History of Chilean Wine

Chiles wine history goes way back, nearly 450 years, to the arrival of the Spanish Conquistadors. These soldiers and explorers brought vine seeds with them from the old world, and promptly introduced these species to the Americas. The first vineyard in Chile, established in 1540 by Spaniard Francisco de Aguirre, grew well in the northern town of La Serena. This success led to further plantings around the central Santiago area. At this time, the chief grape was País, which grows easily but has weak flavors.

Wine production in Chile failed to expand quickly despite the favorable climate zones, due to the powerful native groups in the region. For the most part, the Spaniards were not welcome, and outlying vineyards were attacked and destroyed. Furthermore, winemakers in Spain resented the import of Chilean wines, and hence disapproved of their expansion. In fact, in 1744 the king of Spain prohibited the sale of Chilean wine in Spain or any of its colonies outside of Chile.

Chiles wine fortunes improved in 1822, when the former colony gained its independence. A wine and agricultural school was established, and French and Italian immigrants began the work of improving and expanding Chiles vineyards. During the phylloxera epidemic of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Chiles geographical isolation kept its vines safe, and its wine exports filled much of the demand in Europe and North America.

In the 1930s, overseas demand reduced as European wineries began to recover. Furthermore, the event of World War Two cut shipping lines and isolated Chile even more. Overproduction therefore became rampant, and laws were put in place to stem this disastrous trend. In the 1980s, Chile finally began to emerge from its viticultural woes, investing heavily in technology and modernization techniques to improve its vineyards. With the rise of democracy in the 1990s these efforts paid off handsomely. In the last ten years of the twentieth century Chiles revenue from wine exports increased dramatically, and vine cultivation expanded throughout the countrys wine regions.

Today Chile leads its rival South American wine-producing countries both in terms of volume and quality of its exports. Cheap land and labor costs keep wine prices low, so the countrys wines have been particularly successful in the inexpensive wine market.