Eduardo Chadwick pioneering ambassador for seductively good wine
Eduardo Chadwick Chilean Wine Revelation
Compelling Family story of Eduardo Chadwick
Eduardo Chadwick, the esteemed ambassador for Chilean wines, is an excellent storyteller.
His compelling and convincing narratives are relatable and credible, drawing in listeners. His decades-long story weaves in history, characters, and a thick plot that combines the best elements of family and country, all driven by a determined protagonist facing tremendous odds and taking enormous risks.
While leading a recent Hong Kong master class tasting of his icon wines, the lead character, Eduardo, says, “Our challenge now is to continue to communicate our achievement and to tell our story in a deeper way.”
Aconcagua Valley of Chile
Eduardo’s story begins with the founding of his family winery – Viña Errázuriz, in the Aconcagua Valley of Chile in 1870 by his ancestor, Don Maximiano Errázuriz.
The Errázuriz family was prosperous and played vital roles in the governance and cultural history of the emerging South American nation.
Their family’s credentials included four presidents of Chile, diplomats, politicians, cabinet ministers, writers and industrialists.
Don Maximiano Errázuriz was a successful and wealthy businessman who ran highly profitable copper, gas and shipping enterprises.
Don Maximiano Errázuriz
He also had a strong sense of civic duty and entered politics when he was twenty-five years old, going on to serve in Congress and the Senate.
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After a journey to Europe and being inspired by the wines and winemaking of the old world, he returned with a conviction that Chile had all the elements to produce quality wines and a passion to create his own.
Best land, Best wine
Don Maximiano Errázuriz believed that “From the best land, the best wine” would be obtained, so he headed on horseback in search of the best terroir. After a two-day ride, he found the Aconcagua Valley 100 kilometres north of the capital of Santiago.
The valley was a viticultural paradise, an ideal location with the Aconcagua River flowing through rich fertile soil beneath the highest peak in the Americas – Mount Aconcagua, which supplied essential meltwater.
Viña Errázuriz
He chose well and created Viña Errázuriz with tenacity and perseverance. He transformed the land by installing irrigation canals and planting imported French vines.
He built homes for his workers and, along with a bodega, a church, and a school, created a community. In just three years, Viña Errázuriz produced its first vintage.
Viña Errázuriz flourished and gained a reputation for wines of quality. Don Maximiano’s son, Rafael, took over the running of the estate in 1890.
Following his passing in 1923, his great-niece, Leonor Errázuriz, inherited Viña Errázuriz. She married Alejandro Chadwick, and this union produced the Errázuriz- Chadwick lineage.
Alfonso Chadwick talented athlete and entrepreneur
Their son, Alfonso Chadwick, was a talented athlete and entrepreneur. He combined his love for polo and his commitment to his family’s vineyards.
He was the captain of Chile’s national polo team, leading them to win many championships.
He was also a visionary who influenced and modernised the Chilean wine industry. He established Chile’s first wine brokerage and in 1942, bought an additional 300-hectare estate and vineyard in the Maipo Valley.
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Over two decades, he raised the quality of the wine from this new estate to amazing heights. His famous Fond de Cave label wine became the best and most expensive in the country.
In the 1970s, political and economic upheavals ended the one-hundred-year-old family-owned Viña Errázuriz.
The emerging new-world nation experienced a coup d’etat, military dictatorship, nationalisation of businesses and reforms that expropriated land from large private estates throughout Chile.
Maipo Valley Estate
After these devastating years, the family was left with only twenty-five hectares, which included Alfonso Chadwick’s beloved polo field in their Maipo Valley Estate.
In 1983, Alfonso repurchased Viña Errázuriz. The abandoned estate needed to be completely refurbished, so he asked his son, Eduardo Chadwick, who had graduated in industrial engineering, to join him in rebuilding the family winery.
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Eduardo was just twenty-four years old when he began helping his father reopen and revive the family’s wine business.
Eduardo became a winemaker during challenging times. Chile’s domestic wine industry was still recovering from turbulent years.
Internationally, Chilean wines were considered cheap and cheerful, not known for quality.
Despite the many hurdles, Eduardo saw potential and had vision. He remembers he already “had a dream to produce fine wines that would be recognised amongst the world’s best.”
He forged ahead, “reinventing” along the way, towards producing exceptional quality wines. He reflected, “In those early days… I didn’t have clarity of where I could take the wines. It was a learning experience.”
In the 1990s, Eduardo had the opportunity to meet legendary California winemaker Robert Mondavi, who was instrumental in elevating American wines to international prestige and renown.
Eduardo Chadwick & Robert Mondavi Seña
Mondavi visited Chile, was intrigued by the country’s potential, and partnered with Eduardo in a joint venture to create a new world-class wine.
The collaboration gave rise to Viña Seña, a hillside vineyard planted with key red Bordeaux varietals such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec, Cabernet Franc and Merlot. Viña Seña would harness and encapsulate Mondavi’s pioneering spirit.
The combined strength of their collective expertise and experience, coupled with the use of modern technology and biodynamic methods, resulted in the fruition of Eduardo’s dream – Seña, a wine comparable to the world’s very best.
In 1992, he recognised the potential of their small Maipo Valley Estate and convinced his father to convert his polo field into a vineyard.
Fifteen hectares were planted with premium Cabernet Sauvignon vines to form the basis for Viñedo Chadwick.
Eduardo knew this new vineyard had the potential to produce wines of exceptional finesse and quality, as this was the same terroir that produced Chile’s best wine several decades before.
The first vintage of Viñedo Chadwick was produced in 1999 and released in 2002.
Sadly, Alfonso Chadwick passed away before seeing or tasting the first vintage.
By 2000, Eduardo had produced wine vintages he knew were the very finest of Chile, with their own personality, and he believed they were amongst the best in the world.
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Yet, despite doing all they could to promote their fine wines, he and his fellow Chilean winemakers could not convince wine writers and critics.
Eduardo Chadwick noted that at that time, the world didn’t know Chile, and there was little understanding of the potential of Chilean wines, so it was “almost impossible to convince critics that we could produce quality.”
Judgment of Paris model for Berlin Tasting
In 2004, out of sheer frustration, he decided to take a huge gamble and organise a blind tasting of his wines alongside the world’s top-ranked vintages.
He looked to the Judgment of Paris, a blind-tasting comparison of French and California wines conducted in 1976, as the model for the event.
That tasting resulted in surprise wins for Californian wines, elevating their status; he hoped for something similar for Chilean wines.
He invited Europe’s leading wine writers, sommeliers and critics to Berlin to taste his wines in the company of top-ranked first-growth wines from Bordeaux and the Super Tuscans of Italy.
Steven Spurrier, who had organised the Judgment of Paris, was invited to host.
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It was a risky gambit. Sixteen ultra-fine wines were tasted.
“I had a simple hope that one of our wines would rank in the top five so I could claim we are in the company of the great wines of the world. For me, in a way, we had nothing to lose!”
When Steven announced the results, Eduardo was relieved and elated that his wine, Seña 2000, had tied with Chateau Margaux 2001 for fourth place.
Then Chateau Lafite-Rothchild 2000 was announced as the third. Then, with utter astonishment, his Seña 2001 was given second place, and then, in stunned silence, Viñedo Chadwick 2000 was given first place.
The results were earth-shattering, beyond anything Eduardo had expected. This momentous announcement was historic and immortalised as the Berlin Tasting.
Eduardo Chadwick game-changing pivot
Eduardo remembers and celebrates the Berlin Tasting event as a game-changing pivot in his wine-making career.
Steven said of Eduardo Chadwick, “I don’t think he was expecting at all to do as well as he did… instead of just educating the forty or fifty people in the room, he educated the entire world.”
The outcome attracted wine connoisseurs’ attention and firmly placed his wines amongst the world’s best. Although he could have rested with this initial success, he repeated the Berlin Tasting event “to have a deeper international impact.”
From 2005 to 2013, he replicated the tasting in eighteen key wine markets with local opinion leaders worldwide. It was risky. If the results of the subsequent tastings differed from the first Berlin Tasting, it would have invalidated the original’s accomplishments.
His strategy paid off. In all those tastings, the outcomes were similar – Eduardo’s wines were rated equal to and, at times, better than some of the finest in the world, which paved the way to global recognition.
He remarked, “It has been an honour to show our wines have been consistently selected amongst the best wines of the world.”
As he celebrates the twentieth anniversary of the Berlin Tasting, he is enjoying the fruits of his labour.
While still travelling the world and hosting wine tastings, he now conducts vertical tastings to confirm and show his wines’ ageing potential.
In his recent Hong Kong masterclass, co-hosted with Jeannie Cho Lee, Master of Wine, he is having fun and enjoying the accolades.
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With delight, he presented his signature wines: Don Maximiano Founder’s Reserve – Viña Errázuriz’s flagship wine, 1984, 2008 and 2021 vintages, named in honour of the man who started his family’s wine story; KAI, vintage 2010 and 2021 – a single varietal wine made from Chile’s signature grape variety, Carmenere; Seña vintage 1998, 2009, 2015 and 2021 – from the collaboration with Robert Mondavi; and Viñedo Chadwick vintage 2000, 2014 and 2021 – the family tribute to his father, Alfonso Chadwick.
“These wines are lauded by critics and sought after by wine lovers and collectors around the world. Viñedo Chadwick 2021 has earned 600 points, having received 100 points from six major wine critics,” said Jeannie.
The wines verified their quality and ageing potential, including the Berlin Tasting number one placed, Viñedo Chadwick 2000, which he said, “I had to provide from my own private stock”.
“The tasting today was so joyful, being with Jeannie and with you and friends. What I strived to do and to convince with the Berlin Tasting is happening now”.
Eduardo Chadwick has transformed the world’s perception of Chile through his dedication to producing and promoting exceptional wines.
As the tasting concluded, he unveiled a new chapter in the story: the eventual passing of the baton to a new generation of winemakers – his four daughters.
This reveal begins a new narrative, a captivating sequel to the Chadwick legacy.
Text Cammy Yiu / Photos Cammy Yiu & as credited
