Reports from the Maule and elsewhere are still sketchy as the means of communication have been heavily disrupted with airport’s closure and electricity cut off. Miguel Torres who have their Chilean winery in Curico Valley, just North of Maule have suffered quite a bit of damage, according to Sumit Sehgal, the national marketing Manager for India for Prestige Wines Pvt ltd., a Torres JV. ‘I talked to Spain a few minutes ago. There has been no electricity and a lot of damage has been done to the barrels with one s.s. tank also reportedly damaged.’ Miguel Torres Jr. who is running the family owned company was in the US when the mishap took place but cannot come back as the airport has been closed.
The communications received by Mukul Mehra of Global Tax Free from their principals Concha y Toro indicate that there have been no casualties though material damage has been done to the winery near Santiago. ‘We had placed an order for 3 containers, just before the summer sets in, I don’t think we will be able to get that now,’ he says. Same is the fate of a container ordered by Prestige. Importers are saddened and more concerned about how the denizens there will solve the shelter and food problem and the rehabilitation process.
Several of Concha y Toro's major wineries have sustained serious damage in the most devastated zone of Chile, hundreds of kilometers south of Santiago, according to a company statement. "The area with the largest impact is the heartland of wine production," said Concha y Toro. "Our company as well as the rest of the industry has been heavily impacted by this catastrophe."
The company suspended all production and shipping for a week in a zone where the major north-south highway was severely damaged, alongside harm to seaports in the region that is expected to hurt Chile's important seafood export sector.
Fortunately, very few casualties have been reported from the industry. The earth quake struck very early on Saturday morning when wineries were mostly empty, thus limiting the human toll caused by falling barrels and equipment Many people are also away on vacation during the fag end of summer season.
DelWine tried to contact Nestor Riveros, the commercial head of ProChile in India to get some possible details. He is in Chile and in fact had reached there the afternoon before the quake hit. Although no major damage has been done in Santiago, the airport had to be shut down because the front portion of the foyer collapsed. In a personal email he says, ‘People travelling to Chile are being offloaded elsewhere close-by and brought in by military buses. My daughter who was coming from the US was taken to Lima in Peru instead.’ He and his family members are safe.
“There is much destruction,’’ Mario Lobo, director of Los Vascos in the Colchagua Valley, north of the epicenter, reportedly said in an e-mail message. “We are looking after our people first to provide the neediest with shelter, water and food. There is still no electricity, water or any type of phone service.’’
Elsewhere in the Maule and Curico the news was not as good. Reports of major losses have been coming in, though few of those reports were confirmed. At the spot where the earthquake hit, there were a lot of older wineries, and many were built on concrete tanks.
The damage not only destroyed wine, but threatens the coming vintage as well. Harvest is nearing, and wineries with severe structural damage and loss of equipment will not have the capacity to make and store wine.
DelWine sincerely sympathizes with Chile and our subscribers there. While wishing them well we would appreciate any reliable information from any source. We would be glad to put it up on the website, as a part of Comments in this article. |