Chilean red blends
Whether a mix of grapes, vineyards, vintages or regions, blending is a staple of Chile’s wine industry – and key to its consumer appeal, says PETER RICHARDS

Four Star Wines highly recommended

ANTIYAL, MAIPO VALLEY 2004
(16.6pts/20)
‘Opulent aroma of cassis, coffee, dark chocolate and spices. Austere minty notes with firm tannins. Well balanced and delicious. From 2008.’ (LW)

Kuyen, Maipo Valley 2005
(15.6pts/20)
‘Full and rich. Raspberry, bacon fat and spice on nose and palate. Long, ripe finish. From 2008.’ (KL)

Although many people would not immediately associate Chile with blended reds, it is undoubtedly one of the country’s strongest and most historic wine styles.

Today, these blends come in a number of different formats. Most prominent is the multi-varietal blend – as tasted here – commonly involving Cabernet and one or other of Syrah, Carmenere or Merlot (though the likes of Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Malbec are becoming increasingly common). Cabernet lends the backbone, where Syrah gives spice and fruit and Carmenere fills out the mid palate. Malbec can give an earthy, grippy texture while Petit Verdot is favoured for its firm tannins and deep colour. Given that Cabernet occupies the lion’s share of the national vineyard – more than a third of total plantings – it’s no surprise to see this as the most common element in many blends.

The Tasters
Beverly Blanning MW, wine writer;
Juan Carlos Rincon, wine journalist;
Keith Lyon, wine sales manager,
Waitrose Canary Wharf; Peter
Richards, wine journalist;
Lilyane Weston, wine writer

Happily, Cabernet has a strong affinity with blending, which softens its structure and imbues it with added complexity. Then there are the multi-regional blends. Chile’s broad-brush Central Valley appellation covers the majority of the country’s vineyards; any wine going under this name can come from any number of sources. This can work from both the most basic level – a hodge-podge of fruit from all over the country for the large-volume blend – to a more refined quality, where careful blending of different regional characteristics helps to create a multi-faceted wine. Two other forms of Chilean red blends worth mentioning are the multi-vintage and field blends. The first is when a small percentage of a previous vintage or vintages are added to a wine – this can be up to 15% in EU markets or 25% in Chile.

(Valdivieso’s Caballo Loco is a self styled ‘Bordeaux solera blend’, an extreme version of this technique.) Field blends have long existed in Chile, the result of mixed vineyards – a legacy of the first colonial planters and the influence of Bordeaux in the 19th century. The classic example would be Merlot and Carmenere, although there are justifiable questions over how much of this interplanting was actually Merlot; the current vineyard total for Merlot (see box, left) is almost certainly exaggerated. This, if anything, proves the point about how important blending has been to Chile historically – its most famous ‘varietal’ wine, Chilean Merlot, was usually a blend. Then there are the mixed plantings of southern Chile, most notably in the dry-farmed vineyards of Maule. These often include the likes of Carignan and Malbec. In recent years there has been a growing interest in not only sourcing this often old-vine fruit for top wines, but also in making field blends (where all the fruit is vinified together) from these mixed vineyards. So far, the results have been promising.

It is worth remembering that even on so-called single varietal wines, current EU regulations state that anything up to 15% of another variety can be added without it being stated on the label. The classic Chilean ploy in this sense, for example, would be to add 10%–15% of Cabernet to backbone. When you look at Chilean reds from this perspective, you realise just how important blending is to its wine industry – and how this can be positive when carefully and responsibly handled. Chile is currently working hard to broaden its palette of red (and white) grapes. Thus it seems inevitable that we will be seeing more and more blended Chilean wines on our shelves. Whether these are blends of varieties, regions or vintages, it bodes well for a Chilean category that is focused on offering ever-increasing diversity for its consumers.

THE FACTS:
Surface area: 116,793ha (hectares)
Main grape varieties: Cabernet
Sauvignon 40,789ha; Merlot 13,368ha;
Carmenere 7,183ha; Syrah 3,370ha;
Cabernet Franc 1,143ha; Malbec 1,027ha;
Petit Verdot 257ha; Mourvèdre 48ha

Chilean red blends: the results

The young, inexpensive wines triumphed in this tasting, with Syrah-dominant blends, particularly from the north, showing their class. ADAM LECHMERE reports

Has Chile finally rid itself of the ‘Volvo of wine’ tag – safe, dependable but dull?
Absolutely. The panel was unanimous in its praise of the wines, particularly the Syrah-dominant blends. They felt all the entries offered great value for money and there was regionality showing in most examples. In short, there was nothing safe or dull about them. Winemakers are really trying to see what the land and grapes could do. Beverley Blanning MW summed up: ‘There’s a lot of creativity in Chilean winemaking.’

What was it about the Syrah-dominant blends that impressed?

Blanning thought Syrah was ‘really exciting in Chile’, and Keith Lyon found all the Syrah-based wines ‘glorious, with dark raspberry coulis flavours and lovely acids’. ‘Syrah is the future,’ he proclaimed. Juan Carlos Rincon said the same: ‘Syrah is a new window of opportunity for Chile.’

Opportunity for what?

Competing with Australia. As the world pulls back from the big, brassy Australian styles, ‘people are looking for cool-climate Syrah’ observed Rincon. ‘This is what Chile is capable of offering: powerful wines but with more moderate alcohol and better- defined acids.’ Rincon’s caveat was that ‘it’s so hard to compete with Australia in Syrah’. While the other panellists agreed, they felt Chile was the only New World country capable of doing so.

Let’s get back to talking about blends.
Was the panel impressed?

Very. Liliane Weston said, ‘If I look at my notes, the more grapes there were in a blend, the higher my marks.’ Chile seems to be coming into its own in this respect.

Weston usually finds that Cabernet Sauvignon on its own lacks ripe fruit, but exudes austerity and structure. Adding, for example, Cabernet Franc gives the wine fresh, floral raspberry elegance on the finish and a wonderful balance. Lyon preferred the lesser-known Bordeaux varieties in blends: ‘Some of the Carmenere-Petit Verdot blends worked really well: Chile seems to have the knack of being able to ripen Petit Verdot.’

THE SCORES:
102 WINES TASTED
Decanter Award 6 Outstanding (18.5–20pts)
Highly recommended 6 Very good to excellent (16.5–18.49pts)
Recommended 71 Good (14.5–16.49pts)
19 Fair (12.5–14.49pts)
0 Poor (10.5–12.49pts)
0 Faulty

The panel split the blind tasting into two days: blends under £10 and over £10.

Were there any surprises?
It was the sub-£10 blends – more-often-than-not the younger, fruitier, less oaky wines – that impressed. Blanning put it neatly: ‘These beautiful, fresh, vibrant wines are the future of Chilean red blends; the older, more expensive wines are the past.’ She said there were big problems with over-oaking in the pricier, older blends, where the fruit was fading in many instances but the oak still dominant. Lyon agreed: ‘The younger wines were the stars.’ Rincon was the only judge with more back-handed praise for the wines under £10, saying these young blends were the kind of wines that ‘British consumers would like to drink with pasta or a barbecue.’

Was there a sense of Chilean regionality in the blends?

Lyon found ‘a sense of place with the Syrah-dominant blends’. Blanning agreed:
‘I was particularly impressed with the wines from Elqui and Limarí.’ Those northern regions also shone for the rest of the panel, with Weston pronouncing: ‘Iwould rather buy one of them than a cru bourgeois.’ Other regions that showed particularly well were Maipo (Weston found the wines ‘elegant’) and Colchagua. But in terms of Chile’s future, the message was clear: look to the north.

Value for money has always been Chile’s USP. Do these blends offer that?

At under £10 the wines were great value – but the panel warned consumers to be careful buying above that mark, as they didn’t think there was necessarily a strong relationship between price and quality. Blanning said: ‘Certainly the more expensive blends tended to be the big oaky wines and, for my money, there aren’t very many of them that are worth their price tags because most had too much oak.’ She added: ‘Sometimes I was tasting and thought “I wouldn’t like to pay £15 for that”, and other times I was thinking, “under £10 – bargain!”’ For Lyon’s money, the ‘shining’ examples were in the £7–£12 bracket, where the wines would suit consumers whose tastes were more to the ‘modern style of elegance with less oak’. The panel advised readers to buy with care if they wanted a Chilean red blend over £15 as the wines were likely to be older, oakier styles, possibly with fading fruit.

So, what can wine lovers conclude from this tasting?

The panel was in agreement that Chile has never looked better in terms of style and range of interesting blends. Syrah- dominant wines in particular were the great hope – and might well pose a challenge to Australia’s dominance of blends featuring their star grape. Is Chile still dependable? Yes – but interestingly so. Pick a £10 Chilean red blend off the shelf and you may well be surprised, but you won’t be disappointed.