Last night someone asked me why I hadn’t explained why we have Chilean wines in our cellar.

So here we go…and as you might expect there is a reason and a story.

Our cellar holdings are majority Napa reds at 86%.  These are followed by single digit percentages of Italian and French wines.  Picking up the final percentage are our wines from Chile.

Why Chile?

In the beginning I stocked these wines from my heart, not from my head.  Only later on did I discover it was a solid combination of both.  I was buying from my heart, but I was also adding some damn fine wines to our cellar.

But again, why Chile?

It began for me back in 1968.  Yes, I imagine some of you reading this weren’t even born yet, but that’s where it starts.  In 1968 there was a lot going on in my life.  Much was negative, some positive.  One of the most positive was having a student via American Field Service (AFS) living with our family for a year.  This student’s name was Juan, he was Chilean, and immediately became the brother I never had.

Following our year together in the US, in 1969 I would spend several months living with him down south in Chile.  That year there was also a lot going on in Chile!  Juan was an active political operative for then presidential candidate, Salvador Allende.  Over those months, Juan and I traversed almost the entire length of Chile as he campaigned, in cities large and small, as well as many remote farming communities for candidate Allende.  We began up north in Antofagasta and didn’t stop until we were past Punta Arenas meeting with workers all the way south in Tierra del Fuego.  It wasn’t all work though.  One of the ‘bourgeois’ stops we made along the way were the vineyards and cellar of the Concha y Toro winery.  I’d never been to a vineyard before, let alone a winery with a cellar as cool as their Casillero del Diablo.  I immediately became a fan of their wines, especially since back in the States I was underage.

Some months after I came back to America, my father arrived home from work and announced he had a call from US Customs out at the airport.  It seemed Juan had sent us a thank you gift in the form of a case of Concha y Toro wine.  The problem was no one had a license to import Concha y Toro at that time so in order to get it my father would have to apply for a license before he could claim this carton.  After much grumbling, it was done and my family had the import license for Concha y Toro!  Unfortunately, my father, after saying ‘believe me Scott, no one will ever want to drink wines from Chile’, let that license lapse!  Ohhh the pain of what could have been!

Juan’s personal story as he struggled to escape the Chilean military after the CIA-instigated coup while one of the most wanted men in Chile is nothing short of astounding.  Unfortunately the coup also ended in the death of Allende, but Juan’s story is for a different time.

It would be years before I’d be meandering the aisles of a State Store either in Ohio or Pennsylvania and happen across a display of Concha y Toro. Naturally, I was delighted to see this old friend in town even if it was priced out of my budget, meaning a bottle cost more than $1.09 as Ripple and its ilk did in those days.

It would be even longer before I starting collecting for our wine cellar in earnest, but during those intervening years my wife and I did buy bottles of Concha y Toro.  It was only after a suggestion by the good folks at 1010 Washington Wine & Spirits I’d learn that in 1987 Concha y Toro had begun to produce a premier Cabernet Sauvignon with the label of Don Melchor (Don Melchor de Concha y Toro being the founder of the original vineyards).  They said it was definitely a superior cabernet, too.  These days Don Melchor has been labeled as the first Chilean super wine, elevating the world’s view of all Chilean wines.  So we began adding several vintages of this to our cellar and are particularly fond of their 2010 vintage!

Now, when you enter our wine cellar and turn left you’ll find a few rows of Chilean wines in our racks, including several of Don Melchor.

Chile is one of those portions of our collection that began in our heart.

It’s the fond memories in every bottle that will continue to keep it there!

Salud!