Viña Errázuriz Icon Wines Share the Stage with World Benchmark Wines
Many of Korean’s top wine tasters including sommeliers, journalists and wine buyers, converged at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Seoul, on the first week of July 2008, to participate in the Korean recreation of the landmark Berlin Tasting. Its purpose: to publicly demonstrate the high standard of fine Icon blends being produced in Chile, by tasting them blind alongside with the wines acknowledged as the very best in the world. Read More >
Eduardo Chadwick, President of Viña Errázuriz, who explained why Chile is a viticultural paradise and the high standard of Chilean wines, hosted the tasting. Alongside Eduardo was Jamie Kim from the Winies Magazine and Steven Spurrier, one of the United Kingdom’s most prestigious wine journalists nowadays, as moderators.
Lee Jin Back, An Jun Bum, Jung Woo Chul, Kim Jun Chul, Han Sang Don, Park Dong Hee, Son Jin Ho, Kim Man Hong, Eun Dae Hwan, Woo Seo Hwan, Kim Hyuk, Um Kyung Ja, Yoo Young Jin, Park He Joo, Sang Min Kyu, Kim Si Kyun, Hong Jae Kyung, Jun Hyun Mo, Chai Kyung Ok, Eun Gwang Pyo, Bang Jin Sick, Gong Sung Sik, Jang Yang Soo, Kim Hyun Soo, Choi Sung Soon, Son Yong Suk, Seo Hee Suk, Yoon Dal Sun, Lee Jong Wha, Lee Sang Whang, Ko Hyoung Wook, Jo Jung Yong, Lee Se Yong, Kim Sung Yoon, Kim Il Young.
Same as I was, many related persons from the wine trade in Korea, including the key persons, were all shocked by the results followed by the ‘blind tasting’ which is regarded as the most justifiable way of proving the quality of Chilean Icon Wine. It was indeed, an historical moment to prove the quality and acknowledge the current address of the extraordinary Premium quality of Chilean Icon wines.
I don’t think he was expecting at all to do as well as he did, but I think having done it, it was an educational experience further than he had planned, because instead of just educating the 40 or 50 people in the room, he educated the entire world.
When Eduardo and I first discussed the concept of this blind tasting format, I told him to brace himself for disappointment, especially given the popularity of Bordeaux reds in this part of the world. I was completely wrong in my warning and I am truly surprised by the results…
Until that point only Eduardo knew what he had in his hands. Today the whole world knows… By reaching indisputable recognition in the world wine scene, Eduardo Chadwick’s wines have clearly demonstrated Chile’s tremendous vitivinicultural potential and have helped Chilean wines earn greater space and credibility in the international market.
These tastings definitely have had an impact on how many influential members of the American wine trade view Chile today. So I see them as invaluable to promoting Chile’s well- deserved image as a source for world-class wine that can sit alongside the best that the rest of the world has to offer.
One enterprising Chilean wine producer, Eduardo Chadwick of Viña Errázuriz, has managed to organise a similar evolutionary milestone for the Chilean wine industry—or at least of his own wines… at what will doubtless come to be known in the history of Chilean wine as the “Berlin Tasting”