Linda on Chile

I couldn’t resist an occasional glance at René Merino, president of Wines of Chile, during the sixth annual Wines of Chile Awards dinner in Santiago on 15 Jan.

The day before, the all-US panel of nine judges (I was one) had voted the 2006 Odjfell Orzada Malbec Orgánico from Lontué as Best of Show, though we didn’t know the producer at the time, only that it was number 396 in the ‘Other Reds’ category and that it was a Malbec.

I wondered what Merino thought when he learned that a Malbec – not among the core varietals that Wines of...