The English magazine dedicated space to exploring Marcelo Papa’s view of the Chilean wine industry.
Andrew Catchpole, the editor of international magazine Harpers Wine & Spirit, interviewed Marcelo Papa, technical director of Concha y Toro, to discuss the national wine scene and how the future of wine in our country looks.
In the interview, Marcelo mentioned the important focus the winery -and Marques de Casa Concha- has placed on exploring new valleys and finding the most appropriate place to extract the potential from each planted vine. Marcelo added the importance of highlighting the wines’ place of origin by letting the site do the talking.
Regarding the future of the Chilean wine industry, Marcelo Papa emphasizes the importance of thinking not only about climate (in the face of the common belief that it is moving southwards in search of similar environments) but also the soil.
“If we want to continue growing Cabernet Sauvignon, we will have to be very smart about moving to the south. The wines will have more power, black fruit, more tension, but they won’t have the smoothness and roundness of Maipo,” says Papa. So, if you want to think about viticulture in the next 50 years, you have to think about a completely different style of wine, as the soils will change. “It’s a very complex balance. As winemakers, we have some tools to move the dial in style, but the terroir, in the end, is the terroir”.
