Chilean Wine Production

The Chilean wine industry dates to the 16th century when Spanish conquistadors ventured south, from what is today known as Peru, across the Atacama Desert in search of a lost city of gold rumored to be near the western coast of South America. Being good Franciscan Catholics, they brought with them wine grapes for their celebrations of mass and planted this grape throughout the central valley of present day Chile. Today, this variety is known as “Pais” and is experiencing a resurrection in popularity, which is helping to save the sometimes more than century-old vines from being replaced by more commercial varieties.

After its war with Bolivia and Peru in the late 19th century, Chile experienced a golden age of vast amounts of wealth made from exporting coal and mined nitrates to North America and Europe. The new moneyed families searched for ways to mimic the lavish lifestyles of European royalty and the bourgeoisie; one way was through wine. In the late 1800s, any Chilean family of means traveled to France and came back with cuttings of the finest grape varieties to plant at their new estates in the Chilean countryside. Chile’s commercial wine industry was thus born and some of those original names, such as Errazurriz, Cousiño, and Concha, are still producing wine today.

In the mid 1980s and early 1990s, Chile’s wine industry entered the modern age and started importing stainless steel equipment to improve sanitation and wine quality and export their wine around the world. After reviewing the international market, it was decided to attack the niche of “cheap and cheerful”, producing good quality Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot at very aggressive prices. It worked, and the export industry exploded with many small to medium vineyards consolidating, leaving three massive brands: Concha y Toro, Santa Rita and San Pedro. These three brands still account for most of Chile’s wine production at a combined total of over 500,000,000 liters (1.321 million gallons) of wine produced per year.

As we enter the 21st century, Chile’s wine industry is experiencing a rebirth. In the post-Robert Parker era, there is a movement towards terroir focused wines with less of a heavy hand from the winemaker. Chile is embracing this revolution with diversity at the core of its reborn wine industry. Diversity in varietals planted, diversity in wine regions and diversity in winemaking techniques. Chile has commercial vineyard operations from the southern Atacama Desert to northern Patagonia; from 1,200 meters up in the Andean foothills to the shorelines of the Pacific Ocean. Micro climates abound in this skinny country that is basically Baja California to Juneau, Alaska, upside down. Chile is transforming itself into a crazy, lawless laboratory of wine making and attracting winemakers, wine critics and wine lovers from all over the world to come and experience its new creations.