Chilean Wine

The South American country of Chile has a long history of wine production with Chilean wines being prominent in the New World section of many stores these days. Many more great wines from this region can be found if you buy wine online however.

 

Although wine making in this country dates back to the days of the conquistadors in the 16th century there was a renaissance in production techniques in the 1980's. Like New Zealand wine makers did back in the late 60's and early 70's, Chilean wine makers began to use stainless steel in the fermentation process and then oak barrels to age the wines. The quality of wines thus produced created a massive upturn in exports over this period and to the present day. 

 

With a climate somewhere between those of France and California, Chile is now the worlds 5th largest exporter of wine with around 6 times the number of wineries now as were in existence in the 70's. This is largely due as mentioned above, to the switch from aging in beechwood barrels to Oak. An improvement introduced by overseas wine investors and producers who saw the advantages of the Chilean climate and soil and new that the production and storage methods could be greatly improved.

 

The most commonly grown grape varieties in Chile are Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Carmenere and wines produced from these varieties and blends of those are the ones you will most often find in the shops. Although Chile produces red, white and rose wines of familiar styles, the climate varies so much from one growing are to another that the flavours are often hard to characterise. You'll find warm, soft Merlots and serious Chardonnays and should definitely look for Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon rose.

 

The initial trend after wine making was pretty much turned on its head in Chile as described was to produce good quality mass market, affordable wines and a lot of wine is still produced for that market. Inevitably however with the country soon attracting master wine makers from California and Bordeaux over time a cult for top level wine production developed and there are a number of Chilean superstar wines on the market today such as the original Caballo Loco.