[August 08, 2011] Wine: Chile's Undurraga family back in wine business Tweet Aug 08, 2011 (McClatchy Newspapers - McClatchy-Tribune News Service via COMTEX) -- Chile's pioneering Undurraga family has been in the wine business since Francisco Undurraga planted his first vines in the foothills of the Andes Mountains in 1885. By the 1980s, it was one of Chile's biggest producers and most popular exporters to the United States. By 2005 it was making 1.5 million cases a year. But when the fifth generation came along in the 2000s, there were 12 brothers and sisters, only four of whom were really interested in the grape. So the family board voted to sell the business in 2005. It left family patriarch Alfonso Undurraga and sons Alfonso, Max and Cristobal with pockets full of money and great wine reputations but nothing to do. "For the first time in our lives we were out of wine," says the younger Alfonso Undurraga, co-owner. "We were lost." So they started not one, but two new wineries, both in Chile's cool Colchagua area, both now entering the U.S. market. One of them is Terrapura, making value-priced wines in the $10 range, aiming at 300,000 cases within five years. The second is Vina Koyle, making premium to super-premium wines in the modest $17-to-$25 range, aiming for 30,000 cases. Terrapura's wines are made in the international "fruit-forward" style with little oak aging, focusing on tasting like the grapes from which they are made, Undurraga says. Vina Koyle's wines aim for greater elegance and complexity, with aging in French oak barrels, giving the terroir _ the area in which they are made _ its chance to influence the flavors. Both wines are made in the Colchauga, Curico and Maipo areas of Chile, about 100 miles south of Santiago in the low foothills of the Andes at altitudes of 1,200 to 1,600 feet, seeking the cooler weather and more powerful sun at relatively high altitudes. Both wines aim at crisp acids, light-to-medium body and restrained levels of alcohol, making them easy to drink with food, more likely to persuade the diner to order a second glass. "It's better to sell three bottles than one," Undurraga says. ___ Highly recommended: 2007 Koyle Cabernet Sauvignon Royale, Alto Colchauga, Chile (85 percent cabernet sauvignon, 13 percent malbec, 2 percent carmenere): a classic bordeaux-style red wine with complex flavors of cassis, black plum and bitter chocolate, full body and bright acids; a great steak wine; $26. 2007 Koyle Syrah, Maipo and Colchauga, Chile (87 percent syrah, 13 percent carmenere): opaque purple color, hint of oak, flavors of black raspberries and spice, hearty, creamy, long finish; $17. Recommended: 2007 Koyle Cabernet Sauvignon, Maipo and Colchauga, Chile (88 percent cabernet sauvignon, 12 percent carmenere): hint of oak, flavors of black raspberries and milk chocolate, soft tannins, long finish; $17. 2010 Terrapura Sauvignon Blanc, Central Valley, Chile: light and crisp, with tart pear and green melon flavors; $10. 2009 Terrapura Merlot, Central Valley, Chile: light body, very dry, black raspberry flavors, firm tannins; $10. 2009 Terrapura Cabernet Sauvignon, Central Valley: classical cab flavors of cassis and licorice, light and fruity, spicy finish; $10. ___ (c) 2011, The Miami Herald. Visit The Miami Herald Web edition on the World Wide Web at http://www.miamiherald.com/. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]