(TDB) - Chilean wine producers need to “go up to the mountain, hands tied with our commercial directors and have a very serious conversation”, if they are to succeed in raising the premium of Chile’s wine offer, believes Veramonte’s winemaker Rodrigo Soto.

Speaking to the drinks business in Santiago last week, Soto addressed the challenges faced by Chile to shake off its reputation as a reliable, good value producer, and reposition itself as a premium producer.

While Chile is now responsible for several 100-point wines and is capable of producing high quality wines from a range of styles and grapes varieties, thanks to its climactic diversity, Soto believes the tendency for winemakers to chase trends, rather than focus their efforts on developing areas already established more firmly, has hampered its progress.

Veramonte is based in Casablanca, where it produces a range of wines under its Rituals and Veramonte labels, and also in Apalta, where it produces its Neyen range, and its flagship Primus red blend.