In Chile, female winemakers break barriers

McClatchy Newspapers (MCT) - Fifteen years ago, an aristocratic Frenchwoman came to Chile's wine country in search of the opportunity _ denied to her at home _ to produce the premium wine of her dreams. A few years later, ignoring the skepticism of her all-male peers, a Chilean female winemaker set out to shake her country's wine industry out of its reds-only rut.

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Today, Alexandra Marnier Lapostolle's Casa Lapostolle markets eight wines, including Clos Apalta, the flagship carmenere blend that Wine Spectator named 2008 wine of the year in its annual Top 100.

In Lo Abarca, a section of the San Antonio Valley 65 miles west of Santiago, Maria Luz Marin has proven whites can flourish in colder terroirs, inhospitable hilly areas buffeted by strong winds and close to the frigid Pacific.

Although Casa Marin has less than $1 million in annual sales, Marin, 58, has gone from failing to recruit investment partners for what was seen as a mad venture to changing the face of a Chilean wine industry that almost exclusively emphasized reds.

Her sauvignon blanc retailed for $33 a bottle in Chile at launch, more than double its nearest competitor. Six years later, several new Chilean sauvignon blancs on the market are selling for $25.

Marnier Lapostolle and Marin are emblematic of the success achieved by females in an almost exclusively male domain.

They are far from alone. Chile leads every country except the United States in the number of women at every level of winemaking and marketing. Thirty-five percent of the enologists, or winemakers, in Chile are women. In Argentina, another wine producing powerhouse, 5 percent of the winemakers are women.

"They are in important places. And they are making it on the basis of their merit, as opposed to inheriting," said Ann Matasar, author of "Women of Wine," a study of women in the wine industry worldwide. Matasar speculates women benefited from the country's geographic isolation, which opened the way for broader participation.

Not only have Chilean women risen through the ranks, European women have come here to do what they could not at home. That is the case with Marnier Lapostolle, who belongs to the family of famed producers of Grand Marnier cognac and other spirits and liqueurs, Matasar said.

"In Europe, if you don't inherit, you don't get in," she said. "A woman does not inherit unless you are the only daughter, or you had a brother who did not want it or was incompetent."

Marnier Lapostolle's move to Chile produced "a unique hybrid of Old World and New World," combining the excellent soil conditions of Chile with traditional practices such as the use of wine tanks, barrels and bottles imported from France.

All three winemakers of Casa Lapostolle are Chilean women.

The stunning Clos Apalta winery and guest house stands anchored on the rock of a hillside in the Apalta area of the Colchagua Valley, 112 miles south of Santiago.

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As winemaker there, Andrea Leon, 34, handles daily operations. Among other tasks, she supervises the harvest, checks on the vines and oversees the fermentation process. But her most crucial job is to taste and blend the grapes and wine samples that will go into the making of Clos Apalta.

She is also in charge of the tours, which started in 2006. Leon enjoys showing off one cellar's glass-topped tasting table, which allows a view of the Marnier Lapostolle underground private collection, as well as rows of vines growing alongside various herbs and wildflowers in a carefully planned ecological environment.

The first vintage of Clos Apalta, 1997's, hit market in 1999. Sixty percent of its vintage is sold in the United States.

A slightly built mother of two, Leon started her career selling barrels to wineries and worked as a sommelier before becoming an enologist in 1997.

Her gender has sometimes been an issue.

"I never felt segregated, but I did feel stereotyped in certain parts of the industry. Perhaps the male stereotype is that of a more robust woman in the winery. I took it as a challenge.

"The problem arises not with your peers, but with older workers in the industry," she added.

Marin agrees, adding: "That is the most difficult part. It's the older folks. The younger men accept women."

Marin, from another generation, encountered outright prejudice when she began.

"In my first job, in Vina San Pedro, I worked for an older enologist," she said. "He was supposed to teach me and pass on all information. He was very reticent. He left me out of meetings." She complained to the owners, and things improved.

"Now I think: How could I do it? I was 22 years old. These were the owners of the winery, all men in their 50s and 60s. I was afraid they would say: 'Who does she think she is?'"

Marin says the experience hardened her and instilled a daring streak that helped her realize her dream.

"Establishing my own winery was always my goal," she said. "I launched against all opposition. It was very hard, but now the vineyard looks nice, green and happy."

Nora Favelukes, chief executive officer of QW Wine Experts in New York and a 20-year veteran of the U.S. wine market, has used Lapostolle vintages in her classes at New York City College of Technology for years. She says the wines "are of an extraordinary quality and have a style that is perfect for the U.S. consumer because of the intensity of the fruit, flavors, elegance and concentration."

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Marin has no plans to rest. She now exports about 35 percent of her wine to the United States and would like to ramp that up to half.

In a talk in New York last year in front of women in the industry, she encouraged them to keep pushing to get to the top.

"There is still much left to do and many more wines to create."

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© 2009, The Miami Herald.