Your humble narrator recently attended a fundraiser hosted by the Chilean Canadian Community Association in Calgary, in support of the terrible wildfires burning in Chile.
The seasons in Chile are basically the reverse of Alberta, so they are currently in the midst of the summer wildfire season.
Chile is no stranger to forest fires, but a long drought and unseasonably high temperatures turned the forests into tinder this year, resulting in the worst forest fires in Chilean history. With over a million acres aflame, many century-old vineyards have been decimated or entirely destroyed.
After making a donation to the Chilean Red Cross, your humble narrator went straight to my friendly neighbourhood booze merchant and bought a case of Chilean wine, in just a small token of support for those noble vintners that have lost their livelihood.
The Chilean wine industry did not exist prior to the arrival of the Spanish Conquistadores in the 1500s, who brought European vine clippings with them to the new world.
Since the natives had no history of wine consumption, the biggest demand for wine came from the Catholic Church, who needed wine for the religious ceremonies held to convert the heathens. How many of the locals just went through the motions for a free glass of wine is left as an exercise for the reader.
Since Chile was a Spanish colony until the 1800s, there was governmental pressure for Chile to avoid competing with the Spanish wine industry, so most Chilean wines were consumed domestically.
Wealthy landowners in Chile had been planting vineyards for decades, but were churning out mediocre wine until the Phylloxera blight of 1863 that destroyed most of Europe’s vineyards. With their vineyards in ruin, many French winemakers brought their expertise to Chile, marking the beginning of their modern wine industry.
The growth of the Chilean wine industry was stunted by high taxes and political instability until the 1980s, when the world turned its eye on Chilean wine. Rapid advances in technology and local expertise soon turned Chile into the world’s fifth largest wine exporter. Not bad for a country shaped like a toothpick!
It was during this period that the Carménère grape varietal appeared on the scene. Or, to be more accurate, re-appeared on the scene. The wine industry was aware that Chilean Merlot was unique the world over, but everyone thought the differences were due to climate.
It wasn’t until 1994 that genetic testing revealed that the supposed Merlot vines were actually a different French varietal called Carménère, which had been thought extinct after the Phylloxera blight destroyed all the Carménère vines in Europe.
This discovery finally answered the mystery behind Chilean Merlots having such a rich and superior taste – they were actually up to 50% Carménère the whole time!
Genetically, Carménère grape is a cloned offshoot of either Merlot or Cabernet Sauvignon. It looks very similar to a Merlot grape, which explains why they were inadvertently gathered and processed along with the Merlot grapes for hundreds of years.
For reasons unknown, the Phylloxera blight never reached Chile. Despite the Carménère varietal having its origins as a noble grape from the Bordeaux region of France, it is now universally recognized as the signature grape of Chile, similar to the way Australia has claimed Shiraz as their own.
With their warm climate and long growing season, the Carménère is particularly well suited to Chile, as it tends to take longer to ripen than its Merlot cousin.
Don’t think that the Chilean wine industry is a one-grape pony. Heavens, no! Most of the noble grapes from France have done particularly well in Chile, especially the Merlot and Cab Sauv varietals.
The white wine varietals don’t do quite as well in Chile, as they prefer a slightly cooler climate. That’s generally fine with wine snobs like your intrepid liquor columnists, as we tend to poo-poo the white wine drinkers anyhow.
While the US and UK are Chile’s largest export markets for bottled wine, Canada is their largest export market for bulk wine. This means we Canucks buy up entire shipping containers of bulk wine and either bottle it ourselves under private branding arrangements, or use the vaguely misleading “Cellared in Canada” label on the bottle, which omits the country of origin of the grapes.
Help out the struggling vintners of Chile by picking up a bottle of Chilean wine today!
