Chile to hold annual wine festival on Monday

SANTIAGO – Chile’s Catad’Or Wine Awards will be held on Monday in Santiago with 635-sample record exhibition and a new section dedicated to Latin America.

The 22nd edition of great annual wine festival, scheduled from July 3 through 10, will take a qualitative leap this year.

The international jury is made up of experts and influential wine personalities, including The Washington Post Critic Dave McIntyre and Author and Critic Jamal Rayyis (The New York Times, Food & Wines, Wine Enthusiast).

Likewise, Shao Xuedong, manager of COFCO China and Erin Kirschemann, publisher of Wine Business Monthly US publication, among others.

The main initiative in this festival will be the session called Best Wines of Latin America. It will include personalities from Argentina, Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, Uruguay, Colombia, Mexico, Canada and the United States, as well as Chile.

The event will have the possibility to gather 45 outstanding experts, enologists, sommeliers and journalists from 14 nations, mainly from Europe, Asia and the Americas.

‘The international jury will be able this year to taste and evaluate a great variety of unique wines and spirits from Chile and abroad,’ according to Pablo Ugarte, executive director of Catad’Or Wine Awards.

Ugarte said that 41 wine stocks were accepted, a statistics higher than the 30 of last year and 25 of 2013. ‘ It represents the great variety of Chilean wines that are being currently producing.

Chile is nowadays the fourth largest wine exporter and producer, rated third in the great Chinese market, surpassed only by France and Australia.