Christian Sepúlveda

Meet the winemaker

Christian Sepúlveda

Voted ‘Best Wine Maker’ by the Chilean Wine Press and ‘Best Young Wine Maker’ by no less than Tim Atkin MW

We had the pleasure of firing a few quick questions to Bouchon Family chief winemaker Christian Sepúlveda

So Christian, it seems fitting to ask, where did it all begin?

I studied oenology (wine-making) at the University of Chilé, then my my first wine making role was in New Zealand, working with biodynamic agriculture, followed by a mind-blowing role working with Grand Crus in Burgundy. Then I returned to Chilé and in 2016 became chief winemaker in Bouchon Family wines. I have visited many other wine regions around the world, and I think you have to know and to try different types of wines, to expand your vision and to be able to innovate in a consistent way.

But wine is a traditional, agricultural product, so isn’t it hard to innovate with?

It’s true that there is a long wine-making tradition in the Maule Valley where we are based, but my mantra is ‘to innovate through tradition’. País is a great example of this: it is an indigenous grape growing from very old vines, and in some cases just growing wild amongst the trees around the vineyard. You have to respect how it has adapted to its environment, has a natural equilibrium and then work with it.

Personally, when I work with grapes from a 100+ year old vine, I feel a heavy weight on my shoulders, because you are making wine with history. It is not about changing the wine completely, but managing it correctly. So for us that means doing things like not crushing the grapes as they are already naturally tannic, picking them early and fermenting at low temperatures in ceramic tanks.

So what does all that do to the País wine?

It produces bags of red fruit flavours, is medium bodied, relatively low in alcohol with elegant tannins. We have an incredible environment in Chilé to make wine: there are amazing weather conditions and the vines don’t get the diseases that are common in many other wine-making countries.

I guess this is why people know Chilé for the home of decent wine which offers brilliant value for money?

Yes of course the world knows we can make great value wines in Chilé using international grapes like Chardonnay and Merlot, which are grown all over the world. We need to change that perception though, because there is so much more to discover here. With our growing conditions and indigenous varieties like País, there is a fantastic opportunity, in fact Bouchon see it as an obligation, to make wines that express the place they are actually from.

Finally, what developments are you working on for the next few years?

Over the last few years we have created a lot of new wines, now it’s the time to develop a consistency of style in these wines. Also, the Bouchon family are a French family and so we are planting classic Mediterranean varieties like Carignan, and using traditional methods of cultivation like growing bush vines and dry farming. The Bouchon family always want to lead new innovation in Chilé.