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CHILI AFTER THE EARTHQUAKE: NEWS FROM THE WINE REGIONS
UPDATE MARCH 5:
NEW:
USA Today (USA) via El Diario del Vino – Ricardo E. Brizuela:
- Viña Montgras (Patricio Middleton, Colchagua): some damages, estimation: 30.000 liters wine lost.
- Viña Bisquertt (Jaime Araya, Colchagua): severe damages, estimation: 20.000 liters of red wine lost.
NEW:
Via Mosto (Daniel Greve & Álvaro Duque):
- Casa Marín (Leyda): everyone OK, but Casona de Lo Abarca leveled. Little loss in wine.
- Casas del Bosque: no real damages, only 5.ooo liters of wine lost.
- Veramonte (Casablanca): 100.000 liters of wine lost and 500 barriques. No damages in the vineyards.
- William Cole: everyone OK. Insignificant loss of wine, only some bottles in the office.
- Garage Wine Co. / William Fevre (Maipo Alto): everyone OK. Insignificant losses of wine.
- Santa Rita (Maipo): Big damages, estimation: 9 million liters of wine lost from stainless steel tanks.
- Undurraga (Maipo): damages, estimation: 1,5/2 million liters of wine. 10% less capacity of vinification for 2010.
- Cousiño Macul (Maipo): everyone OK, not so much damages, little loss of bottled wine.
- Cono Sur (Colchagua): some material damages, no casualties.
- Montgras (Colchagua): everyone OK, some damages, little loss of wine.
- Montes (Colchagua): damages at the Santiago office and in Apalta. Hard to estimate already.
- Bisquertt (Colchagua): structural damages, wine loss.
- Viña Siegel (Colchagua, Santa Cruz): winery totally leveled, everything lost.
- Viu Manent: some damages, estimation: 1 million liters of wine lost.
- Viñedos Orgánicos Emiliana: damages at bodega Las Palmeras, estimation: 3 million liters of wine lost.
- Viña Santa Cruz: little damages.
- Los Vascos: damages mentioned, no real estimation yet.
- Viña Aresti (Curicó): no structural damages, little loss in wine.
- Viña Gillmore (Maule): Francisco Gillmore double affected, his sister died, 20% loss of wine.
- Clos Ouvert (Cauquenes, Maule): big damages, estimation 70% loss of wine in barriques and tanks.
- MOVI (Movimiento de Viñateros Independientes): wine loss in Polkura; little damages in Erasmo but some casualties among the workers; some wine loss at Rukumilla; broken barriques at Flaherty.
- VIA WINES (> Oveja Negra …): some damages to the irrigation system, some damages in the cellars (tanks and barriques).
- Viña Carta Vieja: very little damages.
- Viñedos Córpora (Bio Bio, Rapel, Aconcagua… = Porta, Gracia, Veranda, Agustinos…): no real damages.
***
UPDATE MARCH 4:
The Gardian (UK) Via El Diario del Vino – Ricardo E. Brizuela:
- Viña Morandé (Pablo Morandé Jr. ): damages, stainless steel tanks and barriques, estimation: 2,5 million liters lost, about 10% of the production.
- Viñedos Emiliana (Bodega Las Palmeras): damages, estimation: 2,8 million litres lost.
***
UPDATE MARCH 3:
- Santa Rita (Maria Cecilia Pino, oenologist): No casualties, big damages.
- Hacienda Araucano – François Lurton (Luca Hodgkinson, technical manager & oenologist): “I was personally very lucky, my house fell to pieces while I was working at the Argentinean Lurton cellar. We didn’t lose much wine, we were very lucky.”
Via Brandabout, Jane Nisbet Huseby:
- Montes (Colchagua): damages reported.
- Santa Carolina: damages reported, offices and old bodega in Santiago.
- San Pedro: damages reported.
- Cono Sur: damages reported.
- MontGras: damages reported.
Via El Diario del Vino – Ricardo E. Brizuela:
- Viña Baron Philippe de Rothschild (Maipo Valley): No casualties, everyone OK. Some structural damages. 70% of the stainless steel tanks slightly damaged but very little loss of wine. Working again as normal as possible.
- Francisco Gillmore (Vitacura): No casualties, but enormous material damages.
Via James Molesworth Blog:
- Agricola La Viña / Sagrada Familia Curicó: “Millions of liters are on the floor [...] bottles are everywhere. Most tanks are collapsed [...] No idea where the 2010 harvest will go. [...] Big, big damage to the industry.”
- J. Bouchon Winery: Lots of problems with the Bouchon bodega. We lost several tanks with wine and there’s no electricity. Beautiful old winery is destroyed (< Decanter)
- Casa Lapostolle (Colchagua): Clos Apalta facility on the hillside was not damaged. Many vats, barrels and bottles lost at the older facility on the flat land.
Via Decanter, Adam Lechmere and agencies
- Errazuriz, Eduardo Chadwick (Aconcagua): “Every one safe and well” Opening of new Don Maximiano Icon Winery postponed until November, as a matter of solidarity.
- O.Fournier Group (Maule): “No casualties” says chairman José Manuel Ortega. But an enormous challenge just before the harvest.
- Miguel Torres (Curicó): “Significant damages” [...] around 300 casks smashed, 1 stainless steel vat cracked, with 100.000 liters inside, thousands of bottles destroyed… Luckily the main structure of the buildings withstood the quake.
***
UPDATE MARCH 2:
- Vocero de Viña Los Vascos (Colchagua) via El Diario del Vino de Ricardo E. Brizuela: Many people did not work today (Monday), and before everything else, we want to help the most affected ones. The insurance company comes tomorrow (Tuesday) and then, the big cleaning work will start… Everyone works very hard and we will do all we can for this harvest.
- Antonio Larraín (Gerente general Corporación Chilena del Vino) via El Diario del Vino de Ricardo E. Brizuela: We can already enter 200 million liters of wine less in our books.
- Gerardo Arteaga (Presidente de la Corporación Chilena del Vino) highlights of an interview in Diario El Mercurio (thanks to Ricardo E. Brizuela):
- Severe damages for the wine industry in the central zone, affecting the wines already produced and stocked in the wineries, as well as the vineyards and the buildings.
- An overview of the total damages of the wine industry and the way this will affect the coming harvest will be published as soon as possible.
- Three main problems: the loss of huge amounts of wine in the wineries (especially from big stainless steel tanks), the loss of the whole harvest of grapes in pergola (parrones) style vineyards, the destruction of typical adobe style wineries and houses.
- The most affected wine regions seem to be VI (O’Higgins, capital Rancagua) and VII (Maule, capital Talca). But it will take many days before we can have enough overview to confirm it.
- The harvest of white grapes should begin half march. There is no much more than 30 days left to find a temporary solution for the harvest of red grapes. But as long as we do not know the real damages, we just can not say so much about it. A big problem will be to find enough people to harvest, and the way to feed, accommodate and pay them!
- There is no insurance covering the damages of an earthquake or tsunami, nor the loss of grapes in pergola (parrones) vineyards. Many wineries will have huge financial problems. A first estimation is that about 20% of the stainless steel tanks filled with wine might have been lost. That would mean a total financial loss in wine of about 600 millions USD! (±814 million EURO!)
via El Diario del Vino de Ricardo E. Brizuela:
- Viña Concha y Toro, biggest wine producer and exporter of Chile: many vineyards and wineries badly damaged. Production and sending stopped. The main road is destroyed, the harbours are damaged…
- Casas Patronales: fortunately no damage, neither in the vineyards nor in the cellars. No electricity yet. Awaiting to start again.
- Familia Córpora, VC Family Estates (Aconcagua, Maipo, Cachapoal, Colchagua, Bio Bio): fortunately no damage or personal loss. Using an electricity generator. Working normally again.
***
NEWS MARCH 1:
- Alejandra Inda F. (Gerencia Ruta del Vino de Curico): Really, what we are now living is a nightmare, I just can’t yet processed this disaster. The whole antique architecture of Curicó, the adobe houses, is gone. All the old owners family houses and antique wineries have severe damages. This is an irreparable historical loss. We lost Don Osvaldo Correa, father of our manager Sebastian Astaburuaga (Viña Correa Albano), victim of this natural disaster. He was one of the representative members of the Wine road of Curicó Valleys. After this earthquake, there is always a before and an after, Curicó, Santa Cruz and Lolol will have to start all over again, to stand up and rebuilt everything. At this moment we do not have more information about the wineries, the communication is very bad.
If you have any information about specific wine regions of Chile, about specific wineries… please send me and e-mail!
¡Muchisimas gracias, y mucho ánimo!
Stay tuned on this page, it will be updated as soon as I have more news…
Comments
Christian, Great list of the details. You have done good work.
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