CHILE / ECHEVERRIA
BEGINNINGS
The Echeverría family came to Chile in the 1750s, from a little town called Amezqueta in the Basque region of Spain. They established agricultural properties in the north of Santiago, where they planted vineyards, among other crops. Some 200 years later in 1930, Roger Piffre de Vauban, a French Engineer from Montpellier, and Roberto Echeverría´s maternal grandfather, travelled to Chile and hence to Chile’s Curicó Valley, some 200km south of the capital Santiago. Here he planted ungrafted vines from pre-phylloxera French origin on an expanse of land called La Estancia, in a little town called Molina. He established there what, at that time, was a frontier technology winery with French equipment and machinery brought directly from France. It’s aim was to supply high quality wines for the domestic market. Soon after, Adriana Piffre de Vauban, Roger´s daughter, married Roberto Echeverría Rubio, and they had one child, Roberto Echeverría. In the early 1950s, after developing diverse industries, Roberto Echeverría Rubio, established a vineyard and winery also in Molina, encouraged by the family relationship with the ongoing winery at the La Estancia estate. He grew strongly influenced by these two family winemaking activities, and developed an intense love and passion for winemaking, that would lead him to pursue university studies to obtain a degree in Agronomy and Winemaking, which he complemented soon after with Economics, obtaining a PhD at Cornell University in the US.
After graduating from Cornell, Roberto worked for eight years as an economist in the World Bank. He lived in Washington D.C., together with his wife Gloriaand his children, and travelled intensively worldwide. In his frequent travels, he became aware of the tremendous potential that the production of fine wines had to satisfy the growing demands of more quality-oriented consumers.
THE EMERGENCE OF VIÑA ECHEVERRÍA
In 1979 Roberto decided to return to Chile to continue his family tradition in winemaking, and to focus on emerging new market trends and opportunities. He thought he was coming back to join an ongoing winery operation, but he arrived in a country in which the wine industry was in the midst of a great depression. Many wineries had gone bankrupt, and very little wine was being exported. The family business was in jeopardy and the old winery in which he spent his summers was on the brink of disappearing.
Passionate about wine, and determined to preserve his ancestors’ winemaking tradition, he embarked on the greatest challenge of his life: projecting his winery into the future, transforming it into a modern, export-oriented, and family- owned and managed operation. It would take Roberto nearly 15 years of intense conviction and sacrifice to develop these radical changes, which included replanting the entire estate and building a new winery from the ground up, and to finally bring his first wine to the international market in 1993. During the 20 years that followed he and Gloria travelled to every continent in the world, showing their wines and winning over many of the customers that are still working with them today. It was their extraordinary vision, determination and commitment to excellence, that was to make Viña Echeverría what it is today.
THE CURRENTGENERATION
Passionate about wine, and determined to preserve his ancestors’ winemaking tradition, he embarked on the greatest challenge of his life: projecting his winery into the future, transforming it into a modern, export-oriented, and family- owned and managed operation. It would take Roberto nearly 15 years of intense conviction and sacrifice to develop these radical changes, which included replanting the entire estate and building a new winery from the ground up, and to finally bring his first wine to the international market in 1993. During the 20 years that followed he and Gloria travelled to every continent in the world, showing their wines and winning over many of the customers that are still working with them today. It was their extraordinary vision, determination and commitment to excellence, that was to make Viña Echeverría what it is today.
OUR PHILOSOPHY
We are a global enterprise, with customers all around the world, with whom we maintain a personal and long term relationship. We always aim to exceed our most demanding customers’ expectations, in all our markets worldwide, and offer an extensive and diverse selection of products to meet our customers’ needs. Through our wines we aim to deliver a special experience of health, happiness, friendship, harmony, culture, pleasure and joy. Our family tradition is expressed through our wines which have a classic, elegant style, enhanced by the intense and seductive aromas and flavors of the fruit we obtain from Chile´s privileged nature. It is through this distinctive style that we have been able to satisfy the varied preferences of our worldwide customers, offering an outstanding portfolio of over 30 wines from over 10 different grape varieties and several wine growing regions. Our passion for winemaking is as strong as our passion to deliver, and our dedication to our customers has always set us apart from the rest. Most of our customers have been working with us for many years, testament to the collaborative way in which we approach the relationships we encounter.
