This week we will be exploring South America through tasting two of the most iconic styles from Argentina and Chile, but first? A little history!
The first grape vines that were cultivated in South America were in Lima, Peru in 1539. Having been brought over by Spanish and Portuguese explorers intent on discovering a wider reaching world, these plantings were the beginning of both the North and South American wine industries as we know them today. Peru reigned supreme as a titan of the South American wine world throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries before a myriad of social, environmental as well as cultural issues saw the agricultural landscape shift from vinnous production to cotton and sugarcane farming.
Each country across the southern hemisphere’s continent has a wine style all their own, in Uruguay there is an abundance of Tannat (a grape varietal native to southern France), while Brazil has its Serra Gaucha region where sparkling wine is a predominant style, and Bolivia is seeing major success with Cabernet Sauvignon as well as Tannat and Marselan.
Argentina is the fifth largest wine producing country in the world, behind the United States and ahead of Australia, and they are showing no signs of slowing their impressive productivity and consumption of wine. Several sources claim that Buenos Aires is the second most consumptive city for wine, trailing closely behind Paris. The history of wine in Argentina dates back to the 1550’s when cuttings from Chile were brought over and planted by Father Cedrón, a conquistador and father to the Argentinian wine industry. By starting out with small vineyards, it took no time before there were vines dotted across farmlands all over Argentina, making sure that there would be wine for the sacrament in every region that Spanish colonists settled in. By the eighteenth century there were 120 vineyards planted across the country, each one of them likely related to the first cuttings planted by Father Cedrón.
An unfortunate onslaught of civil wars at the beginning of the nineteenth century slowed the progress that had been building, but during the European emigration boom of the later nineteenth century and early twentieth brought boatloads of hardworking people with the knowhow to ensure a revitalised wine industry. There were several pivotal Europeans who played massive roles in strengthening the foundation of Argentina’s wine industry, though Michel Aimé Pouget inarguably made the biggest contribution in that he was integral in the introduction of Malbec to the country’s landscape.
Andeluna, founded in 2003 by the Reina Rutini family and an American heir to PepsiCo, is a winery exceptionally proud of its Andean heritage. Nestled into the highest points of the South American mountains, the soils that makeup the vineyards that Andeluna sources their grapes from are made of soils that were once part of a seabed some hundred million years ago. Their team, who are as steeped in dedication as they are in knowledge, are headed up by Manuel Gonzalez, an industry veteran who has been making wine for the last twenty vintages. The love and quality of this artisan winemaker can be tasted in every glass. For their Malbec in the Andeluna 1300 line, the fruit is harvested and macerates on its skins at a low temperature prior to fermentation which occurs with indigenous yeasts in stainless steel tanks. The wine then rests in French oak barrels for three months before settling in the bottle for a minimum of three months.
Chile’s history of viticulture is quite similar to Argentina and the rest of the southern Western hemisphere, explorers and colonists brought grape cuttings over beginning in the fifteenth century and those who stayed in Chile and their descendants worked to establish a national wine trade. Because of Chile’s physical location wedged between the Pacific (and tiny portion of the Atlantic) Ocean and the Andes mountains, the country was able to avoid the damn little pest phylloxera which all but decimated the global existence of wine beginning in the late nineteenth century.
Following the mass European emigration and the world wars which were intrinsically linked, though long after European grape varietals had been introduced to the region, Chile began to experience a renaissance within their (relatively) small viticulture scene. New technologies and an eager new class of winemakers worked together to garner Chile a position of prestige on the world stage. The last thirty-five years have been instrumental in forging Chile’s national wine identity; they are perhaps best known for their implanted varietals such as Carmenere from Bordeaux or Cinsault from Provence, though the native Pais and Pipeno are making their way onto the national stage and being exported at a breakneck pace. Young winemakers are pushing the boundaries of the industry, searching for planting locales in remote Patagonia and the Atacama desert all while having their finger on the pulse of a craft making a move toward more sustainable farming practices.
Founded in 1987, Vina Montes is the story of dreams becoming reality. Forged by two industry mainstays, the pair strived towards creating wines that far surpassed the expectation of quality that existed for Chilean wine at the time. They employ sustainable farming practices and are deeply committed to promoting biodiversity within the ecosystems in their vineyards.
The Alpha Carmenere was of the first wines released by the team at Montes and has been awarded top prizes by Decanter, Wine Spectator and other prestigious trade magazines. It is composed of 90% Carmenere and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon from the Colchagua Valley and as per the winery is best enjoyed in its youth though it can be cellared long term. It is a classic expression of Carmenere 50% of the wine was aged in first use French Oak and it boasts notes of black pepper and tobacco juxtaposed nicely by aromas of dark chocolate and balsamic.
