Chile Forum

Thought this would certainly get the attention of all the members (well at least most of you).

We have been talking to the small producers (few hectares) in Cauquenes where we delivered aid earlier in the week.

They are telling us that the grapes are ready to be picked, but now they have no one to pick and even if they did they have no way to pay them. The way they normally pick is in a sort of co-op labor sharing. Payment is often made through exchange of gifts like for instance they might butcher a cow and all the families share it, and all the small growers will work together to help on the harvest of the other small growers.

For all of you that like cheap Chilean wine, you should pay close attention. The reason is that those small producers often sell to the big guys, creating lots and lots of good cheap Chilean wine. Often much of the wine you buy for under 10,000 pesos in Chile falls in to this category, and does not really come from just one vineyard but from grapes bought on the open market by the big producers in a region. The more expensive reserve wines tend to come directly from the big label vineyards own vines, but the run of the mill Chilean wine comes from the small guys that say operate under 100 hectares and do not have their own production equipment.

What to do? We don't really know. We are trying to hook them up with the Mayor University in Santiago, as they were looking for a project.

Strawberry picking.

In the UK, it is common for landowners to tax the populous by charging them for the privilege of picking their strawberry crop for them (and taking home what they pick). A nice afternoon out for the kids.

Now of course the winery isn't going to ferment your pickings whilst you wait, but they could trade it for a few bottles coming out the other end of the production line -- just not as many as you put in. An industrious family could come away with several free bottles and the winery would have a few left over to sell, having paid nothing but the crop they otherwise stood to lose.

Lucky we have quite a good stash . Though it won't last till winter at the rate we get through it...

Cheers,

James.

Is this a "buy" tip on Gato futures?

How do you know Charles has not cornered the market with privileged inside information and this announcement is part of the corner?

Trading Places anyone

Wouldn't want to buy a pig in a poke.

I thought about organizing an allchile.net harvest party. Then I realized you guys would wipe out all the wine in the region, and there would be an even greater shortage.

admin,

I am happy to head this effort. I have been working with Cauquenes on this, as it affects me directly and I know they have some payment issues. Since they are Fairtrade certified, I have been in touch with the FT intl organizations to put some of their money back into it.
Our company helped the Fairtrade wine movement in the US get started with Cauquenes research on the topic.
We also work with 3 other FT producers in the Maule region, one of which, Vina Lautaro in Sagrada Familia, lost 6 workers who died when their houses collapsed.

We are working with them all on a daily basis and the need stretches farther. You are indeed correct about how the industry works and I cant tell you how many big name, even Reservas, come from this region with individual Cauquenes producers supplier many other top companies with top grapes.

We have helped them to achieve international fame with a few varietals that are just catching on now that only they produce in this region.

About 2 years we had this thought as well to do the pick your own concept in Chile as its huge in the US now with promoting local farming but never thought people would get into it.
In any case, the response from all of these producers is, keep selling the wine, it will help us more than anything, and thus we are trying to do more.

I'd be more than happy to spend a weekend picking grapes if there was the need/organisation....

I don't understand what happened.

If all the neighbors get together and pick everybody's grapes, what has happened to the neighbors who usually do the picking? They all died? Their grapes all burned to the ground, so they don't have to trade picking labor? They all moved to Santiago, abandoning their fields at harvest time?

The grapes are mostly Pais in the area but the ancient dry bush Carignan are also in the area, MOVI and Garage Wine Co have stepped in to assist many producers in the area, they have several weeks before the harvest must be completed. The grape once harvested will move north to wineries that can handle them.
It looks like 125 million litres or 12.5% of the wine in hand has been destroyed, Torres lost 300 barrels and many tanks, allot of concrete tanks are down and some full stainless tanks collapsed as they were never made for earthquake zones. Many of the old rebuilt adobes wineries didn’t make it through the quake, I know of one small 500,000 lt. winery that is a total write-off . As far north as the Casablanca stacked barrels were down and broken.

We just got a two boxes of wine at our office from Lomas de Cauquenes for the team that helped with the aid (thanks 4heid), and this is serious, serious, high quality wine.

SAVE THE GRAPES!!!

You have no idea what that did for moral.

We are already plotting our next rescue effort, and organizing and army to pick the grapes ourselves is a real possibility.

Sounds like a good outing. Where the heck is Cauquenes anyway? (Consults Google map) Ah, there it is... I haven't been there yet. The map says twice as far to drive as Santiago. Hmmm...

James.

So what can the rest of us do (in the states?)

4heid, tell me what labels to buy to help

Everybody wins!

I checked with a friend who used to be in the wine business, and what she said is very similar to what 4heid wrote...

es normal que los pequeños productores agrícolas (no sólo en Chile) pertenezcan a cooperativas para tener cierto poder de negociación con el comprador
- se da que los compradores cuando son big players, se aprovechan y ofrecen un precio muy cercano al costo de los productores, bajando el precio de todo el mercado de uva para esa cosecha
- los vinos que dicen "estate vineyards" son aquellos que tiene propios viñedos y que por lo tanto controlan calidad
- cuando una viña le compra a la cooperativa, tiene que aceptar uvas de distintos niveles de calidad
- si no hay control de calidad de las uvas que vende una cooperativa, se entiende que esta es materia prima a menor costo
- un ejemplo en chile de buena relacion precio calidad es misiones de rengo, que no tiene viñedos propios, pero que sí trata correctamente la uva una vez comprada

If I understand nwdiver correctly, the problem is that the storage / fermentation vats for the grapes after harvesting are broken, so the need is for transport further north to intact facilities? Or replacement facilities?

I am so happy admin got the wine and I am glad you like it. We have worked with them so long to improve their wine presentation for the external market but the real magic being done there is by their winemaker, Felipe Zuniga.
I will be speaking to him tomorrow and will get a better idea of what needs they really have for the harvest and where to focus our efforts. I will advise shortly.
Unfortunately, what we did have in the USA is sold out and we are trying to reorganize their wines for our next shipment.
They do make a private label for Target called Step by Step of their Sauvignon Blanc as well.


Jehturner, cauquenes is SW of Parral and between Ruta 5 and Pelluhue, which is where I spent my nights while visiting the vineyard, in a cabin overlooking the ocean of which I believe no longer exists.
Its not a place you would ever go to if you didnt know it or had a reason. The other thing they are known for is their Fruit Fair since its the main hub of the Maule region for fruit production. They have great produce in the region and most is organic by nature.

As once described to me by the largest Pais grower, one day the people from Europe came here and told me my grapes were organic, so I said, what do you mean. They went ahead and explained the process and they asked for my thoughts and I said, I never knew it was organic until you told me it was, I never knew any different.
This is an area that was underserved and thus they never had the money to buy agrichemicals for fertilizers, etc.

In Chile, look for the brands, Lomas de Cauquenes and Las Lomas. In the UK, Equality brand, in the USA, Melania, Step by Step and I will advise if I get any more info tomorrow.