WASHINGTON: There’s a minor earthquake underway over in the South America section of your local wine shop.
Some of the tremors are from the Old World’s tectonic plate brushing up against the New World’s.
Some of the tremors are from growing pains of a still-emerging region.
And some of the tremors are from a new generation of winemakers shaking the dust from their well-traveled boots and settling back home again.
No need for you to worry about these tremors. In fact, they’ll turn out to benefit you (the consumer) in the end.
Established players like Chile and Argentina, buffered and challenged by neighboring upstarts Uruguay and Brazil, are charting new courses and reinforcing others as their wine industries evolve and mature.
Here are ten quick facts to get you oriented to the changing face of South American wine, and ten recommended wines to follow.
Ten countries in South America produce wine.
- A full 24% of U.S. wine imports come from Argentina and Chile.
- Upwards of 80% of Argentina’s population have roots in Europe, often in the major wine producing countries of Italy, Spain, and France. Argentina’s wine industry is like a bridge between the Old World of Europe and the New World of South America.
- The Bordelais were in many cases the “teachers” when vineyards and wineries in South America were first established in the 19th century. Their influence — in clones, varietals, trellising, and winemaking style — still reverberates.
- Some French varietals like Cabernet Sauvignon and Sauvignon Blanc predominate plantings, but lesser-known grapes like País, Tannat, and Carménère receive growing attention for their individuality of expression locally.
- Chile contains the second largest concentration of women winemakers in the world.
- A turning point for the Chilean wine industry came in 1989, when its exports increased by about 60% over the previous year, another 50% in 1990, and a further 50% on top of that in 1991.
- Today it’s the hunt for new terroirs, in locations considered impossible for quality production 20 years ago, that’s driving Chile’s experimental and adventurous mindset.
- Keep an eye out for sparkling wines from Brazil. (Yes, Brazil!) Of all Brazilian fine wine sales, 45% are sparkling.
- Uruguay is hanging its hat on Tannat — which comprises about 60% of its red plantings — while 20% of all of that small country’s fine wine grapes are white, led by Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc.
