News bulletin from a quick trip to Chile . . . First impressions: astonishment at how shiny-new the wine industry seems, even though it has been here for 150 years; amazement at the level of investment; wonder at so much youthful dynamism - Chile's hotshot winemakers look even younger than the gardai are beginning to look at home. Then, pleasure in the wines, which just get better and better.
"Seventy per cent of the wine is already made in the vineyards," says Sergio Cuadra, one of the 13 winemakers at Concha y Toro, Chile's biggest producer. The vineyard's 3,000 hectares of vines put it among the most sizeable such holdings in the world. "Our job is just not to mess it up. With good quality grapes we can do good things. With bad grapes we can't - we're not magicians."
Pointing in the direction of vigorous Maipo Valley vines, he is articulating a view currently echoed by winemakers everywhere. Better vineyards equal better wine. But new technology doesn't half help. And there's nothing like being on the spot to gain a blinding insight into the scale of change. The cellars are the size of jumbo aircraft-hangars, lined with row upon row of giant, gleaming, steel fermentation tanks. Concha y Toro has invested $100 million in its plants over the past six years. It is the only Chilean winery listed on the New York stock exchange and it is now involved in developing a joint-venture flagship wine with Baron Philippe de Rothschild. A few miles to the southwest but still in the Maipo - the section of Chile's Central Valley that brings vineyards shockingly close to bustling Santiago's southern suburbs - is Carmen's. Here, the winemaker, Alvaro Espinoza, is beating the same drum. Better viticulture. Good grapes, less grief. But what's that noise of hammering in the background? Carmen is in the process of acquiring a whole new winery with top-of-the-range equipment. Just across the way is its mother company, Santa Rita. It was in Santa Rita's old cellars that Chile's half-Irish liberator, Bernardo O'Higgins, once took refuge. Now, they are the only place to escape the noise and mud created by extensive reconstruction ($27 million split between new winery and new vineyards). North of Santiago, the Aconcagua Valley is a lush, green surprise after miles of bare Andean foothills. Here, the investment continues. At Errazuriz, winemaker Ed Flaherty, strolling out in straw hat and shorts, leads a mini-inspection of well-tended vineyards, pointing out the various blocks earmarked for his top Cabernets. Inside the plant, beyond the fine, old house dating from 1870, with its heavy beams and tall, panelled doors, is the by-now familiar flash of silver - the gleam of a squeaky-clean new winery. This has mainly come about since the announcement of a joint venture between Errazuriz's sister company, Caliterra, and leading Californian producer Mondavi.
Errazuriz president Eduardo Chadwick, a direct descendant of the founder, explains the current position: "We've no plans to grow aggressively in volume - we've done that. The next stage is to position our reserva wines in the marketplace."
He may have been referring only to Errazuriz and Caliterra, but his assessment of how things stand might be applied on a broader front. The most important thing I brought home from visits to five major Chilean companies is the conviction that, good as the good-value wines we already know and love are, it's the newer, classier bottlings that hold the real excitement.
The message is simple. If you've enjoyed Chilean wine at £5.99-£6.99 (and who hasn't?), step up to the next level. For just a pound or two more you'll be rewarded with a huge leap in quality, where you can savour the difference in more alluring, complex, interesting tastes.
The list below is only the sketchiest of pointers to a selection of high-calibre Chilean wines which we'll soon see expanding. Look out, for instance, for the Trio reds from Concha y Toro, due in a few months' time, and for more examples of the new Mondavi-influenced Caliterra after its April relaunch here. The best news of all is that Chile's push towards higher quality is still only in the baby phase. Like curious toddlers investigating everything at once, the newest crop of viticulturalists and winemakers is busy trying to determine which pockets in the country's long chain of valleys are best for which grapes, and planting accordingly. Progress is swift: Casablanca Valley near the coast at Valparaiso - the area now credited as the source of the best whites - didn't have any vines at all five years ago.
Included in the nursery plantings are some of the more unusual grape varieties. Everything is under consideration, from Pinot Noir, Syrah and Sangiovese to lush Carmenere, also known as Grande Vidure - a native grape, often confused with Merlot in the vineyards but now poised to stand up for itself. Added to this varietal probing is experimentation with new oak, both French and American, and ongoing efforts to keep improving the very top wines - Concha y Toro's muscular Don Melchor, Errazuriz's luscious Don Maximiano, Santa Rita's dense, rich Casa Real.
Where does it all leave us Irish consumers? Lucky, I'd say, to have proved ourselves such enthusiastic imbibers of Chilean wine to date that we stand a good chance of being supplied with plenty of enticing examples of Chile's new generation, premium wines. Lucky, you might even say, not to be in Chile, where local preferences for bulk wine can make it fiendishly difficult, in restaurants and bars, to procure a decent bottle. That's my excuse, anyway, for falling for pisco sours.
Chile's hottest
White
Carmen Sauvignon Blanc Reserva 1996 (McCabes, Higgins Clonskeagh, O'Donovans Cork, Lynchs Glanmire, McCambridges and Vineyard Galway and other outlets, usually about £8.49).
From the cool (in every sense) Casablanca Valley, one of the most stylish Sauvignons coming out of Chile, deliciously fresh but with lingering tropical fruit flavours. And the 1997 is even better . . .
Caliterra Chardonnay Reserva 1996 (McCabes, Redmonds, Thomas's Foxrock, Dublin Wine Co, Malahide, Lynchs Glanmire, O'Briens Skibbereen, Terrys Limerick, Vineyard Galway, Greenacres Wexford and other outlets, £10.29-£10.59).
Another Casablanca beauty - 50 per cent barrel-fermented for a touch of buttery, spicy richness, but overall it is elegant and restrained.
Red
Explorer Cabernet Sauvignon-Syrah, Conchay Toro 1996 (Duffys Terenure, Cooneys Harolds Cross, McCabes, Cheers Malahide, Londis Malahide, Redmonds, Higgins Clonskeagh, usually £7.99).
Not a reserva-level wine, but fascinating and tasty evidence of an innovative approach to non-traditional grapes. Syrah is rare in Chile, but here it gives terrific, peppery richness with hints of coffee and herbs to a Cabernet base.
Santa Rita Reserva Merlot 1995 (Foleys Cabinteely, Duffys Terenure, McCabes, Savages Swords, Greenacres Wexford and other outlets, £7.99-£8.49).
Santa Rita is on form with an array of succulent, quality reds. This reserva Merlot stands out for its soft, lush, full-flavoured style (which winemaker Andres Ilabaca ascribes to a bit of Carmenere in the blend) - but there's plenty of acidity to keep it lively.
Marques de Casa Concha Merlot, Concha Y Toro, 1995 (McCabes, Redmonds, Verlings, Deveneys Dundrum, Higgins Clonskeagh, Thomas's Foxrock, SuperValu Raheny, O'Donovans Cork, Old Stand Mullingar and other outlets, £8.59-£8.99).
Another really impressive reserva Merlot, crying out for a wider audience. See bottle of the week.
Carmen Grande VidureCabernet Reserve 1995 (outlets as for Carmen Sauvignon Blanc above, £9.49-£9.99).
Something completely different: Grande Vidure (also known as Carmenere), the grape which could become Chile's speciality in the same way that Malbec is Argentina's. It's big and voluptuous, with firm structure underneath coming from a substantial whack of Cabernet.
Errazuriz Cabernet Sauvignon Reserva 1995 (Vintry Rathgar, Redmonds, The Bird Flanagan, Galvins Cork, also Oddbins, usually £10.40-£10.99).
Errazuriz is the only major producer to argue that its home territory, the Aconcagua Valley, produces Cabernets of unrivalled intensity. The reserva makes the case eloquently. Smooth and very opulent, with concentrated cassis, liquorice and coffee overtones and a long finish.