Gloom and disbelief have descended on the wine world this week, following a Sunday newspaper claim that the unregulated use of chemicals in Chilean vineyards is causing birth defects among the workers' children.
Last week's Sunday Times story is not merely disturbing, but surprising. "Chile is less associated with the use of chemicals than most other wine-producing countries," says Martin Moran, a Master of Wine working for the major Irish importers Gilbeys. "The dry climate is so perfect for grape-growing that there aren't nearly as many pests or diseases as in other places."
It has been recognised in the wine world for some time that good wine is only produced from grapes grown with the minimum of chemical intervention. Quality-driven and export-driven, Chilean producers are well aware of current thinking in this regard.
A number of the country's leading wineries are involved in joint ventures with quality-conscious overseas producers - Concha y Toro with Baron Philippe de Rothschild of Bordeaux, for example; Caliterra with Calfornia's Robert Mondavi. In these wineries, certainly - both of which I visited in January - so evident is the level of the foreign partner's involvement in the viticultural and winemaking process that it is difficult to imagine how the misuse of chemicals - a practice widely discredited internationally - could go unchecked.
At the same time, it is important to recognise that certain chemicals are widely used, even by the most reputable wine producers, at certain times. In Chile, their use is controlled by rules similar to those operating in Europe and the US. Importing countries also impose controls. If products which are banned elsewhere are indeed in use in Chile, we need to know exactly what they are and which companies have employed them. This information is not contained in the Sunday Times article.
Where chemical sprays are used, even to a modest degree, the implications are more serious where the vineyards are worked by hand, as is largely the case in Chile, than where mechanisation is the norm. However, detailed medical evidence will be needed to substantiate the alleged link between chemicals and an increasing incidence of birth defects. The Sunday Times admits that the connection is as yet unproven. "Nobody knows the exact cause of the defects, but . . . experts eye with growing suspicion the crop sprays that have accompanied Chile's export boom."
The newspaper also accuses Chilean wine producers of employing child labour. As with the chemicals claim, it is difficult to determine the basis for this. Paid child labour has apparently been outlawed in Chile since 1925. From reading the article, it would seem reporters visited the vineyards at harvest time when it's not unusual, in any wine-producing country, to see children helping out.
We must wait until these disturbing claims about Chilean vineyard practices are more fully investigated before a judgment can be reached. In the meantime it seems likely that, whether they are true or not, they may do serious damage to a country which has been an increasingly significant source of well-priced, well-made wines.