Mariana Martinez (photo courtesy of Mariana Martinez)

For wine journalist and Planetavino editor Mariana Martinez, certain exquisite experiences in life are priceless.

Like savoring shellfish with Sauvignon Blanc by the seashore in her adopted country, Chile.

“There is not a culinary pleasure bigger than that. Just go to a fish market at the beach, buy your fresh seafood, take it home, cook it by yourself, prepare it as you please, and uncork Chilean wine and enjoy … And if you are in front of the beach, it’s just fantastic.”

Argentinean-born Martinez was raised in Uruguay, earned a Communications degree in Caracas, Venezuela, and worked as a model in Europe for one year, before settling in Chile, where she studied for a wine diploma at Santiago’s Andrés Bello University and then became a professional Sommelier.

Taking a simple wine class to guide tours in the Maule Valley inspired Martinez to learn about wine – a harmonious progression, given her prior interest in agronomy, photography and nature. A subsequent job as an assistant for a Chilean sommelier led to a position as webmaster for Planetavino, paving the way for a successful career communicating her passion for wine.

“It was this movement of life that you cannot see,” she reflects, “but it’s all very well planned … You don’t know what it means in the moment, but then … you see backwards and you see why things happened.”

In Martinez’s case, she sees clearly now that it was this movement of life that brought her to a natural paradise in Chile, where she happily enjoys every opportunity to immerse herself in beautiful landscapes, from the country’s northern deserts to southern glacial lakes:

“I love the sea, all the seacoast … I just love the nature. I love the north, San Pedro de Atacama. I love the south, the lakes, it’s so beautiful. La Cordillera, I love La Cordillera, it’s just amazing. All the dry farming – “secano” – from the south, everywhere you see, it’s just so unique.”

Continues Martinez, “I prefer to take my own pictures and I love to travel, so those were the things I liked to do, and life gave me a way to have all of them in my work. I wanted to work in the nature, I love plants, and that’s what I do now. I love to visit the vineyards, talk with the people, take pictures, learn about what they are doing.”

In addition to perpetually learning on the job, Martinez adores working as a wine educator and familiarizing her students with the intricacies of wine. As Chief of Education for Chilean wine superstore Mundo del Vino, she hosts classes for company employees and consumers, along with a variety of tastings and events.

Due to her Argentinean heritage, Martinez occasionally finds herself in the midst of the friendly rivalry between two prominent South American wine industries. Each year she organizes a blind tasting of Chilean and Argentinean wines with a friend from Argentina, selecting the Chilean wines for the tastings and always cheering for Chile.

“I just want Chile to win,” she enthuses. “I’ve been here in the industry for twelve years now, so I really want Chile to succeed!”

And Chile is well on the way to success, both in the industry and in the vineyards, according to Martinez.

As a sommelier, she is especially pleased about the increasing popularity of the country’s sparkling wines as an aperitif over the previously-favored sugar- and alcohol-laden pisco sour. She also hopes to see more restaurants offering by-the-glass wine pairing with each course at meals.

Furthermore, Martinez compares the evolution of Chilean winemaking to Europe’s longstanding viticulture, pointing out that the recent generations of Chile’s vintners were born and raised among the family vines, giving them a distinct passion for winemaking, innovation and quality that is evident in the bottle.

“I think that’s great because that’s what you see in Europe – 10 generations, 5 generations ahead,” she notes. “For [European winemakers] there is no other way to live. So they really have to protect the land. It’s something that they do for the next generation.

“When they plant, they plant for the next generation, not for them,” Martinez continues. “That’s something that we have to learn [in Chile], and I think that’s very interesting, that it’s happening, because it’s moving and it’s making people think different, take more care, and be more passionate at the same time.”

As an ardent nature-lover, Martinez commends the Chilean wine industry’s initiatives towards responsible agriculture and sustainability.

“The most delicate resource that Chile has is the nature,” she says.

And since nature produces Chile’s inimitable terroirs, the land is an especially precious resource for the country’s wineries.

“The nature gives the uniqueness to the wines,” urges Martinez. “When you really want wines to express place, you need time, you need passion … we have done a lot; we have progressed a lot in 30 years …

“Because we have done so much, [I know] we are going to do much more. We are just learning. We are in a progress, a work in progress, that’s why it’s so exciting – it’s moving, it’s alive, very alive, and you can say that it’s a little baby, it’s doing great things, but once it will [be an adult] and balanced, be prepared, because it’s going to be great. I think it’s fantastic!”

Like Martinez’s meaningful life path – which pulled her to a central position from which to observe and experience Chile’s growth in this exciting period of transition – the Chilean wine industry is building a history and a worldwide legacy that will one day be recorded, recognized and understood with a backward gaze.

Mariana Martinez is participating in this legacy by telling Chile’s story as it happens, through her ongoing work as a wine journalist with a singular voice and zealous appetite for her job.

In addition to communicating through Planetavino and other media outlets and tasting venues, Martinez plans to return to radio broadcasting next year with a new show about Chilean wine. She also hopes to produce a second edition of her popular wine dictionary, “El Vino de la A a la Z.”

Keep track of Martinez’s activities and work by following her on Twitter – @MyMentrecopas.

“My host family made a small amount of wine for their home, and this is what initially led me to the industry,” she recalls. “Being from a mountain town in the Sierra Nevadas of California, I had not been exposed to people living so closely to the source of their food before; our winters would not permit it. In Italy, I fell in love with the romance of it all. As I aged, I fell in love with the taste [of wine].”

Desmond’s fascination with wine evolved into a career, as she achieved a variety of prestigious academic honors, including earning a Diploma in Wine and Spirits from the Wine and Spirits Education Trust, and attending the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Bra, Italy.

Jennifer Desmond, Wines of Chile New York Brand Ambassador (photo from jenniferdesmond.com)

Desmond specializes in event planning, and has worked with a variety of reputable wineries and wine producers to facilitate superior gastronomic experiences. Furthermore, as the Brand Ambassador for Wines of Chile in New York, Desmond now promotes Chilean wine with pleasure.

“I just recently started working with Chilean wines, and am honored to be able to represent them in New York,” she says. “My job is to spread the word about Chile’s greatness to accounts in the city.”

Desmond is incredibly passionate about spreading the word on Chile’s quality, and notes that “Chile has evolved tremendously over the past decade, and the wines are becoming very, very good.”

“Chilean winemakers are starting to harness the potential for Chilean wines,” she continues, “through better understanding of the climate and terroir. With time I believe that they will rival some of the greatest regions in the world.”

Throughout her professional activities, Desmond continuously encounters positive feedback about Chile’s wines.

“Many of our customers are just beginning to realize that Chile is producing first class wine,” she notes. “For so many years it was a region known for bulk production, which is an unfortunate hurdle we have to overcome.”

With Jennifer’s active and enthusiastic representation in New York, Chilean wines will continue to be exceptionally endorsed and distributed, but if you find yourself in NYC, Desmond recommends visiting Riverpark restaurant for a first-hand taste of Chilean wine along with a fantastic cuisine.

“Shisha, the chef and owner, is Chilean and he has an excellent selection of Chilean wines,” she raves. “Plus his food is sublime!”

Although she hopes to visit Chile for the first time next year, Desmond is utterly keen on Chile, Chilean wine, and her new position with Wines of Chile. “Chile has the world’s most perfect growing climate,” she emphasizes. “Period.”

This romantic relationship between the wine and the natural environment has been Desmond’s primary inspiration as a wine professional.

“It’s all about the connection to the soil for me,” Desmond says.  “It’s earthy and grounded to work with something you make from soil, which stirs me.”

“I grew up in the video arcade my mother owned,” explains Dexheimer. “And my grandmother owned a golf course, with pizza and go-carts, which gave me good tools to be a people person and do different things in the entertainment industry.”

Later, working in restaurants, Dexheimer quickly found that knowledge of wine engaged his guests and enticed them to tip well for his expertise. He climbed the industry ladder quickly, working in (and later managing) wine cellars, bars and restaurants from Nantucket to New York, and ravenously reading wine literature to learn the trade.

“The wine community is awesome!” he insists.

Working with such an awesome community inspired Dexheimer to pursue certification as a Master Sommelier, which required dedicated study and completion of a rigorous testing program.

“I took the [first level] exam in 2001,” recalls Dexheimer. “It was very different back then. It is still very difficult [today], but there was a smaller community [in 2001], and no online stuff.”

The greater challenge began with the advanced portion of the program. In 2003, Dexheimer passed the advanced exam after being given 25 minutes to taste six wines blindfolded and accurately identify the grape blends, regions of origin, climate conditions, quality levels, and vintages. This was followed by a service exam testing practical skills like decanting and food pairing, and a theory exam.

“It was pretty darn tough!” Dexheimer declares.

The final hurdle to becoming a Master was even more difficult, but Dexheimer passed the last test in 2007, earning the honor of becoming the 79th Master Sommelier in the United States.

Dexheimer is now involved in numerous professional activities, including his role as Wines of Chile Educator.  He delivers frequent seminars and travels to speaking and teaching engagements worldwide as an industry expert and a connoisseur of Chilean wine.

“There are infinite possibilities for [wine in] Chile,” Dexheimer urges, noting Chile’s “vast places to plant, with ongoing discovery of new places, and the fact that some vineyards aren’t even making wine yet.”

Dexheimer’s work as an educator supports Wines of Chile’s goal to promote third-tier wines in the 15-30 dollar range. “Those are the best wines now, varietal and New World styles,” he says. “Those wines are exciting!”

“People are really wowed once they taste Chile’s wines, so it’s important to get people tasting the wines,” continues Dexheimer.”They are blown away by one or two in every tasting.”

To ensure that Chile’s reputation for quality continues to spread with unrelenting momentum, Dexheimer is “hitting almost every part of the industry,” including forging professional relations with prominent wine makers, instructing terroir classes in six different US cities, forming a recent partnership with the Guild of Sommeliers, showcasing Chile’s “serious Pinot Noirs” and other promising varieties, and organizing Wines of Chile’s Blogger Tasting, held online with 50 bloggers and eight wine makers, including an online chat, twitter feed, and recipes for food pairing.

In his remaining time, Dexheimer also owns his own consultancy business, Juiceman Consulting.

Needless to say, he is a busy (but satisfied) Master Sommelier. However, Dexheimer still manages to relax and savor Chilean wine at his home.

“I like sushi with Sauvignon Blancs, tuna or hamachi” he says, “and Pinot Noir with burgers and lighter food. Sometimes I cook an amazing bolognaise with Carmenere, of course pairing it with the Carmenere.”

Dexheimer advises wine and food lovers that steakhouses in United States are “doing a great job of putting Chilean wines on lists; Cabernets, Carmeneres, Syrahs and blends go really well.” He also recommends “seafood with Sauvignon Blancs and Chardonnays from the coast with ceviches and seafood platters. And Latin food is great with Chilean wines.”

In the midst of such an exciting and mouthwatering career, Dexheimer is especially glad for opportunities to travel and make connections. “[The wine industry] is a great network of people from all walks of life, all different backgrounds and interests,” he says. “Getting into a room with chefs and sommeliers, you never know what books, music, films will be discussed, where they’ve traveled, what they went to school for.”

“This is an infinite learning experience,” he muses. “The more you know, the less you know, and the less you know you know. The journey never stops!”

Fred Dexheimer, Master Sommelier and Wines of Chile Educator (photo by Matt Wilson)

Basket of El País grapes

Varieties once thought extinct and old strains never truly developed are being given a new lease on life by a bold generation of Chilean viticulturalists.

With its Mediterranean climate and Spanish heritage, Chile is home to some of the oldest vines in the world and the oldest vineyards in the New World.  Once a colony at the farthest edges of an empire, Chile today harbors viticultural artifacts that have been lost and forgotten by many winemakers around the world.

Now, a new generation of visionary winemakers is bringing these long lost strains back to life, creating startlingly unique, complex and bold wines.

It all began in 1994 when Chilean winemakers rediscovered Carmenere, a grape believed to be the forebear of many of today’s established reds, but which was wiped off the face of the Old Continent after a Phylloxera epidemic in the 19th century.

The subsequent development of Carmenere in Chile has done more than give the country a signature wine; it has inspired a hunt for other forgotten strains in Chile’s vineyards and fostered the reimagination of strains that have traditionally been relegated to lesser quality production.

At the forefront of this enological treasure hunt has been a group of innovative winemakers in the Maule Valley, Chile’s oldest wine growing region.

José Manuel Ortega is the Spanish-born banker-turned-wine entrepreneur behind O.Fournier. After establishing vineyards in Spain and Argentina, the company looked to Chile to expand its range of unique, terroir-oriented wines.

“After many years searching the distinct regions of Chile, we are really enthusiastic about the Maule Valley,” Ortega told Wines of Chile.

Ortega explained that it was partly due to Maule’s soil and climate, noting that the area’s “sufficient rains and hot, dry summers with cold nights” drew O.Fournier to the valley.

But there was another factor that enticed the winemaker to overlook the nearby Colchagua Valley, the current darling of Chile’s wine regions.

“We also found a significant quantity of old vineyards containing a variety of different strains,” said Ortega. “Carignan has impressed us the most up to this point.”

Grown for centuries as a means to add color and taste to low-quality blends, the Carignan grape, as Maule Valley producers have recently discovered, transforms as it ages, acquiring a distinct and complex aroma.

“It’s a surprising and original variety,” Ortega said, “with some exotic aromas that tend to be very ageable in wine blends. We think it has the potential to be the queen of Chilean grapes, surpassing even Carmenere in quality.”

Aside from reviving old varieties, vineyards like O.Fournier are also experimenting with new techniques in wine growing.

“Another very interesting possibility [in the Maule Valley] is to graft onto old El País grapevines  more refined and recognized varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Syrah and Carignan, among others. In O. Fournier we decided to graft an El País vineyard with these varieties,” said Ortega, “with excellent results.”

Meanwhile still other vineyards have different plans in store for their El País grape strain — known as Mission in other parts of the world — which were first brought to Chile by the conquistadores.

Miguel Torres, of the Miguel Torres Chile vineyard, speaks passionately about the history of the grape. “The País variety could be related to the Listán Prieto that is found in the Canary Islands,” Torres told Wines of Chile.

Torres explained how the grape, so thoroughly entwined with wine growing in the country, came to fall out of fashion.

“Until the arrival of Claudio Gay in 1810, the reign of País was indisputable,” he said. “Claudio Gay – a French expert agronomist – brought varieties of Cabernet Sauvignon, considered to be more ‘noble’, and clearly began an unstoppable tendency of planting this French variety.”

“Still, País, without a doubt, constituted the Chilean red wine par excellence, which is mixed with Cabernet and at times with Carignan to improve the final color of the wine.”

Though País remains common in Chile, Torres said, with between 12,000 and 15,000 hectares planted, “the price of the variety was dropping inexorably as it was no longer used in wines denominated as ‘premium’ or consumed in varietal wines.”

But no longer – Torres has been at the forefront of a project that is making Chilean growers and world consumers rethink previous conceptions of the variety.

Aside from creating a truly Chilean wine, the project also aimed at improving the income of

small time producers.

“This variety is planted in general by a great number of lower-income Chilean families who lack the resources to invest in other varieties or to invest in their vineyards,” explained Torres. “These families have carried these vines, in some cases, for up to 200 years.”

In order to salvage the vine’s image and raise incomes for these working-class families, Torres and his partners decided to try a different approach with the País grape.

“We experimented for four years and our technical team, headed by Fernando Almeda, did extraordinary work. Basically we learned how to handle this variety as a sparkling [pink] wine.”

Local farmers grow and harvest the País grapes and sell them to the vineyard, receiving fair prices and, most importantly, restoring faith in the grape that Torres says is “undoubtedly the most Chilean (grape) we have.”

The Fair Trade certification for the project’s hallmark Santa Digna Estelado wine moreover “guarantees a higher price for the farmers and a portion of that price goes to social projects in the community.”

In 2011, Santa Digna Estelado won Wines of Chile’s best sparkling wine award.

But for Torres, the significance of the award goes beyond his vineyard, and even beyond the benefit to small time producers.

“For me, this is not only a project focused on quality and people, but also on the recovery of the history of Chilean viticulture,” he said.

The Maule Valley may be at the forefront of this forward looking generation of winemakers, but it is by no means the only region leading the charge.

As new vineyards spring up in desert oases in Atacama and at the foothills of volcanoes in Osorno, creating vibrant new identities, Chile’s historic valleys of Maipo, Colchagua and Curicó are also looking back to their roots and coming up with flavors that are as fresh and exciting as they are ancient.

Chile's Wine Ambassador Rebecca Chapa hard at work in San Francisco, California.

In this series of interviews with the major players in Chile’s centuries-old industry, Wines of Chile gets an inside look at the ins and outs of winemaking and sales, from the grape harvests in southern Chile to the wine list at New York’s hottest restaurants.

Wine grapes have been a staple of Chile’s valleys ever since the arrival of the Spaniards. Yet in recent decades, the nation’s wine industry has transformed from a young New World producer into a burgeoning source of luscious, award-winning varietals, emphasizing sustainability and premium wines and exporting to five continents around the globe.

Today we talk to Rebecca Chapa, Chile’s premier Wine Ambassador in the Bay Area, about the delicious diversity that Chilean wines have to offer the U.S. market.

In March 2011, Chapa teamed up with Wines of Chile with one goal in mind: to bring the best of Chilean wines to San Francisco’s bars, restaurants and retail stores. With a passion for good wine and a degree from Cornell University, Chapa embarked on a career in wine and food, soon becoming a Certified Wine Educator and Certified Sommelier, with a diploma from the Wine and Spirits Education Trust in London.

“Most consumers and sommeliers don’t realize that there is incredible diversity within Chile,” Chapa says. “The multitude of regions, climates [and] soil types ensure that there is a wealth of different styles of wine, something for every palate.”

As part of her job as “Wine Ambassador,” Chapa also works to expose people to the rich and wonderful world of Chilean cuisine and culture, adding another facet to enjoying a good Chilean wine.

“The best part of the job is when I find someone super excited about the wine they taste and see the smile on their face, having experienced something new or learning something about Chile they didn’t know,” Chapa says.

You work in California’s cosmopolitan Bay Area, steps away from one of the world’s best-known wine regions. What attracted to you working with Chilean wines?

I think it’s exciting working with these unique wines. Although we are surrounded by great wine throughout California, the wines of Chile are really unique. I find that it’s exciting to taste the same varieties grown in a different country and find that there really is a typicity to Chilean wines – they are completely unique from what is grown here in California and both have a reason to be on a wine list or on a shelf.

What do you think sets apart Chile’s wine region and wines from those in Napa Valley?

Chile has been doing some really exciting cool climate wines, some exciting blends and great whites. I would say the Chilean wines have a certain vibrancy while Napa wines can be a bit more dense. I have had fun doing some blind tastings with sommeliers and slipping a Napa wine in the mix — it’s unmistakable, not better or worse, just different.

You work with restaurant and bar owners to promote and inform them about Chilean wines. What is the most common misconception they have about Chilean wine?

Most people expect that Chilean wines because they are a good value can’t hold up to California wines in terms of quality. They also assume that Chilean wines are rich and fat, while the cool climate areas [like Chile’s Casablanca and San Antonio valleys] are really creating some exciting very vibrant high acid wines.

Say I live in the Bay Area. Where should I go for a good selection of Chilean wines, and a staff who can guide me to best choice for my tastes?

Epic Roasthouse has brought in a wide selection of Chilean wines, which is great. Weimax in the Peninsula has a great selection right now for a retailer.

The Bay Area and San Francisco specifically is known for its diversity in food and nightlife. What popular types of food in the Bay Area pair well with Chile’s finest?

Chilean wine can be truly diverse, so the food options are endless. The whites can be fantastic with oysters and shellfish. A favorite of mine is Carmenere with barbecue. We actually had a great dinner at a Brazilian Churrascaria – (the Carmenere) was fabulous with everything from beef to chicken hearts!

The wine world was fast to pick up on the benefits of Twitter. A quick check shows thousands of purple stains on the wine-splattered Twitterverse:
product-promoting wineries, terroir-hunting winemakers, swirling-sniffing-spitting critics, and enthusiastic consumers all contributing their two cents worth, 140 characters at a time.

In the world of media–social or otherwise–it’s all about communication and getting the word out fast, and Twitter makes spreading the word faster and easier than any other medium to date… but is there such a thing as too fast?

Have Miss Manners and Latin America’s own manual-writing Carreño spoken out on “Twitterquette” yet?

The question came up last night when Chilean winery Canepa launched its new Genovino Carignan (very interesting wine, and well worth looking for, by the way). I was scolded by a colleague for tweeting about the event during the presentation. It was disrespectful, I was told, to do an instant relay to the world that Canepa was launching a new Maule Valley Carignan from Cauquenes; that the formerly brutish Carignan had polished up nicely and earned its society debut; that old-vine, dry-farmed Carignan was a new opportunity for Chile to distinguish itself, etc.

I was surprised. Not even a week ago the owner of another winery told me that he was very happy to see that at least two of us were sending out tweets during his latest launch–one of us  in English, the other in Spanish. Immediate world-wide product communication. Isn’t that a marketing dream come true?

So I’ve been mulling it over. Yes, it can be distracting to see someone madly hammering away on a smart phone. But I suppose the same argument could be made for those of us who scribble copious notes. Or take pictures. Or use a tape recorder. Perhaps all of these mediums–now so widely accepted as necessary tools of the trade–were once considered distracting and disrespectful.

Or… perhaps it’s a matter of becoming accustomed to new technology and accepting that cell phones and social media are no longer just leisure items or signs of distraction, but have become incorporated into the essential communications tool kit.

To Tweet or not to Tweet

So now I put it to you:

Writers: Do you tweet at wine events? At product launches? During tastings? I’ve confessed I do. In fact, it’s part of my job description at Wines of Chile to tweet during WoC events. In fact, Wines of Chile has TWO Twitter accounts, and you can follow us at @WinesofChile for general news and @DrinkChile from our US office.

Presenters: Do you object to having your message communicated immediately?

Consumers: Do you follower Twitter for super timely wine information?

Time for YOUR opinion! Please leave your comments below!

New to the Twitter concept? Not sure what the fuss is about?
Check out: the Twitter 101 guide for businesses.

Chilean flags fly throughout the country, sending powerful messages of strength

As everyone has heard by now, Chile’s wine industry was indeed affected by the February 27 earthquake. Much has been published about it, although not all of it has been on target. As is understandable, there was considerable panic and worry in the earliest days following the quake, and, as is human nature, many people were quick to shout disaster. Let’s face it, toppled tanks, broken barrels, and crumbled buildings make a pretty impressive sight, not to mention a big mess, but once the cleanup started, the true picture began to come into focus. And although the situation was rough-very rough-fortunately, things were really not as globally bad as first imagined.

As one winemaker put it, “if someone cuts his hand, it will bleed a lot and and may seem very, very serious. We might even think he’s going to lose his hand all together, but once you get the guy cleaned up and calmed down,  it usually becomes clear that he only needs a few stitches. What happened in the wine industry was somewhat similar.” After all, a broken barrel of wine will make a tremendous mess, but in the end, it’s just 225 liters.

Those first few weeks after the earthquake were very strange for many reasons. Not only were we here in Chile busy cleaning up the mess and assessing the damage–both personal and material–but we were also being bombarded by people from abroad looking for news. I–and everyone I know in the wine industry–received numerous calls from international journalists looking for blood-and-guts stories. “Tell me the worst case you’ve got,” they anxiously implored. “Send me pictures of rivers flowing with wine-and if you’ve got lots of broken bottles, even better.” “Sorry,” I respond, “I haven’t seen any Cabernet rivers.” Silence–or worse–tsking on the other end of the line. What is it about human nature that craves disaster? And what is it that makes some people so certain that they know the truth about what is going on thousands of miles away because they read something on internet that said it was so?

With this in mind, I proposed an exploratory trip to the most affected wine regions, from Cachapoal to Maule, to see for myself what had happened. Not as a means of satisfying anyone’s morbid curiosity, but rather to actually see what happened and where things were headed. Chileans are strong people who do get knocked down from time to time, but they don’t stay down long. I wanted to see with my own eyes and hear with my own ears. I wanted to talk with the people who were there–not to the company PR folks, but to the workers, to the people in town, to the kids on the street.

And so it was. Photographer Mari Correa and I set out on March 17 to visit wineries in Cono Sur and MontGras in Colchagua, Miguel Torres in Curicó, and O’Fournier and Gillmore in Maule. We also visited the cities of Santa Cruz, Peralillo, Talca, and Constitución.

It was a most humbling experience, and it became clearer than ever that Chile’s vast beauty–the abrupt and craggy Andes Mountains that form the country’s backbone, the Atacama, that scorching, driest of dry deserts in the world, the breathtaking coastline that receives the full force of an ocean that’s anything but pacific, the volcanoes, hot springs, geysers, glaciers, fjords, lakes, rivers, and valleys and so much more–all of it is there through some act of Mother Earth’s mighty hand, a hand that opens to offer up her bounty, but that also, on occasion, deftly crushes all that humankind has worked to build.

Chileans are a hardy breed. No one reaches adulthood without having experienced a major earthquake, and, given that they come about every 25 years, most people will go through two or three in their lifetime. Chile knows from earthquakes… And Chileans know that they are a fact of life. And that there’s just one way to deal with them. Pick yourself up, give thanks for what you still have, roll up your sleeves, and start to rebuild… and make it better and stronger the next time around.

Please join me over the coming days for the testimony in words and images of those who experienced Chile’s 8.8 earthquake on February 27, 2010.

Tim Hanni (left); Oliver Thring (right)

The wine-related Twitterverse was abuzz this morning with reports of vinous blasphemy: US Master of Wine Tim Hanni has claimed that “Wine critics’ advice is unchallenged bunk,” or so says Oliver Thring in the Guardian.

And Jancis Robinson gets into it a bit on her summary of the Master of Wine Symposia in her Purple Pages as well. Surely others will have a thing or two to say over the course of the day.

It appears that Hanni–who is well known for his work in the area of psycho-sensory phenomena and how the human brain processes and interprets sensory information–has cast his pearls before peers to say, yet once again, that each person has a unique palate, and therefore the opinions of critics are–and can only be–subjective. What he’s getting at, of course, is that communication about wine is anything but objective and that what one person experiences may vary vastly from what the next person drinking from the same bottle.

Honestly, does that come as a surprise to anyone? We all have taste preferences, tolerances, and thresholds of perception that affect our wine choices. Ask a group of consumers whether they prefer Sauvignon Blanc or Chardonnay, and there you have some insight on their appreciation of acidity levels. Do they want their Riesling sweet or dry? Prefer their Cabs big and burly or subtle and silky? Pour a tannic young red and see who screws up their face in pain and who begs for more. Clearly, we have preferences.

How, then, do we communicate them? How do we guide consumers to wines they will enjoy? Is the advice of wine critics really bunk?

It pretty much boils down to how much relevance we place –and reverence we pay–to the experts. Hanni is not telling people that it makes no difference what they drink or that any old thing will do (as seems to be implied in some of the recent buzz), but he is telling people that they do not have to feel cowed into “liking” something that a wine critic informs them they must.

Hanni, who has worked extensively in the area of taste, brought the Japanese concept of umami (the fifth taste) into the wine world to aid in food and wine pairing. He has also worked on developing something he calls a “Budometer,” which works on the basis that the number of taste buds we have affects our level of perception of flavor and determines our preferences for strong, moderate, or subtle flavors.

It doesn’t stop with the number of taste buds, of course. Hanni kicks it to the next level to help people find wines they may like through a series of questions designed to determine one’s “Taste Sensitivity Quotient,” which asks about certain preferences with respect to salt, coffee, drinks, and sweeteners, etc., and then returns some pretty accurate results. Try it yourself: TSQ interview .

He’s got his own agenda, of course, but it certainly does seem that Hanni is on to something. He’s empowering the consumer by telling people to respect their own opinions, and in doing so, reminding the pros that snobbery does not sell wine to the masses.

So let the critics talk. Let them have their say. Let them make suggestions based on the vast accumulation of information they have gathered through experience and hard work over the course of their careers. And then let the consumer decide.

To prove that point, Colchagua based Viña Casa Silva decided to launch its latest wine-Cool Coast Sauvignon Blanc-by inviting a small group of wine writers to visit their young vineyards near the coast of Colchagua. This is a big deal. They literally broke new ground-new terroir-with this project by daring to plant this close to the so-cold-it’s-cool coast in a region where no one has ever grown wine grapes before.

So they ordered up an absolutely gorgeous day and put a dozen of us on a little 12-seater and flew us to the Colchagua coast…

Central Chilean Andes to the left (©MSnook 2009)

We left the Santiago airport and headed south, with the Andes to the left and the Coastal Mountains to the right. August is still winter in the southern hemisphere, and last week’s heavy rains dusted the Coastal Mountains with snow for a special treat.

Chile's Coastal Mountains in August

The layers of fog that accumulate between the irregular Coastal Mountains moderate temperatures and provide moisture for an area that is otherwise quite dry. The greenery is the result of winter rains; at other times of the year, the hills are dry and brown.

Morning fog creeps in among Chile's Coastal Mountains. The snow capped Andes appear in the distance (upper right) (©MSnook 2009)

When we reached Colchagua 110 miles south of Santiago, we turned west toward the coast, following the tongue-tangling Tinguiririca (Ting-geer-ee-REE-ka) River to the sea for a better-than-birds’-eye view of the valley from the Andes to the Pacific.

Colchagua Valley: Tinguiririca River and Coastal Mountains. (©MSnook 2009)

The mountains start to smooth out and the land flattens near the coast.

Colchagua Valley: Tinguiririca River and Coastal Mountains. (©MSnook 2009)

Farm lands start to give way to pine forests that cover the rolling hills near the coast.

Flying west over Colchagua Valley approaching the sea. (©MSnook 2009)

It’s hard to imagine a more breathtaking coastline. Just a few miles north is Pichilemu, one of the surfing capitals of the southern hemisphere.

The Colchagua Valley meets the Pacific Ocean. (©MSnook 2009)

Casa Silva’s 4-year-old vineyard near Paredones, just 5.5 mi (9 km) from the sea. 40 hectares (99 acres)-half Sauvignon Blanc and half Pinot Noir-have been planted on the sandy-clay hillsides that ring the reservoir and on the lower-lying lands that surround it. The Sauvignon made its debut today; the Pinot-ever the diva-will hold out another year to make its grand entrance.

Casa Silva's vineyard in the Colchagua Valley's cool coastal region near Paredones. (©MSnook 2009)

Viña Casa Silva’s Chief Winemaker, Mario Geisse, met the group at the vineyard, where he explained the characteristics of the coastal vineyard. Sandy-clay soils–typical of the ancient Coastal Mountains–provide good drainage and easy root development, but also make erosion an issue, so plant cover between rows is a must. Humidity is also an issue this close to the coast, where morning fogs are common, but a continuous gentle breeze and good canopy management protect the grapes from fungal problems. “I highly recommend this climate for anyone,” jokes Geisse, “It never gets below 9º-10ºC in winter or above 25ºC in summer.”

Winemaker Mario Geisse at Casa Silva's coastal vineyard near Paredones

Viña Casa Silva has 20 hectares each of Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot planted here.  The first vintage of its Cool Coast Sauvignon Blanc 2009 is now on the market, but Pinot–ever the prima donna–needs another year to primp before making its debut.

The Colchagua coast: Saint Peter and the gulls in the fishing village of Buculemo. (©MSnook 2009)

Westward (and lunchward) bound, we headed straight to the coast to Buculemu, with a dramatic weather change just a couple of miles up the road from the sea. This fishing village had been clear all morning and the cloud cover rolled in just before we got there. Though the coastal air was still thick and soupy when we left a few hours later, the sun was still shining just a couple miles away from the coast itself.

By Margaret Snook for Wines of Chile