Patricio Tapia
The first edition of this guide was the Descorchados 1999, so technically, we have been in the market for 20 years. In the beginning we reviewed just 600 wines, all from Chile, but we have since expanded to cover more than 4,500 wines from four countries, and we now publish in several languages. And even though the guide is more international now, the idea has always been the same—to offer the widest possible panorama of what is happening with the wines from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay. And many things have happened over the years. The variety brought by the Spanish Conquistadors and known as país in Chile or criolla in Argentina (and mission in California) had been disdained for 150 years, but is now experiencing a revival and producing delicious wines. Semillon is making a similar comeback. And Argentine malbec is leaving those heavy, over-ripe, over-oaked versions behind and presenting a new, fresher face. The same goes of Uruguay’s tannat, which has us excited this year by its new-found freshness and energy. We like to think that this is the best time to be a wine writer in South America, and that it’s a privilege to be able to publish a guide that aims to relate all of these changes and energy. But more than that, we’d say that this is a great time to be a wine consumer. Never before has it been so much fun to drink wines from these four countries—so go find your corkscrew and grab a glass. Let the adventure begin! 10
