Travel

Chile experience: part 1
3 October 2009

I am typing this short prelude to my visit to Chile in the airplane somewhere between Milan and Madrid.

Then there is a connecting night flight from Madrid to Santiago, and it has to be survived.

I have never been neither in Chile nor in South America and am flying there with an open mind. It is likely that my winemaking “discoveries” have already been discovered and reported by others. I also expect that certain things which will surprise me will be taken for granted by the Chileans (A couple of days ago Jancis Robinson published here general impressions from a brief wine visit to the Southern Russia. What struck her most was the fact that life in Krasnodar was “unexpectedly normal” while I guess she was expecting something like a sensational terroristic attack. A naïve foreigner, is a Russian reaction. Well, I will be a similar kind of foreigner in Chile).

Luckily, I don’t have any frightful stereotypes about Chile (though I must admit that I am weary of virus A that is more spread on their continent than on ours). Expectations from the Chilean winemaking are predictable: a generous region blessed by the nature to grow good grapes, technically advanced wineries, expressive wine of good value, big brands. Mauro von Siebenthal, a Swiss winery owner-winemaker in Chile with whom we had lunch in Locarno several weeks ago, also promised excellent restaurants in Santiago and huge mussels.

During the next week our small Russian group (Tatiana Gagen, Alexander Sidorov and I) will visit several companies of international acclaim which have long worked with Russian importers — Caliterra, Carmen, Cono Sur, Concha y Toro, Errazuriz, Lapostolle, Montes, Santa Carolina (the companies are listed alphabetically rather than by size, positioning and other criteria — I will be covering this in other materials). The programme also includes several new wave companies — small sized, maximally focused on researching their vineyard potential and producing wines in a less common for Chile super premium segment.

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The last commentary, from the Madrid airport. I think I now know one trait of the Chileans. They are never in a hurry. Half an hour is left before our transatlantic flight by the national courier LAN, and the boarding hasn’t been announced yet. A similar story happened in the Chilean consulate in Milan. I was issued my visa in the last moment and after more than two hours of waiting, although the documents were approved a week earlier.