Bringing Boutique to the Big Time: Viña Carmen's Ana Maria Cumsillé

Chile is an amazing country for wine lovers. It has a vine growing area nearly 1000 kilometers in length with three distinct zones from West to East - a cool Coastal Region on the Pacific, a warm Central Valley and in the east of the country, the foothills of the Andes Mountains. Altitude can give respite from the Central Valley's heat, so there is nearly every climate possible somewhere in this fertile country.

Chile has for decades been a major wine exporter and has developed a wine industry aimed at international demand. It is often said that in Chile, wineries are either very small or very large without much of a middle ground. Viña Carmen in the Maipo Valley, an hour's drive from Santiago, embodies a bit of both approaches. It is a relatively large winery but it wants a boutique feel. For that reason, two years ago they named a new winemaker, Ana Maria Cumsillé, who had considerable experience at small artisanal wineries. She was invited to bring that boutique experience to the resources at Viña Carmen and now that we are beginning to see the first wines crafted entirely by her, it's possible to see just how well the partnership is working.

Talking with Postcards in a Glass host Lyn Farmer, Ana Cumsillé explained her approach to wines and especially her love of the terroirs with which she is able to work. Viña Carmen not only owns vineyards that have considerable age, Ana is also purchasing grapes from some of the small growers she worked with in her boutique days and this is giving her a wonderfully diverse portfolio.

The Carmenère grape is often considered Chile's signature variety and it was at one of Carmen's vineyards that the grape was "discovered." It had for years been mistaken for Merlot even though it ripens two or three weeks later than Merlot. Chilean growers would talk about Merlot and "Late Merlot," until the identification error was cleared up 30 years ago. You would think having been the site where the identification was made would prompt Carmen to make Carmenère the focus of their program, but in fact Ana Cumsillé says Cabernet Sauvignon is where her focus really lies (though she does make wonderful Carmenère, Cabernet Franc and several other varieties as well).

In this conversation, she talks about her approach to winemaking, the challenges of moving from boutique wineries to one of the bigger players, her joy in working with terroirs in Alta Jahuel, Apalta and the old vineyards of Itata and Maulé. It's a wide ranging discussion, and if it makes you thirsty, by all means take a look at Carmen's well designed website at www.carmen.com