Nov 27 2009
Chile’s Wine History
Perfect climate conditions always supported Chile to be one of the leading wine making countries. The history of wine making in Chile is very long and it lasts practically about five hundred years.
So let’s start from the very beginning of the wine history in Chile. If we could travel to the past with help of some machine then to see the start of Chile’s wine history we should enter “mid-sixteenth century”. As we know from the history lessons it was a time of missioners and conquistadores, who tried to provide the leading position of Spain in the countries of American continent. Conquistadores were the first who brought cuttings of grapes to Chile, they planted it near Santiago, because its climate was very close to their own. Conquistadores used wine for religion purposes but the first grape harvest in Chile was bigger that they expected, so they decided to use it in export.
In 1800 Chile’s wines became a serious competitor for Spanish ones, so Spain, which wanted to protect its native producers, provided big taxes and restrictions, also Spain decided to destroy many vineyards in Chile. It was unacceptable for Chilean people and they started to fight for their independence.
After that war became the period of immigration to the American continent from European one, due to that period French grapes sorts appeared in Chile.
1870 year is known in the wine making history as a start of Phylloxera disease but there isn’t any notes about Phylloxera in Chile’s wine history. It happened because nature isolation of this country (it is isolated in the north by deserts and from other sides by Pacific Ocean and Andes). So due to it wine making producers which were noble in the begging of wine history of Chile are also noble now.
In 1940’s the amount of people who drink chilean wine raised, that is why in 1980 Chilean government started the export of it again. Chilean wines are different by taste and odour so some of them are good and some of them not, but they all are cheap. Chile’s wines became the subject of interest for some of well known people in the wine world and today chilean wine industry receives investments of foreign counties.
The vineyards of Chile are situated in the narrow valleys from north of Santiago to the south of the country. During all these years the biggest amount of grapes we could see in the Maipo valley, but nowadays this situation changed and in the Bio Bio region, situated in the south, we can see much more amount of wine.
There are many wine tours across this country with five centuries history of wine making. If you will be on tour there don’t forget to visit “Concho y Toro” – winery, which was found in 1883 and is noble like one of the biggest wineries in Chile. Lands of “Concho y Toro” are simply amazing so don’t waste your time and visit it surely.
The most common Chilean wine types are Riesling, Shiraz, Sauvignon Blanc, Semillón, Chardonnay, Merlot, Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir, Syrah, Carmenère, Cabernet Franc, Viogner, Verdot, Chenin Blanc, Gewürztraminer and others.
