignon Blanc is firm and, like her background, very French, made with clones imported from Sancerre and a small amount of Semillon. This slightly warmer origin produces wines with flavors of baked apple and banana, rounded on the palate but with a mouthwatering acidity on the finish.
2018 LabeRinto Sauvignon Blanc ($18)
In 1998, Rafael Tirado planted Sauvignon Blanc in the East Maule Valley, 1,800 feet high in the foothills of the Andes. The volcanic soil and cold nights there deliver the “electric thrill” he seeks. The name comes from the way he plants his vines, in a maze-like pattern so he can blend many small plots with different exposures to sunlight and micro-terroirs. This wine smells like bunches of vanilla and tastes like apples mashed on hot earth. It ages beautifully. Put it away and drink it in six years—if you can resist opening it.
2018 Garcés Silva Amayna Leyda Sauvignon Blanc ($26)
At this family-owned winery on the seaside of Leyda, the Pacific Ocean’s Humboldt Current brings a diurnal temperature swing that invigorates the grapes, slows their ripening and lends the wines a polyphenolic complexity. Aged on the lees for three months or more, this charming wine smells of dusty stones, herb gardens and bouquets tucked away in corners.
2018 Casa Silva Cool Coast Sauvignon Blanc ($14)
From a family-owned estate in the sea-swept hills of the Colchagua Valley, this stainless steel-fermented Sauvignon Blanc has nice acidity and mineral flavors mixed with tropical fruits and a New Zealand-style bitter herbaceous finish. It’s a classic choice with seafood.
2018 Casa Marín Cartagena Sauvignon Blanc ($11)
Chile’s first female winery owner, María Luz Marín, has a long history of winemaking, having founded Casa Marín in 2002 in the small town of Lo Abarca in the San Antonio Valley. Just a few kilometers from the Pacific Ocean, the town has cold nights and foggy mornings, and Marín believes the large, crisp heads of lettuce growing in the fields there reflect the grapes’ superior terroir. Her risk-taking ultimately paid off, resulting in this entry-level wine with great texture and earthy minerality.
2017 Casa Marín Los Cipreses Sauvignon Blanc ($20)
There are a few reasons why this bottle is so dynamic. First, the winemakers planted the grapes on slopes in all directions, with micro-vinification blocks that allow for optimal blending. Second, the vines are rooted on native roots, so they are perfectly adapted to the terroir. Third, she is also sensitive, for example, nowadays avoiding leaf picking so that the canopy can protect the grapes from climate change, which is warming the once-cold coast. The result is a wine with a laser-like minerality that suggests the presence of chalky, calcareous soils, then a delicious citrus flavor.
You Might Be Interested In:
