As the world realizes the need of care for the planet after the COVID-19 pandemic, a group of renowned Chilean wineries have joined hands to form the first Chilean group of certified organic wine producers to promote sustainability in the Chilean wine industry.
Backed by Wines of Chile, the new group called Chilean Organic Winegrowers (C.O.W) assembles well-known Chilean wineries such as world’s largest organic winery Emiliana, Cono Sur, Koyle, Matetic, Miguel Torres Chile, Odfjell, Veramonte and De Martino.
Different from Wines of Chile with a marketing purpose, C.O.W solely supports and promotes the production and consumption of organic wines by strengthening their technological areas, homologating organic standards and building the recognition of “CHILEAN ORGANIC WINES”.
In 2021, the group of Chilean producers witnessed a growth in organic wine consumption around the world, as consumers became more conscious towards the care for the environment and healthy practices.
The founding wineries have seen sales of their organic wines increasing more than 20% in 2021, with the main destinations being Canada, the US, the Nordic countries and Japan.
Jaime Valderrama, Managing Director of Miguel Torres Chile, revealed similar observation in an interview when asked about the new group last year, “It seems that the consumer is more conscious about organics and the environment, and that’s why we are creating an organic grower’s association in Chile: the future for us is organic and natural wines.”
According to the latest Wine Intelligence report on Sustainable, Organic and Low Alcohol (SOLA) wines, organic wines have the highest development opportunity index among wines in these categories, which shows the potential of organic wines in the consumer market.
While there is a growing number of Chilean wineries joining in the production of certified organic wines, C.O.W aims to act as part of the strategic pillar of sustainability, an area in which the Chilean wine industry has worked on for over ten years.
Currently, C.O.W. has been in contact with government bodies and other organic wine associations worldwide to engage in partnerships and cooperation.
Valderrama revealed earlier that the group took inspiration from Organic Winegrowers New Zealand (OWNZ) and talked to the founders of the New Zealand organisation for advice on group operations.
C.O.W. would also rely on the significant support of Wines of Chile, which will strengthen its R&D department, legal and research teams, human resources, diffusion platforms and its promotion experience abroad.
