MOVI: How a band of small producers rocked Chile’s wine scene

About 11 years ago, a couple dozen members of the then fledgling Movement of Independent Winemakers, or MOVI, as it is known in Chile, organized a wine tasting in the country’s conservative capital, Santiago. Blasting heavy rock ‘n roll music while serving their small-batch, handmade product, the group’s new riff sent a message about how tiny producers needed a voice amid the larger Chilean winescape, despite it being dominated by huge corporate-styled wineries.

“We showed up in black T-shirts, we unfolded black tablecloths and played loud rock music,” said Sven Bruchfeld of Polkura Winery. “In a way, we were creating wine parties instead of wine tastings.”

Yet those wine “parties" were the start of something real, and MOVI is now firmly entrenched in the Chilean wine psyche, with the now 34 members making some of the most interesting bottles in the country – from tasty orange wines from pinot grigio to slick syrahs and pinot noirs. This year we rated over 90 wines from MOVI, 37 of which received ratings of 93 points or more.

That said, the quality of MOVI wines also varies, with a mixed bag of bottles hitting different score ranges – from barely good to great. There are some that pushed the limits and are just one small step from being excellent wines, but there are others that went too far and ultimately fell short and are even flawed. Over the last few years of tasting, a few producers like Polkura, P.S. Garcia, Villard, Garage, Gillmore, and Flaherty, among a few others, delivered more consistent bottles.

But what is undeniable is that MOVI’s diversity and innovation stood out in our tastings, providing a refreshing change from Chile’s standard varietals. From Villard’s ramato-style pinot grigio from Casablanca Valley to Polkura’s dry-farmed syrah from Colchagua, they displayed brightness and fresh acidity, with both structure and excellent drinkability. The standouts also included Garage’s and Gillmore’s old vine wines in Maule, and P.S. Garcia’s racy reds from even farther south in Itata and Malleco.

“When MOVI was formed, it was a really interesting time because Chile didn’t have those projects,” said Derek Mossman Knapp, the co-founder of Garage Wine Co. who helped organize MOVI and later VIGNO, a wine producers’ association dedicated to producing top-quality carignan. “Chile was known for being corporate [and] for having the largest average winery size in the world, which isn't a very good thing to be known for unless you're a supermarket buyer and all you're looking for is cheap juice and confidence in whoever is providing it.”

According to Charlie Villard, one of several quality-minded winemakers based in the Casablanca Valley and whose Villard Fine Wines is also part of MOVI, the idea of a group of small artisanal producers banding together was revolutionary for Chile at the time. “Remember that Chile is a big-producer country and 20 years ago there was no voice or space for small wineries, so all the government-related wine organizations focused on these big-size wineries.”

But change has not come easy. Without comparable economies of scale, it was almost impossible for boutique wineries to compete against conglomerates like Concha y Toro and Santa Rita, even when they gathered under the umbrella of a larger group.

However, Mossman Knapp said that MOVI had “absolutely changed the face of wine in Chile” by successfully lobbying for regulatory change. It earned a seat on the Mesa Vitivinicola, where rules on Chile’s wine-making industry are made, and effected a change relating to export permits, making it much less cumbersome to sell small lots of wine to overseas buyers.

“The system was built for large companies that made varietals,” said Mossman Knapp. “And if you did anything different, they didn't care. You were nobody."

When it comes to competing with the big wineries, small producers need every advantage they can get. The three largest wineries (Concha Y Toro, Santa Rita and VSPT) alone sell four out of five bottles of Chilean wine. The volume of wine MOVI produces is a drop in the Chilean export ocean, while its percentage of wines that are exported for over $100 a case is more significant. The average export price per case of Chilean wine is $28 per box, and even lower for wines shipped to the United States.

“Not that there aren't wonderful bottles of wine for $15, but where Chile really excels to me is between $20 to $45 retail” per bottle, said Mossman Knapp. “That's [MOVI’s] strong suit.”

Mossman Knapp believes that some large wineries have taken notice over the last decade. The cellars of many now have spaces for winemaking experimentation and small-batch lots of handcrafted wines. Organic practices, the use of indigenous yeasts and less manipulation in the winemaking process are on the rise across the country. In fact, Chile is one of the largest cultivators of organic and biodynamic vineyards in the world, but this has more to do with the hard work and dedication of such famous names as Seña, Clos Apalta and Emiliana.

Now inextricably part of Chile’s wine culture, MOVI has come a long way from being a revolutionary idea. From our tastings over the years, it has become apparent that MOVI members no longer have to wear black T-shirts or play ear-deafening music to attract attention. And now, the timing has never been better for them to make interesting wines.

– Claire Nesbitt, assistant editor