IsSyrah wine’s greatest chameleon? There are certainly few other varieties in South America that give us such a great illustration of the continent’s diverse wine regions and myriad styles. Chile is undoubtedly the home of South America’s best Syrah wines, even though Argentina has much more of it planted, at 11,500ha (INV data to December 2021) compared with Chile’s 6,755ha (SAG, 2021). Chile’s plethora of cool climates along the coast certainly gives it the edge in the South American Syrah scene.
If there’s one Syrah producer I would tell you to hunt down, it’s Matetic. From its biodynamic vineyards on the granite coastal hills of Casablanca and San Antonio, the wines throughout the range (starting with Corralillo, the 2018 currently £15.15 at Vinvm) overdeliver on the price point. They ooze confidence with this variety, which can be done so well in this part of coastal Chile.
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But you’ll also find good coastal Syrah throughout Chile, spanning the saline wines of the Atacama desert and austere wines from chalky Limarí in the north down to the rich intensity of Colchagua’s dry-farmed coast south of Santiago. Further east, Uruguay’s coast,
