Chile seeks to make better wine to beat diving dollar

AFP, March, 2008

SANTA CRUZ, Chile (AFP) — The US dollar's steady decline -- and its sharp impact on export revenue -- has galvanized Chile's wine industry to boost quality in hopes of entering the more resilient prestige end of the market, officials say.

"This is the basis of Chile's strategy: we are trying to do away with this image of Chile being a producer of good but cheap wine," Paola Vasquez, the head of the government's wine promotion agency ProChile, told AFP.

Wine makers are trying to lift themselves out of the low-margin middle part of the market that is being battered by the plunging dollar, she explained.

Over the past year, the US currency has slipped nearly 13 percent against Chile's peso, pushing producers in the region to the brink of a financial crisis....