Organic wine wins First Annual Wines of Chile Awards

Alvaro Espinoza's red blend Coyam 2001 made by VOE, the wholemeal subsidiary of Santa Emiliana, sister company to Concha y Toro, was voted Wine of the Show last week at Chile's first wine judging held along the lines of an Australian wine show.

With five other British judges I travelled to Santiago to taste nearly 500 wines from 81 different bodegas to join three Chilean judges. Since these included Espinoza himself, one might think the whole thing a little suspicious. But I can assure you that none of us was aware of the identity of any of the wines until...