Chilean wine

A long, narrow wine country

Chile is more than four thousand kilometers long and on average less than two hundred kilometers wide. The vineyards are mainly located in the center of the country, around the capital Santiago. The Andes lie to the east, and the Pacific Ocean with a cold ocean current to the west. The days are sunny, but at night it cools down considerably due to the cold air from the mountains and the sea. As a result, the grapes develop ripe fruit flavors while retaining their freshness. Spanish missionaries brought the grapevine to Chile as early as the sixteenth century. In the nineteenth century, French grape varieties were added, such as cabernet sauvignon, merlot, and carmenère.

Carmenère has a particularly remarkable story. The grape almost completely disappeared in Bordeaux, but it grew unnoticed among Merlot vines in Chile for years. It was not until the 1990s that researchers discovered that much of Chile's Merlot was actually Carmenère. Today, it is the grape that sets Chile apart. The wine regions are divided into valleys. The Central Valley, including Maipo, Cachapoal, Colchagua, Curicó, and Maule, is warm and produces mainly red wine. Aconcagua lies north of Santiago. The cooler valleys close to the coast, such as Casablanca and Leyda, are known for Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, and Pinot Noir. Farther south, in Bío-Bío, it is even cooler. One striking fact: phylloxera, which devastated almost all European vineyards in the nineteenth century, never reached Chile.