Peace-making wines
By LYN FARMERWine and politics are far from strangers: Vineyards have been fought over and borders redrawn as a result; wines have toasted treaties and consoled defeat. While there are few examples of wine actually brokering peace, it has played a diplomatic role on both sides of the Andes. A few years ago, Chilean winemaker Aurelio Montes invited a group of wine critics to dinner to try his then-new Syrah, Folly. He suggested we meet at an Argentine restaurant in Miami (Graziano's, a particular favorite of mine), and said, only half in jest, "Wine has made us much better neighbors." He was referring to the historical animosity between Chile and Argentina, a political condition that often mystifies North Americans accustomed to the almost monotonously quiet border between the United States and Canada, the world's longest undefended international border. The 3,180-mile boundary that splits the Andes Mountains between Chile and Argentina has been more problematic.
Even when both were Spanish colonies, there were disputes. Although the two countries formed a joint army in Mendoza as they battled as one for independence during the early 1800s, relations later soured with bitter arguments over claims to Patagonia, now mostly part of Argentina.
It is with no little irony that we can now note Mendoza's part in the improving relations between the countries. Mendoza lies near a crucial pass through the Andes and forms a viable overland link between both nations. In the modern era, trade has smoothed differences that culture and politics previously could not, and over the past 20 years, there have been dramatic improvements in Chilean-Argentine relations. Mendoza is also the center of the Argentine wine industry (see "Mendoza - where wine lovers go" on page 52). It is no coincidence that the same 20-year period of improving relations has been mirrored by significant advances in the wine industries of both.
Vineyard plantings and commercial wine industries have existed in Chile and Argentina since the 1800s, but up until the late 20th century the focus was largely on satisfying domestic consumption, often with mediocre wines. Chile loosened the grip of military dictatorship first and international investors soon moved in, including a number of wine producers looking for promising terroir.
California winemaker Paul Hobbs traveled to Chile in 1988. "I went because I kept hearing it would be the next great thing. I wanted to see what all the fuss was about," he recalled. When he arrived, "I thought Chile had a fabulous climate, but I was nonplused because of the soil and where they were planting." Next he hopped over to Argentina. "They had great potential, but were making terrible wine. You need high-quality grapes, but all these wines were severely oxidized and had no fruit, and there was absolutely no export business."
And neither country had what most of us would consider an international palate. Hobbs had attended UC-Davis with Jorge Catena, whose brother, Nicolas, managed the family-owned winery. Nicolas had spent time in the United States as well and thought there was a great opportunity for creating an export market, but at the time he had nothing worth exporting. Hobbs signed on as a consultant at what has since become the exalted Bodegas Catena Zapata. Hobbs believes Argentina ultimately has greater potential, yet because it started out later than Chile in developing wines for export, it continues to lag a bit.
Evert-Jan Visser, a professor of Economic Geography at the Netherlands' University of Utrecht, a leading expert on Latin American wine production, stressed the importance of exports, noting that "In 1984, just two percent of Chilean wine was sold in international markets. In 2002, this figure amounted to 63 percent." As a result, Chile currently ranks fifth in the international league of wine-exporting countries. The real message of these statistics is that trade is helping the economies of both Chile and Argentina grow substantially, and increased prosperity has led to decreased political tensions between the two countries.
Chile's gains were noted by Argentina and in some ways emulated. And while cooperation between winemakers on both sides of the Andes has become commonplace, the lay of the land is quite different: Argentina's best vineyards are primarily high-altitude plantings while the brunt of Chile's wine prowess lies in its fertile valleys and on gentler slopes.
"In the 1990s, I began finding wines in Argentina that I loved," recalled Chile's Montes. With business partner Douglas Murray, Viñas Montes made a commitment to what Montes calls "The best from both sides of the Andes." The tagline graces the front label of Kaiken bottlings, a winery Montes conceived to take advantage of Argentina's strengths and perhaps a subtle political statement as well. "Kaikenes are wild geese in Patagonia that crisscross the region without regard to the borders," he noted. Like nearly every Argentine winery, Kaiken makes Malbec, as well as Cabernet Sauvignon.
Yet no one in Argentina took the malbec grape seriously until Hobbs and his team at Catena bottled a small quantity of it and later offered a sample to some visiting American journalists. "They loved it," he recalls. Hobbs believes the resulting press the tasting generated launched Malbec. Catena subsequently created the Alamos label and released a 1994 vintage Malbec that became a success in the States. "It's ironic, but it took much longer for the grape to catch on in Argentina than in the U.S.," he adds. Today Malbec is the engine powering the rapid growth in the country's wine industry; last year, exports reached $498 million, an increase of nearly 30 percent over the year before.
Hobbs is doing his part to drive those figures higher. He founded Viña Cobos in the Perdriel district of Mendoza and released the first wines from the 2002 vintage. Its portfolio includes attractively priced Chardonnay, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and, of course, Malbec ($19 each). Hobbs thought it was time to create an ultraprestige cuvée as Catena had done with Alta and Nicolas Catena Zapata (the first release of the latter was priced at $95). Hobbs now has two high-end wines to his credit as well: Cobos uNico, a Bordeaux blend; and Cobos Malbec. Both are made in limited quantities of less than 500 cases from estate grapes grown in the Marchiori Vineyard. Priced at $150 and $165, respectively, they set new South American benchmarks for price and scarcity.
A generation ago, the concept of luxury wines from either Argentina or Chile would have been as hard to accept as the notion of one producer making wine in both countries. Now, several ventures span the Andes: Montes is the best known and, to my mind, the best; yet Concha y Toro's Trivento property and Doña Paula, a new Santa Rita venture, are making waves, too. A burgeoning wine tour industry also crosses the border - another sign that wine has paved the road of peace through the Andes, giving us some great bottles to contemplate along the way.
Senior Editor Lyn Farmer received the 2003 James Beard Journalism Award for magazine writing and was also nominated for the award in 2004 and 2007.