The rivalry between Chile and Argentina has left throughout history from territorial or diplomatic conflicts where war drums sounded to more banal episodes of a sporting nature. The delimitation between both countries in the Beagle Channel (1978) or the Southern Ice Field (1998); General Pinochet’s support for the United Kingdom during the Malvinas war (1982), or the recurring accusations of espionage – in 1981 there was even an exchange of spies – contrast with the mockery in the form of memes that populated the networks in the It was digital after the two consecutive defeats of Messi’s team in the Copa América finals (2015 and 2016).
Its presidents apparently get along well, they see each other more than once a year; Argentines travel in summer to the beaches of Viña del Mar and Reñaca –when inflation allows it– and Chileans cross the Andes through the Christ the Redeemer pass to go shopping in Mendoza –when the dollar is convenient–. Its citizens also get along well, with a certain spirit of love-hate, but always with a sense of humor, unless the barrabravas of Colo-Colo and Boca Juniors come across each other in a Libertadores tie. At after-meals, it is discussed whether the Argentinean empanadas are better than the Chilean ones, on which side of the mountain range the best barbecues are made, or the wine from which of the two countries is better.
This story is precisely about wines and also about territorial claims. Cape Horn, the southernmost point of the American continent -although this is also the subject of controversy-, is also very close to the Beagle Channel, where the sovereignty of three uninhabited islands was about to lead Chile and Argentina to war in 1978, if it had not been for the mediation of Pope John Paul II. In fact, previously, Argentina had also claimed sovereignty over the island of Hornos, where the cape is located, before it was finally established that there is no dispute about its belonging to Chile. The islet is only inhabited by a Chilean Navy sailor, accompanied by his family, who maintains a lighthouse and is relieved every year.
The Argentine winery San Huberto baptized one of its wines with the Cabo de Hornos brand two decades ago. About 15 years ago, the label was modernized to put the drawing of a lighthouse on some waves and, below, the inscription “Argentina”. As the president of San Huberto, Leonardo Spadone, explained to La Vanguardia from Buenos Aires, “I think we put Argentina on the label to differentiate it from another that is also called Cabo de Hornos and is from the Chilean winery San Pedro.”
Apparently, the former commander in chief of the Chilean Navy (2009-2013), Edmundo González, did not know of the existence of Argentine wine until a few days ago, when he reacted angrily. “I imagine that someone will do something with this freshness of this Argentine producer, by labeling an Argentine wine with the name of a cape who has always been Chilean. Territorial transgressions always start with small details that no one catches,” the retired admiral tweeted.
Quickly, various Chilean media outlets picked up the nationalist gauntlet and amplified the sailor’s complaint. Claudio Radonich, mayor of Punta Arenas, in the Strait of Magellan, reacted by demanding that the Chilean Ministry of Foreign Affairs take action on the matter. The mayor took the opportunity to request that the draft of the new Chilean Constitution, in drafting, “incorporate without complexes the Chilean Antarctic Territory”, a triangle of ocean and ice that Argentina and the United Kingdom also claim.
The hundred-year-old private entity Liga Marítima de Chile also made a letter “a call to our Minister of Foreign Affairs, to exercise the utmost caution and to use all the instruments granted by International Law, to disseminate, illustrate and thus clear up any doubts that, in the international community, could arise on the Chilean sovereignty of Cape Horn”.
There is no news that the Chilean Foreign Ministry has called the Argentine ambassador for consultations about this wine affront, nor that a diplomatic conflict has been generated.
Nor has anyone contacted Bodegas San Huberto. “It’s something half laughing,” says Spadone, who adds sarcastically that “the appreciation (of the admiral) may be valid but he is doing it on a wine label.”
