The event, created by Viña Errázuriz’s President Eduardo Chadwick in 2004, was inspired in the 1976 Paris Tasting by Steven Spurrier and known as the Judgement of Paris. Both events established California and Chile amongst the world’s greatest appellations.
Today, January 23rd, marks the 15th anniversary of the Berlin Tasting, when Eduardo invited key members of the European wine world to blind taste the finest French and Italian wines along with his own with a simple yet powerful objective: to demonstrate Chile’s world class quality wines. “The Berlin tasting came upon my frustration the critics were not really recognizing the quality of our wines because they knew they were Chilean, and Chile was a new country coming into the world stage. So, the idea was to have a blind format where they could concentrate on the senses and really evaluate our quality for what it was”, as Eduardo Chadwick Decanter Man of the Year 2018 explained.
The outcome placed Chile’s 2000 Viñedo Chadwick and 2001 Seña ahead of legendary world-class wines, thereby establishing the event as a milestone in the history of Chilean wine and a breakthrough for the recognition of Chilean terroirs worldwide.
This blind tasting initiative toured more than 17 countries, including the major capitals in the world, such us Hong Kong, Tokyo, Beijing, London and New York, reaching over 1,400 wine experts who participated in bias-free blind tastings and consistently positioned the Chilean wines among the top 3 places in 20 out of 22 events, achieving a remarkable 90% success rate if the overall preferences, thereby establishing Chile’s place amongst the world’s greatest wine appellations.
In the words of Steven Spurrier Decanter Man of the Year 2017: “I think it is a major result that Chilean wines were not viewed as great potential wines before, but after the Berlin Tasting they were.”
The results:
1 Viñedo Chadwick 2000
2 Seña 2001
3 Château Lafite-Rothschild 2000
4 Château Margaux 2001
4 Seña 2000
6 Viñedo Chadwick 2001
6 Château Margaux 2000
6 Château Latour 2000
9 Don Maximiano Founder’s Reserve 2001
10 Château Latour 2001
10 Solaia 2000