MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Chilean wineries plan to hike investment in Argentina

Several Chilean wine makers have recently disclosed plans to increase their investments in Argentina, a country also well-known for the alcoholic beverage.

Pedro Ibañez, the owner of Chile's Santa Carolina winery, recently revealed plans to increase the production of his Argentine wine label Finca El Origen. In 2008 the company will make investments on a much grander scale than previous years in its Argentine vineyards. Cristian Wylie, the commercial manager of Santa Carolina's holding company, told Santiago's La Tercera on Sunday, "in 2007 Finca El Origen only earned half a million US dollars, but we predict that figure will be seven times larger in 2008." In five years the company projects upping its exports to 150,000 cases and hopes by 2017 to be one of the 20 biggest exporters in Argentina. Entrepreneur Pedro Ibañez, known in Chile as the man who pioneered the development of Pinot Noir in Chile's Bio Bio Valley, is now forging a new project in Argentina. In 2007 he bought the winery Universo Austral in southern Argentina's Neuquen province, where the wine business is not as developed as Mendoza's. There he plans to produce both Pinot Noir and Sauvignon Blanc and double the production capacity of the winery to 2.4 million litres. Meanwhile, Cristobal Undurraga, another Chilean businessman, will begin production of his boutique wine Viu Manent this year in the Uco valley near Mendoza, Argentina. Chilean officials cite many reasons for investing in their trans-Andean neighbour. For example, both the cost of labour and the price of land in Argentina are much cheaper than in Chile. "One hectare of premium farmland in Argentina costs half the price of land of the same quality in Chile," said Wylie. The French grape Malbec, after its introduction to Argentina in 1868, has become synonymous with Argentina and is best grown in Mendoza. Malbec is in high demand on the worldwide market and its international popularity grows every year another reason Chilean wineries want to expand to Argentina. Argentina has a strong presence in the worldwide wine market, as it exports 660 million US dollars every year. Chile, however, exports 1.2 billion in wine products annually. The Santiago Times