Eighty-six wines from 30 vineyards were presented to an audience of 24 prominent representatives from various areas of the Irish media and wine trade.

View of wines

Journalist and wine blogger Kevin Ecoc, who published a very enthusiastic account of the event, noted, “what impressed me is that regardless of its ability to churn out fruity inexpensive numbers the country continues to push forward with ever increasing ranges of high quality wines. They have widened their quality varietal offerings and are now putting some fine blends together. They now have an offering for the future. When Ireland begins to trade up again it will find a treasure trove of exciting wines waiting for them on the far side of the Andes.”

The successful Irish Press Tasting showcased Chile’s wine regions and styles, focusing on mid-priced wines in the categories of white, rosé, red, and sparkling.

The overall objective of the event was to introduce Chilean wine to the Irish audience at the beginning of the Christmas trading season, taking advantage of the opportunity for additional publicity and exposure to boost Chile’s profile in Ireland.

Tasting room at Radisson Blu Royal Hotel

As a “silent tasting,” each attendee enjoyed a pleasant and personal tasting experience.

Event organizer and wine journalist Jean Smullen – Wines of Chile’s representative in Ireland – writes, “The format of a “silent tasting” was well received by those attending. I noted that the press seemed to be tasting on a themed basis. [For example], John Wilson [of The Irish Times] indicated that he wished to focus on regions.

“The layout by region was helpful for this as the wines were presented by region, which emphasized the regionality of the grape varieties and highlighted the various styles. [Point-of-sale] material including maps and leaflets were also available to those attending.”

Maps and leaflets

Irish journalists in attendance included:

• Liam Campbell of Irish Independent and Easyfood
• Aoife Carrigy of Irish Mail on Sunday
• Tomas Clancy of Sunday Business Post
• Maureen O’Hara of Irish Daily Star
• Ernie Whalley of Sunday Times (Irish Edition)
• Leslie Williams of The Examiner
• John Wilson of The Irish Times
• Caroline Byrne of Irish Gardening Magazine
• Corinna Hardgrave of Irish Tatler Magazine
• Paul O’Doherty of The Advertiser (regional newspaper for Mayo, Mullingar and Athlone)
• John Brophy of Drinks Industry Ireland
• Kevin Ecock of Checkout Magazine
• Rob Gilmore & Shane McNally from Empty Glass wine blog

Tomas Clancy – Sunday Business Post

Paul O’Doherty tasting

Sommeliers and on-trade customers, as well as independent off-trade buyers were also present, including:

• Kevin Towey of the Towey Group
• Rene Vignolles of L’Ecrivain
• Thomy Suffe of Pearl Brasseries
• Julie Dupony, Irish representative at the 2013 World Sommelier Competition
• Margaret Breski of La Cave Wine Bar
• David Cope of Cope of Castledermot (Londis)
• Julie Dupony of Laurance Caubet Wine Importer
• Máirín Uí Mhurchú of Dromcain Guest House
• Guiseppe Peruzzi of Kapriol Catering

Chilean Ambassador H.E. Leonel Searle and Commercial Consul Cristian Oschilewski Lucares rounded out the high-profile guest list.

Additional media publicity about the tasting has been very positive so far, and Smullen anticipates ongoing reviews and media reactions for up to six months into the future, ensuring that Wines of Chile’s cogent message is disseminated to a broad European audience.

H.E. Leonel Searle, Chilean Ambassador to Ireland and Jean Smullen

The following Chilean wineries participated in the Ireland Press Tasting:

Aresti; Aviary (Casas del Toqui & Alto Los Romeros); Botalcura; Vina Carmen; Vina Casablanca; Casa Marin; Casa Silva; Chocalan; Concha y Toro; Cono Sur; Cousino Macul; De Martino; Emiliana; Errazuriz; Estampa; Vina Leyda; Loma Larga; Luis Felipe Edwards (Auroritas & Marea); Vina Maipo; Mont Gras; Nativa Eco Wines; Odfjell; San Pedro (Castillo del Molina); Santa Carolina; Santa Rita; Miguel Torres (Santa Digna); Undurraga; and Viu Manent.

The 30^th London International Wine Fair took place at the ExCel exhibition centre in London’s docklands over three days in May amid warm spring sunshine and attracted over 13,000 visitors.

With Chilean wines doing so well in the British market it was no surprise that the Wines of Chile Pavilion area was a hive of activity and interest.

Wines of Chile Pavillion at LIWF 2010

Twenty four wineries took space on the newly designed stand, and many other Chilean wineries had their own stands nearby, which added to the ‘buzz.’

This year there was also space devoted to the Chile earthquake appeal where visitors were able to study stunning and emotive photographs of people and places affected by the terrible earthquake that shook Chile’s wine regions in February. The images, made by English professional photographer Matt Wilson who lives in the Colchagua Valley, prompted people to donate over £250 to the appeal, and their support entitled them to wear a ‘Viva Chile’ badge. (see the images by clicking on the slide show on the Levantando Chile banner at the top of the Wines of Chile home page)

Each day the Chile pavilion hosted a themed seminar and focus tasting that proved to be sell-out successes and helped to reinforce Chile’s diversity, innovation, and dynamism.

Wines of Chile Seminar at LIWF 2010

Day One: Tales of the Unexpected
Speakers: Alexandra Marnier Lapostolle (Viña Lapostolle) & Sebastian De Martino (Viña De Martino)
Chile has an extraordinarily dynamic wine culture, and the diversity of wines available today is greater than ever before. The seminar focused on innovation and regional characteristics as well as some of the lesser-known varieties and styles on offer that challenge preconceptions.

Day Two: Carmenere Karma
Speakers: Irene Paiva, one of Chile’s top consultant winemakers, & Arnaud Frennet from Viña Casa Silva

These days Carmenere, Chile’s ‘signature’ grape is more comfortable in its own skin than ever before. The seminar illustrated how Carmenere, Chile’s ‘prodigal son’ is developing into the pick of the bunch.

Day Three: Organic Growth
Speakers: Adolfo Hurtado from Viña Cono Sur & Cristian Rodríguez from Viñedos Emiliana

Superb natural grape growing conditions mean Chile continues quietly and consistently to grow its organic and biodynamic offer. The seminar enabled visitors to discover more about how the unique geography and a culture of environmental care are sustaining organic growth.

In the Masterclass theatre, Wines of Chile hosted a presentation by award-winning writer and broadcaster Peter Richards entitled ‘Take a Fresh Look at Chile.’ A full house of 75 people was able to hear Peter challenge preconceptions and highlight the substantial and remarkable progress Chile is making, with particular reference to Syrah as a grape variety showing great promise and the development of Chardonnay, notably from the cooler and coastal regions of Chile. Olly Smith, a well known wine journalist who sat in on the seminar said that it was the best and most interesting talk he had ever attended.

Also in the Masterclass theatre, the Circle of Wine Writers ran a tutored tasting and presentation to help raise money for countries that had suffered natural disasters recently, so Chile, Turkey, and Madeira were featured. Chilean journalist Eduardo Brethauer presented a range of eight Carignan wines from the Maule Valley, and talked about the fund raising work that was being done by the newly formed Carignan Club in Chile.

Wines of Chile Pavillion at LIWF 2010

In the Restaurant Magazine ‘On-trade Hub’ area-a stand devoted to helping sommeliers and restaurateurs understand how to make their wine lists work harder for them in these challenging economic times-Michael Cox, Wines of Chile’s UK Director, gave a presentation on Carmenere-Chile’s emblematic grape variety. This proved a good opportunity to launch the new Wines of Chile on-trade initiative: ‘Carmenere – Made for Curry’.

Additional reasons why Chile was the talk of the Fair surrounded the news that Cristian Lopez, who set up Concha y Toro‘s UK office ten years ago, had been made the Drinks Business Man of The Year 2010-the highest accolade in the annual Drinks Business Awards. The significant achievement for Cristian reflected the outstanding success he and his team have had with Chile’s number one winery and its range of award winning wines in the UK market.

During the Fair Naked Wines, one of the UK’s most innovative on-line wine retailers, announced that a Chilean wine had been selected from a tasting at the Fair of over 300 wines from boutique wineries seeking UK distribution. The wine, Lagar de Bezana’s Aluvion Gran Reserva, was singled out by 30 of Naked Wines consumers-called ‘archangels’-and the wine was offered on the Naked Wines website on the first day of the Fair. By the end of the second day the parcel of 250 cases (worth £30,000) had sold out!

Many reasons why the wines of Chile are becoming ‘the natural choice.’

Chilean Wine at London International Wine Fair 2010

Top wine speakers for the New World at PROWEIN event

Leading academics, wine educators and journalists are set to participate in a series of seminars in what marks the first collaboration of its kind, when five New World wine-producing countries join forces at Prowein 2010.

The members of the New World grouping, represented by the generic wine marketing bodies for Argentina, California, Chile, New Zealand and South Africa will jointly present a series of seminars under the banner, Down To Earth, from Sunday, March 21 to Tuesday, March 23. Amongst the issues they will cover are sustainability, climate, terroir, as well as innovation in wine-growing, winemaking and marketing.

The five countries will also be exhibiting alongside one another in a show-within-the-show for the duration of ProWein.

The Down to Earth seminar chairs will include:

• Renowned viticulturist and academic Prof Hans Reiner Schultz, who is the director of Germany’s Geisenheim Research Centre
• The leading economist, wine critic and internationally published journalist Jürgen Mathäß who publishes inWeinwelt, Gault Millau Weinguide, Weinwirtschaft and Meininger’s Wine Business International
• Felicity Carter, editor-in-chief of Meininger’s Wine Business International
• Founder of the London International Wine Challenge, international judge and critic and widely published author Robert Joseph
• Joel B Payne, a former editor-in-chief of Meininger’s Wine Business International and a regular contributor to Germany’s leading wine magazines, Vinum and Falstaff, as well as the World of Fine Wine and Steve Tanzer’s International Wine Cellar. His Gault Millau German Wine Guide has appeared annually for nearly two decades.
• Masters of Wine Dr Josef Schuller and Lynne Sherriff, the chair and vice-chair respectively of the international network of the UK-based Institute of Masters of Wine.
• Pancho Campo, MW founder of the World Conference on Climate Change and Wine.

Visitors will be able to attend the individual country exhibitions as well as collaborative presentations in a combined space dedicated to the partnership. “The configuration of the show-within-a-show is intended to give delegates an overarching sense of the common purpose linking these normally competing nations. At the same time, it has been designed to highlight what makes each one distinctive and unique,” said a spokesperson for the group.

Leading winemakers from each country will also present their national signature wine varietals to the over 35,000 delegates from 50 countries plus more than 1,000 journalists expected, that is if past experience is any indication of the likely attendance at ProWein this year. Argentina will be showcasing Malbec; California, Zinfandel; Chile, Carmenere; New Zealand, Sauvignon blanc; while South Africa will be focusing on its most widely planted grape, Chenin blanc, and its indigenous Pinotage.

The five New World Wine members have proved remarkably resilient to the ongoing global contraction in consumer spending with all currently reflecting sound export growth in key markets.

The spokesperson for the group attributed the rising exports to a capacity to respond innovatively to the recession. “Our ability to think beyond competitive national interests and to collaborate is ample demonstration of our flexibility and long-range thinking. Our view is that by working in concert we stand a better chance of attracting market interest in the highly competitive show environment. What has also been critical to the success of our group of New World wine producing nations is an ability to provide value for money across a wide range of price points, to offer attractive and easy-to-understand packaging for wine lovers and the drive to innovate at every level.”

The spokesperson urged those interested in attending Down to Earth to register well in advance by going to the seminar website, Down to Earth Seminar/Prowein Registration, where details are provided in both English and German.

For more information contact:

Wines of Argentina:
Andrew Maidment +0044 7815647429
Email: amaidment@winesofargentina.com.ar

Lis Clément Work +54 261 4235346 Int. 2.  Mobile +54 9261 6829829
Email: lclement@winesofargentina.com.ar

California Wine Institute:
Christine Berthold +49 (0) 421-217020  Mobile +49 (0) 178-2170200
Email: berthold@wineinstitute.de

Wines of Chile:
Juan Somavia (Chile) +56 9776 75086
Email: jsomavia@winesofchile.org

Michael Cox (UK) +44 (0) 7785 291503
Email: michael@winesofchile.org.uk

New Zealand Winegrowers:
David Cox +44 (0)20 7973 8079  Mobile +44 (0)7974 228986
Email: davidc@nzwine.com

Wines of South Africa:
Su Birch +27 21 825630677 or +27 21 8833860
Email: su@wosa.co.za

This competition organized by the Association de la Sommellerie Internationale (ASI) will be hosted locally by the Chilean Association of Sommeliers and will receive candidates from 50 countries, all of whom already hold the Best Sommelier title from their respective countries.

Chile’s reigning candidate is Ricardo Grellet, seconded by Héctor Riquelme, who competed in the 12^th version of the international competition in Rhodes, Greece, in 2007.

The rigorous 2-day competition will take place in Santiago and in Santa Cruz (in the Colchagua Valley). The contestants will be required to show extensive knowledge of wine, spirits, and other beverages, cigars, oils, food and wine pairing, and service skills to determine the top three candidates for the final competition. The three finalists will compete in a public final round and the winner announced at a gala dinner the same evening.

The ASI guests will also be treated to the finest of Chilean hospitality along with wine tastings, winery visits in the Colchagua and Maipo Valleys, which will be coordinated through Wines of Chile.

ASI was founded in France in 1969 to standardize and promote the profession of sommelier. The Chilean chapter, the Asociación de Sommeliers de Chile, was created in 2000 in accordance with ASI guidelines to promote good service in Chile. Wines of Chile was founded in 2002 to promote the quality and image of Chilean wine worldwide.

For more information and to register for activities, please see the 2010 ASI World’s Best Sommelier Competition web site