Film Notes: Uncorked Potential – The Wild Wines of Chile (2025)
| Title | Uncorked Potential: The Wild Wines of Chile |
| Director / Host | Jack Kauffman |
| Year | 2025 |
| Format | Documentary |
| Duration | 56 minutes |
| Where to watch | Available to stream on pbs.org and the PBS App. Expires 12/29/2026 |
About the Film
Uncorked Potential: The Wild Wines of Chile is a documentary following filmmaker and sommelier Jack Kauffman through some of Chile’s most distinctive wine regions — from the extreme-altitude vineyards of the Elqui Valley in the north to the coastal estates of Leyda and the historic valleys of Colchagua.
The film is the second instalment of the Uncorked Potential docu-series. The first, focused on New York’s Finger Lakes wine region, was produced in 2016.
Work as a sommelier and wine consultant for auction houses and private clients interrupted the series for nearly a decade; the Chile chapter was sparked by a direct invitation from VIK winemaker Christián Vallejo to join the 2025 harvest as a junior winemaker — an extended research residency that gives the film an unusual degree of insider access.
About Jack Kauffman
Kauffman is a filmmaker and sommelier based in the northeastern United States. His wine background includes vineyard work in Andalucía and Colchagua Valley, wine director at a Charleston wine bar, and a specialist role in Sotheby’s wine department.
Topics Covered
- Chile’s unique phylloxera-free status and what it means for ungrafted old vines still in production
- High-altitude winemaking at Viñedos de Alcohuaz — foot-crushing in granite lagares, spontaneous fermentation, concrete eggs and Stockinger foudres
- The role of the camanchaca coastal fog in moderating temperatures in the Leyda Valley
- The contrast between artisan mountain projects (Alcohuaz) and historic estate viticulture (Casa Silva, Los Vascos)
- The Elqui Valley’s dual identity: pisco heartland and emerging terroir for serious red wines
- Key concepts: the Andes, the Pacific, the Atacama, rootstock, ocean currents and terroir
Wineries Featured
VIK — Millahue Valley, O’Higgins Region
The catalyst for this film. VIK is a prestige wine project founded in the Millahue Valley in the early 2000s. The valley — La Tierra del Millahue, or “land of golden place” in Mapudungun — is defined by ancient oak forest and a distinctive microclimate shaped by Pacific-Andean air currents. Winemaker Christián Vallejo oversees a range led by the flagship VIK blend.
On this site, there is an article featuring the winery. → Winery Notes: Viña VIK
Viñedos de Alcohuaz — Elqui Valley
Founded 2005 by Álvaro Flaño, with winemaker Marcelo Retamal joining later. The vineyards sit at 1,650–2,206 metres above sea level on the 30th parallel, making the Carignan plantings at 2,188m arguably the highest in the world for that variety. Soils are granitic; viticulture is organic from the outset. Grapes are crushed by foot in stone lagares; fermentation is spontaneous; wines age in Stockinger foudres and concrete eggs. The range includes Rhu (Syrah-led flagship), Pingo Pingo (100% Carignan), Cuesta Chica (Grenache) and La Era (Malbec).
[COMING UP] A dedicated Tessender article about the winery. To be linked here once published.
Viña Casa Silva — Colchagua Valley
One of Chile’s oldest family estates, with a presence in the Colchagua Valley stretching back to the late 19th century. The film highlights century-old ungrafted vines — a direct consequence of Chile’s phylloxera-free status. Casa Silva is particularly associated with Carmenère, the variety that disappeared from Bordeaux after the 1867 phylloxera outbreak and survived unidentified in Chilean vineyards until 1994.
Los Vascos — Colchagua Valley
A historic estate in the Peralillo area of Colchagua, partly owned by Domaines Barons de Rothschild (Lafite) since 1988 — one of the earliest significant foreign investments in Chilean wine. The film shows winemaker Diego Márquez de la Plata in barrel tastings with Kauffman.
Garces Silva — Leyda Valley
The first winery to plant commercially in the coastal Leyda Valley appellation, which lies just 12km from the Pacific Ocean. The camanchaca fog cools the vineyards and extends the growing season. Leyda is primarily associated with Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir in a cool-climate style.
Fundo Los Nichos — Pisco, Elqui Valley
A family pisco estate in the Elqui Valley, producing from Muscat varieties. Pisco predates fine wine production in northern Chile by centuries; the film’s inclusion of a pisco producer grounds the Elqui chapter in its cultural context: wine here is the newcomer, pisco is the heritage.
[COMING UP — background color block] A dedicated Tessender article on pisco and Fundo Los Nichos is planned — covering the history of pisco production in the Elqui Valley, the Chile vs. Peru pisco dispute, and Los Nichos as a producer.
Chile: Brief Context
Chile’s wine geography is defined by three natural barriers: the Atacama Desert to the north, the Andes to the east, the Pacific to the west. This isolation is precisely why phylloxera never established itself in Chile. The ungrafted old vines featured throughout this film are a direct consequence of that accident of geography.
The country’s wine regions run north to south across an extreme latitudinal range: from Copiapó in the Atacama to the cool, rainy Bío-Bío in the south. The film concentrates on three contrasting zones: the Elqui Valley (extreme altitude, northern desert climate), the Colchagua and Maipo valleys (the classical core), and the Leyda Valley (cool, Pacific-influenced).
To read more about Chilean wine on this site:
→ Book Notes: Patricio Tapia – Descorchados (2025)
→ Book Notes: Cees van Casteren – Paradiso (2006)
→ Book Notes: Rodrigo Alvarado – El Vino en la Historia de Chile (2003)
→ Book Notes: Jan Read – The Wines of Chile (1994)
→ Book Notes: Hubrecht Duijker – Wines of Chile (1999)
Last updated: March 2026