A French ambassador for Chilean wine(2)
Intent on starting out with more-affordable wines, Ms. Marnier Lapostolle, who studied accounting at university in Paris, was in France for a company meeting in 1994 when King Midas rang with a question about expenses. “Michel Rolland was in Chile and he called me and he told me, ‘I know it’s not forecasted in the budget, but I think we have a wonderful vat and we need more French barrels.’ ” That vat, containing unusually complex and concentrated juice from a single vineyard parcel in Apalta, was the ideal candidate for extra coddling in new wood barrels, which add vanilla-like nuances and voluptuous texture. (French-oak barrels today cost about $1,000 apiece.) “And this is how Cuvée Alexandre was born.”
Lapostolle now produces three tiers of wine: the entry-level Casa (which includes a cabernet sauvignon and carmenere, both recently launched as regular listings in Ontario at $15.95); Cuvée Alexandre; and Clos Apalta (a single-wine blend of carmenere, merlot, cabernet sauvignon and petit verdot). The Casa wines are decent for the money, but the Cuvée Alexandre offerings, carried occasionally in most provinces, are standouts, with the cabernet 2008 showing textbook flavours of cassis and black olive, with subtle espresso and graphite overtones and considerable but supple, furry tannins.
Chile may be a new kid on the export scene, but it boasts a long history of French expertise. Following the late 1800s, when the phylloxera root louse began devastating European, and later global, vineyards, the country became a haven for out-of-work Bordeaux winemakers. Thanks to climate and the protection of the Andes mountains, Chile was spared. While producers around the world were forced to replant their European varieties on the phylloxera-resistant rootstalks of North American vines (whose grapes are unsuitable for good wine), to this day more than 90 per cent of Chile’s vineyards are planted on natural European root systems.
Ms. Marnier Lapostolle believes those ungrafted vines, which tend to live longer and produce smaller but more concentrated grapes, represent Chile’s greatest asset. They “have more constant quality and also provide better complexity because the roots are going deeper and deeper,” she said.
Dry, disease-curbing weather is another Chilean advantage. The modern introduction of such equipment as temperature-controlled fermentation tanks and hose-drip irrigation, which permits planting on favourable hillsides rather than canal-irrigated valleys, makes for a triple play.
One advantage Chile arguably has lacked, though, is cachet with most serious collectors. Ms. Marnier Lapostolle concedes that earning blue-chip status will take time. But she insists it will come with proof that Chilean wines can age gracefully beyond a decade or so. She also knows that scoring favourable coverage in the media is as critical as wearing the right clothes on the job.
“The press is very important for us because the press can taste the wine and communicate to the consumer,” she said. “So we need to go first with the press.”
Call me complicit.
