Flaherty Wines

We had a great time pouring at the Cata y Vino wine fair at the W Hotel in Santiago last weekend. Twelve small, independent wineries (members of the the Movimiento de Viñateros Independientes, or MOVI) participated in the tasting: Clos Andino, Facundo, Flaherty, Garage Wine Co., Gillmore, Hereu, I-Latina, Montsecano, Polkura, Reserva de Calboro, Rukumilla, and von Siebenthal. The MOVI group had our own room, and it was far and away the busiest room at the fair. People really seemed to enjoy having the chance to taste the lineup of boutique wines, many of which had never been presented to the public before. In addition, all of the wineries were represented by their owners and winemakers, whereas larger wineries tend to send out the most junior marketing guy. Even the Italian count Francesco Marone Cinzano was present, pouring his Chilean joint venture, Erasmo de Caliboro, at the table next to ours. Sven Bruchfeld of Polkura and Derek Mossman of the Garage Wine Co. made a huge effort to organize our group, providing lively music, an ongoing video display of the participants, and even tattoos for the daring. The vibrant atmosphere encouraged people to take their time and get to know the people behind the wines. We had a lot of good feedback from both the public and industry professionals, including this positive write-up in Planeta Vino (in Spanish). All told, it was a very successful event for all the participating wineries.