Red wines from Chile make pleasant drinking

Press, 27 September 1988, Page 10

Red wines from Chile make pleasant drinking

I Maurice I Hunter’s

GRAPEVINE

In my schooldays my abysmal ignorance of geography led to many torrid scenes with my masters. Many were the hours of detention which were imposed in the hope that I would be induced to improve in a subject in which I had not the slightest interest.

In those days we were allowed to trade our liability for detention by accepting two strokes of the cane for every hour imposed. Such was my aversion to the subject that I had almost permanent weals on my backside for the term of my secondary education.

Although. I did eventually acquire some knowledge of Europe, South America was to me a closed book. I knew about Brazil, and vague, memories of the Rio Grande, Rio de Janeiro, the Straits of Magellan, and Cape Horn occasionally surfaced. But I did know that there was a country called Chile, the capital of

which, Santiago, somehow lodged in my infertile memory.

The masters who gave me up in despair would no doubt be gratified to know that I have recently been boning up on Chile. Whether they would approve of the reason, Chilean wines, is another matter.

This country, no more than 450 km at its widest point, stretches 4500 km along the Pacific coast of the continent, from Cape Horn in the south to the border of Peru in the north, a narrow ribbon of land separated from Argentina by the Andes range.

As in most other countries of the world, vines for altar wine were brought in by the missionaries, who followed the Conquistadores in 1535.

It was not until more than three centuries later that the father of Chilean viticulture, one Silvestre Ochagavia — convinced that the country had the potential of becoming one of the best vineyard areas of the continent — imported not only cuttings of vinifera vines but also viticultural experts from France.

Vineyards were planted in the central valleys of Chile. When it was obvious that the experiment was a success, the Chilean Government came forward with assistance and the importation of more French vines. So the fledging industry was launched.

The typical Chilean vineyard holding is small. Of the 32,000-odd, more than 26,000 are of 5 hectares or less.

Wine is now produced in three zones. In the north, from the Atacama desert to the river Choapa they are mainly fortified wines. The central zone, centred around Valparaiso and Santiago, produces the best table wines, while the southern zone produces lesser table wines.

It would be expected that Chile, being on the West Coast of the continent, would have much the same climate as the West Coast of the South Island, and that the prevailing westerly winds would

drop their rain before crossing the Andes, as they do before crossing the Southern Alps. But there is minimal rainfall, and the vineyards must be irrigated. The two best areas of the central zone are the valley of the rivers Aconcagua and the Maipo. Here the vines are tended and cared for according to traditional Bordeaux methods. Because the soil and climate of both regions are so similar, the wines often bear a close resemblance to those of the lesser Bordeaux. In fact, in some years they equal or surpass some of the regional Bordeaux bottlings. The vines cultivated are direct imports from France — cabernet Sauvignon, cabarnet franc, merlot, pinot noir, and petit verdot for red wines,

and sauvignon blanc, semillon, riesling, Chardonnay, pinot gris and pinot blanc for whites. The Chilean wine industry is said to be one of the best regulated in the world. Some years ago, in the attempt to control alcoholism, production was restricted to 60 litres per head of population. If production is in excess in proportion to acreage, growers must dispose of the surplus and declare to , the Government the quantity involved and the method of disposal, usually by export or by distillation into industrial alcohol. An attempt to prevent poor wine being dumped on to the export market is made by restrictions which decree that export wines must be clear and healthy, at least one year old, and with at least 12 per cent alcohol for white wines and 11.5 per cent for red. The classifications for export, in ascending order of quality are, Courant, Special, Reserve, and Gran Vino. Only the largest vineyards have the ability to

export. One of these is Vina Cousino-Macul, where more than half of its 260 hectares are devoted to red wine grapes, the cuttings, for which were imported directly from Pauillac in the HautMedoc and Martillac in Graves. White wines are made , from semilion and Chardonnay.

The 1987 Gran Vino Chardonnay at $9.95 is good buying. Fully fruited and smooth on the palate, it differs from the New Zealand style, probably because of both climate and the use of American oak, but it has definite Chardonnay character with a lasting finish. There are also two very creditable cabernet sauvignons, the 1984 Gran Vino, of clear ruby red, showing a good balance of fruit and oak and with a clean lift of tannin, very pleasant drinking, especially at $9.95.

The 1981 Gran Vino is of similar style, but showing the benefit of bottle age. It is slightly fuller in colour, with all the characteristics of the 1984 but with an added smoothness on the palate and warrants the higher price of $11.45. From Vina Santa Carolina there is a sauvignon blanc 1987 which is best forgotten as it can do nothing but suffer by comparison with the local style. Santa Carolina Chardonnay 1987 is a better effort, but not much. A very pale wine with little Chardonnay character, it is stalky and with a residual sweetness which does not greatly appeal. This winery begins to come right with its reds, such as the 1985 cabernet sauvignon/merlot. Of clear, light cherry red, oak is detectable in the nose and there is good integration of fruit and oak on the palate. The 25 per cent merlot smoothes out the flavour into a most agreeable red with lasting aftertaste — very good value at around $lO.

Then follow three cabernet sauvignons, a 1986 ($10), a special reserve 1982 ($11.70) and a reserve 1980 ($13.50). All are coppery in colour, with the 1980 being the deepest and showing the greatest character. They are very pleasant drinking. A slight residual sweetness and virtually no tannin would make the 1980 well acceptable to new red wine drinkers.

The other two are very well balanced, but the quality does not reflect the higher prices over the Cousino-Macul.

This winery comes right with its reds