Addressing the beverage sector, Felipe Marín, Casa Marín winemaker and oenologist, remains positive despite a year in which yields fell almost in part and Covid-19 recorded sales in the market.
Marín is determined to take advantage of the benefits of 2020 and use the new popular on his merit. Traffic to the winery’s website is higher and online sales, i. e. in countries such as Denmark and Brazil, have experienced strong growth.
Marin also needs to be a “pioneer” of online tastings, having organized webinars effectively for his clients.
“Online wine tastings allow us to have more reach. We organize tastings with between one hundred and 150 more people. There’s no way in a traditional tasting where you can gather that number of people so easily,” he said.
He has invested in a few bottles of two hundred ml pattern and hopes to launch a series of online events with wines “of which other people can be informed”, such as patterns of vats and wines that have not yet been put on the market.
As reported by the beverage industry in 2016, Casa Marín produced its first sparkling wine, a classic method based on riesling. After 36 months on lees, it is expected to launch the first vintage, with a production of 1400 bottles, this year.
“The concept is not to turn it into a company, but to show what we can do in this region and with this land,” Marín said. “And if we ever want to do more, we can. “
The fresh climate vineyard, which has built one for its white wines, has long lacked a key player: Chardonnay.
Marin told db that the estate had planted its first two hectares and would produce a quiet wine with the grapes next year.
“Maybe in the end we’re going to use it in sparkling wine, we don’t know,” he said. “We never planted Chardonnay at first because we didn’t like the variety. I’m talking about the year 2000, they know more about grapes and we’ve tried smart examples that have replaced their minds. “
Casa Marín has also requested investment from the government for a large-scale solar panel installation, which will allow it to take all its energy out of the sun, signs will be installed on the roof of the winery and in the parking area, and the remaining electricity will be sold to the grid thanks to a replacement in Chilean law.
The team is renovating and extending the length of its dining room and cellar.
2020 and Covid-19
However, Marin admitted that 2020 had been “super difficult” and filled with “many challenges. ” In addition to the coronavirus pandemic, the vineyards also experienced a drought with only 80mm of rain falling in the last growing season.
“We dug wells and discovered that the soil only rains for the first 30 cm, under which it dries like dust,” Marín said. “To be honest, we’re out of water. The challenge is that we are so close to the ocean that if we dig our wells deeper, we will draw salt water. “
It also suffered more frost damage than usual, followed by sunburn, which reduced the already low average yield from four to four. 5 tons per hectare to 2. 8 t/ha.
Marín said he was grateful that the domain was never completely blocked and that declining performance facilitated social distance. Despite the increase in online sales, sales in Chile were affected by the higher proportion of e-commerce businesses.
Marín estimates that sales have fallen by 70% in the domestic market, representing 40% of the total sales of the field. The estate was able to save money and staff from the winery by having the executives paint a portion of the day, the remaining 50%. his salary is partially supplemented through government.