SANTIAGO — It was a three-course dinner in a reputed Santiago restaurant, El Toro, washed down with Chilean wines and an entertaining and instructive interview with a local wine expert. Before the end, diners stood up and vowed loyalty, hands on their hearts, to Chile’s colors — which meant, in this case, its red and white wines.
This was one of the dinners hosted last April by New York chef Paul Grieco, owner of Terroir, an eatery known for a carefully curated wine list that has won it praise, and prizes, in that capital of cosmopolitan living. These were in turn part of the Terroir Pop-Up Chile initiative to promote Chilean wines in highly competitive markets, highlighting both the excellent value of Chile’s more affordable brands and the quality of its premium-range production. It was organized by Wines of Chile, an association of growers and their partners.
Grieco’s fascination for Chile began with a casual conversation in a bar, when he was told its per capita consumption of wine had fallen in spite of the quality of its wines. He had to do something, he thought. He later told the press in Santiago that he already loved Chile’s wines before arriving, as he knew the people who made them and the varied terroirs, that are the climate and terrain in which they worked.
There was no reason, he said, why Chile should be a second-division player in the wine world.
China and Japan success
The United States is of course a choice market, but highly competitive both for the presence of the world’s best wines and its own production, in California. What it needs then is to appreciate the traditional value of Chilean winemaking, which means improving “the perception of Chilean wines, not just as accessible but also high-quality products, especially in the premium segment (costing above a bottle),” says Angélica Valenzuela, commercial director of Wines of Chile, speaking to América Economía.
Branding and perception are crucial, especially in upmarket competition.
Chilean wines have done well in other markets, including Brazil (No. 1 in market share), China (No. 2), Japan (No. 1 in sales volume). The United States rose to become their third export market, earning them just over 19% of total export value (or .5 million), and second for volume (just over 31%) by mid 2024. Recent figures showed a year-on-year increase of almost 40% in the volume of wine exports, measured in crates, even if the average crate price was 9% lower than in July 2023.
Chile has been doing well then in quantitative terms, with Brazil in particular importing more than one million crates of its wine in July 2024, though with narrowed profit margins. Which is why branding and perceptions are crucial, especially in upmarket competition.
Grieco’s promotional tour in Chile typically consisted not just of wining and dining, but also production of English-language audiovisual content for the U.S. market. This included conversations with specialists on some of the country’s most familiar brands, like Concha y Toro, Viña Montes, Viña Santa Rita and Viña Errazuriz.
Affluent Indian consumers
Increasingly-affluent India is another big market. In late August, the government organized a commercial mission to India, called Chile Summit India, with sectors and groups including Wines of Chile attending more than 20 meetings and events in two Indian cities.
Valenzuela said the main issues in India were both promoting the Chilean brand, but also cutting tariffs that begin with a 150% national importation tax, plus other regional and local taxes. She said Chile would have to negotiate an inclusive commercial treaty, similar to one it has with Indonesia, to include gradual cuts in tariffs and taxes on an increasing range of products including wine.
Brands are making India a focus of their export growth plans.
Ideally, she said, it might reach a similar agreement to one signed between India with one Chile’s main wine competitors, Australia, which negotiated a five-year elimination of taxes on some of its premium wines sent to India. That, she said, “would protect the Indian wine industry a little,” while allowing Chile’s wines a foot in the door.
Both for its population and rising GDP, and for sputtering growth rates in China, a gigantic market for luxury products, brands are not waiting, and making India a focus of their export growth plans. There is a clear interest here in consuming Western products, and “women are coming into wine consumption,” Valenzuela said.
Carmenere is one of the grapes she wishes to promote in particular. It is a variety rediscovered in Chile some 30 years ago and now becoming associated with Chile alongside the traditional Cabernet Sauvignon. “It’s a variety that goes well with Indian food. In fact we found this out in England four years ago,” she said, “We had food tastings combined with Carmenere. It worked out amazingly with curries and typical Indian dishes.”
