Despite strong aftershocks that continued to rumble Wednesday in devastated areas of Chile following Saturday's massive 8.8 earthquake, the wine industry is beginning to get a clearer picture of its situation.

"We are estimating a loss of 125 million liters of wine [about 14 million cases] with a value of approximately $250 million," said René Merino, president of Wines of Chile, who met earlier today with the association's board, comprised of representatives from Chile's largest wineries. The winery-funded group represents 95 percent of the Chilean wine industry.

"While the number might seem high, it is in fact only about 12 percent of what the 2009 harvest was, by comparison.  Read more...