Alfonso Larraín Santa Maria has just been reelected for his second ten-year term as president of Concha y Toro. In the company for 40 years, his life story is, in some way, the story of the Chilean wine grower. Calm and good-natured, Don Alfonso, as he is known, does not look like a conventional top executive, despite the impeccable suit and tie. He sees himself as a campesino, a man of the soil.
Any hobbies? Favorite pastime? “Work all the time”, he smiles and adds: “But they’re different works and I have fun with them. I like nature. Old Chilean families like mine used to earn their living from the land. But the government seized our properties. Now I’m re-buying the property where I grew up. It’s great but it’s a lot of work. The property has been divided into smaller plots. I buy one today, another one tomorrow. I am slowly completing this puzzle”.

In these lands, Don Alfonso grows vines, pine trees and eucalyptus for reforestation and raises livestock. “I’m criticized for working too much, but this isn’t work. Agriculture and cattle raising give me pleasure. It’s an amazing thing to watch a calf being born and grow”, he says. He enjoys riding horses on weekends. A father of five and grandfather of nine; he taught all of them how to ski and ride. “We spend the summer vacation together and we go to a ski resort near Santiago in the winter. I’m going to maintain this tradition and go skiing with my grandchildren this winter”, he says, excited. ”

His fondness for the soil and agriculture also explains his presence at Concha y Toro, one of the ten most powerful wine brands in the world in 2007, according to international consultancy Intangible Business: “I spent my childhood in the country since my father’s vineyard was near Santiago. My brothers and I would go to school during the week and look after the vines, plant and harvest grapes on the weekends”. 

When his father’s properties were seized, Alfonso decided to work with business. He dived into the world of the Santiago Stock Exchange. Due to his “winegrower roots”, he accompanied the growth of companies in this sector,  “and Concha y Toro, in my opinion, was doing very well”, he says and then adds: “I started to buy Concha y Toro stock with my meager earnings until I had enough stock to be part of the company’s Board”.

He strongly believed that Chile should export its wine. Eduardo Tagle, the Concha y Toro president at the time, put him in charge of the company’s exports. Don Alfonso remembers: “That was when I truly started my life with Concha y Toro. I became a salesman, travelling all over Latin America and the world to promote our product, the  Chilean potential and the company’s philosophy. Then I realized that the best strategy would be to hear the opinion of our potential buyers and invite opinion makers to visit Chile and learn about our work. This is what we did”.

Founded by Chilean politician and businessman Don Melchor Concha, at the end of the 19th Century, the company underwent a modernization process under Tagle’s command. In 1994, it became the first wine producer in the world to trade on the New York Stock Exchange. In 1997, the company entered into a partnership with Baron Philippe de Rothschild to produce a “first growth wine” in Chile. The Vinha Almaviva is the result of this alliance. The company currently exports its products to 125 countries. It is also present in Argentina through the Vinha Trivento, which is the second largest wine export company in that country. Its growth both in Chile and abroad is due to several factors such as investment in the latest technology for the production of premium and super premium wine, the result of strict grape selection and sophisticated winemaking techniques.

General-manager and then vice-president, Don Alfonso became president in 1998 after the death of Eduardo Tagle, a close friend. When asked whether he thinks it is hard to inspire a team, he confidently states, “It isn’t easy, but the souls of everyone at Concha y Toro are imbued with a belief: to work as a team in a quest for quality and, thus, drive the brand forward. This homogeneity of ideas has always existed. There are never two criterions, just one”. He also adds: “Another interesting aspect of Concha y Toros’s path is its agricultural evolution. In the past, in Chile, we would only plant vines on flat terrain; hillsides were not used because there was no way of irrigating them. We imported a system from Israel that radically changed agricultural output and enables the control of the water used in irrigation. Nowadays, we have an intelligent process that is suitable to the production of great grapes. In order to produce a great wine, we need a great grape”.

And out of the wines made with these great grapes, which ones are Alfonso Larraín Santa Maria’s favorites? “Wine preference is always a matter of personal taste”, he observes. ‘It also depends on the occasion and the circumstances. As an aperitif, I enjoy a White Casillero Del Diablo. It is fresh and precious. I really like the Marqués de Casa Concha Chardonnay. To accompany a winter meal or even just a simple everyday dish, the Marqués de Casa Concha Merlot is a good choice.  For more elaborated and sophisticated meals, the Don Melchor. Lastly, I think the Carmín de Peumo is simply spectacular, with its aroma and color.  I’m sure that, with a wine like this, the Carmenère grape will gain international acclaim.”