Saturday’s massive earthquake in Chile resulted in the deaths of at least 800 persons as well as terrible physical devastation. Chile’s wine industry was hit particularly hard, and early estimates indicate that losses run to nearly $1 billion in spilled wine alone. René Merino, president of Wines of Chile, pegged the losses at 150 million bottles worth of wine, though total losses may run much higher once the damage is assessed more precisely. At current retail prices in the United States (for which Chile is the fourth leading source of imported wine), the loss would be worth roughly $975 million–and that figure does not include extensive physical damage to wineries or vineyards.
Damage to facilities and irrigation systems seems to be most serious in the Maule, Colchagua and Cachapoal valleys. Much of the destruction resulted from the toppling of stainless steel fermenters and storage tanks, which appear to have crashed when legs snapped beneath the shaking, top-heavy tanks, which then took down adjacent vessels in a disastrous domino effect. Stacked casks and bottles were also smashed in many areas.
Vineyards have also been imperiled just as the 2010 harvest is beginning in earnest. Decades-old irrigation canals that channel run-off from the Andean snowpack to vineyard areas have collapsed or been severed. Within the vineyards, widespread power outages have deprived vintners of power for the drip irrigation systems that would carry essential moisture to the vines at this very hot point in the growing season. Back-up generators are in very short supply in the entire area south of Santiago, so damage to this year’s crop may add to the massive losses from last year’s harvest.
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