The steep drop in global wine consumption is slowing, but the market will not grow again. That is the view of Adolfo Hurtado, the new CEO of Undurraga Wine Group, according to La Tercera. In his view, wineries that grow will do so by taking customers from their competitors.
Hurtado is an agronomist and winemaker trained at the Universidad Católica. He took the job in April after leading Viñedos Familia Chadwick and Viña MontGras.
"Consumption peaked during the pandemic and, starting in October 2023, it entered a somewhat steeper decline, which is now stabilizing," he explained. He added that it will keep falling "by small percentages," but without the abrupt drop seen during the crisis.
His argument starts with history. Chilean wine has always had a foreign market pulling it along: first the United States, then the United Kingdom, then China. Today Brazil plays that role, though with less force. Without that engine, his thinking goes like this: if the pie isn't growing, someone has to eat less for someone else to eat more.
"As long as you have a good sales team, attractive products and good distributors, there is room for some wineries to grow, but that growth will come at the expense of others," he said.
Undurraga got ready for that fight by cutting costs. Early this year it reduced its workforce by 14%, to 250 people today, and replaced executives. According to the CEO, the company exports at an average price of almost US$ 29 per case, above the industry average of US$ 24.5.
The changes also reached the vineyards. At its 290-hectare San Cayetano estate in San Javier, in the Maule Region, it pulled up old red vines of cabernet sauvignon, carmenere and merlot. In their place it planted chardonnay to supply its sparkling wine line.
"What we have been doing is replacing low-yield, high-cost reds with high-yield, low-cost whites," Hurtado said. The company believes white grapes will become scarcer than red grapes in Chile. According to trade publications cited by La Tercera, a kilo of white wine grapes costs between $350 and $400, compared with $200 to $250 for red.
The winery has 1,200 hectares in total. White grapes account for 60% and red for 40%, spread across Talagante, Leyda, Melipilla, Cauquenes and San Javier. Its brands are Undurraga, Bouchon, Volcanes, Bisquertt, VFC and Talagante International Brands.
The company does not publish its financial results. Hurtado only said that export revenue is up 6% so far this year and that sales in Chile are growing 5%.
Earlier figures show where the company stood. In financial statements filed in a labor lawsuit, Undurraga reported revenue of $45,850 million in 2024, with 56.7% coming from exports. It lost $646 million in 2023 and $3,291 million in 2024.
In its dismissal letters, the company cited a 16.3% drop in export volume and a 13% drop in export value, without specifying the period. It also mentioned the crisis in the Chilean industry, which in 2025 exported 692 million liters, 10.9% less than the previous year, for US$ 1,523 million, a decline of 4.3%.
Undurraga is already taking part in the industry consolidation its CEO expects. In July 2024 it bought the VFC group, owner of the Bouchon and Bisquertt wineries, paying 110,247 UF (Unidad de Fomento, Chile's inflation-indexed unit of account) for 100% of the shares.