Description

Welcome to my fifth and latest Chile report. For a whole host of reasons, this report features the most diverse and exciting line-up of wines I’ve ever tasted from Chile. It includes everything from orange wines to Italian white blends, cool climate Pinot Noirs to toothsome Carignans, old-vine Cinsaults to world-class Cabernet Sauvignon-based cuvées.

The 1,142 wines I tasted for this report were sampled over a period of five weeks in London in February and March 2021, accompanied by 51 Zoom calls with producers. One of the few advantages of tasting in London is that I was able to compare some of the top wines against each other with the help of both my Coravin and super sommelier, Christophe Papis, as well as being able to use my own wine glasses. It was a small compensation, but a welcome one.

As ever, I have named my star wineres and winemakers of the year, with 119 wines scoring over 95 points, another record for Chile. This is the chance for me to acknowledge not just the well-known and, in some cases, legendary winemakers, but also the rising stars of the future.

The report runs to 185 pages and is, I hope, the definitive overview for English-speaking fans of Chilean wine.