Berries, beverages & branding

• Author: Catherine Jewell
• Position: Communications Division, WIPO
• Pages: 18-22

p. 18 2013 | 3

“Sunshine in a bottle!” That’s how Nobel L aureate Pablo Neruda

described pisco. ABA Distil, a fam ily-run business in Al Arenal, a

small village in Chile’s Elqui Valley, 500 km north of Santiag o, has

been producing pisco s ince 1921. In 2011, Alejandro Aguirre, who

took over the company from his father 13 years ago, also beg an

developing the latest addition to the company’s product portfolio,

Maquire®, combines pisco with the locally-grown maqui berry.

Recently, external events temporarily h alted the company’s op-

erations and could have devastated it were i t not for the power

of its brands. Aba Distil’s experience of fers a powerful message

about the enduring valu e of brands and why it is impor tant for

companies of all sizes to invest in an ef fective brand strategy.

ABA Distil produces its hall mark pisco from the best mu scat

grapes grown in the Elqui Valley in the hig h Chilean Andes. “The

grapes are harve sted by hand at the end of the summer and,

after crushing and de stemming, they are turned into wine and

double-distilled in sm all copper pots,” Mr. Aguirre explains. “The

alcohol obtained is age d for around 18 to 24 months to round

up the avors. Dilution and lteri ng are the next steps of the

process, and nally the pro duct is bottled, labeled and packed

ready for shipment to markets in Canad a, China, Japan, New

Zealand and the UK.”

The company launched Pis co Aba, its rst pisco brand, in 2001.

It has since won international accla im and currently accounts for

some 60 percent of the compa ny’s export sales. In addition to

Pisco Aba and Maquire®, Aba Distil ha s four other established

product lines, each with its own b rand.

In 2011, the company decided to expand its range of products. It

developed a new alcoholi c beverage, marketed under the brand

name Maquire, that combines pisco with the dark-purple maqui

berry, also known as Chilea n wineberry (A ristotelia Chilensis).

The fruits are har vested from the abundant maqui bush, which

grows wild in the elds and on the hil lsides of the Araucania

region in southern Chile.

MAQUI: A SUPERFRUIT

For generations the Mapuc he Indians used fresh and fermented

maqui juice to treat stomach ailments, fever, sore throats and

wounds. Legend has it that thanks to the be rry’s healthful

properties, the Mapuche Indians were able to withstand the

invading Spanish forces and re main the only unconque red

people of South.

BERRIES,

BEVERAGES

& branding By Catherine Jewell,

Communications Division, WIPO

About Pisco

Pisco product ion dates from the

16th century in wha t was then the

viceroyalty of P eru, an area includ ing

present-day Pe ru and Chile. Whi le

Peru claims th e exclusive right to

use pisco as an a ppellation of orig in,

having regis tered it as such under th e

Lisbon Agreement for the Protection

of Appellat ions of Origin and thei r

International Registration, various

countries th at have concluded fr ee

trade agre ements with Chile all ow

for the use of pisco i n their respective

markets, for pro ducts from Chile

made in accord ance with Chilean

regulations for pis co designations.

ese are: Pisc o tradicional (60 to 70

proof); Pisc o especial (70 to 80 proof);

Pisco reser vado (80 proof) and Gran

pisco (86 + proof). Fewer th an 20

Chilean companies currently produce

pisco.

e maqui berr y, also known a s Chilean

wineberry (Aristotelia Chilensis), is

rich in antiox idants and gro ws wild

in the elds and on t he hillsides of t he

Araucan ia region in souther n Chile.