Chilean Wine

Chilean wine making started in the 16th century when the Spanish first introduced the practice to the country. Chile is South America's most prominent wine making country with other countries such as Argentina and Uruguay ranking behind it.

Chile is famous for a lot of things of varying importance internationally, but to wine lovers it is famous for that which matters most, its wine. Today, the country is one of the largest exporters of wine in the world and one of the major non-European countries that produce quality wine for international export.

While wine making was introduced by the Spanish, French wine grapes currently account for a substantial part of the nations wine produce, especially when it comes to red wines such as the Chilean Carbernet Sauvignon and Merlot which derive from the Bordeaux variety of French wine grapes.

These grapes are grown in five regions across Chile and the most famous of these wine making regions is the Valle Central region consisting of the Maipo, Curicó, Rapel and Maule Valleys.

The Maipo Valley is especially famous for its version of the Chilean Carbernet Sauvignon and it is the oldest wine making region in the country.

In terms of white wine, Chile produces wines from the Sauvignon blanc, Sauvignon vert, Chardonnay and other varied white wine grapes.

There are a lot of famous Chilean wineries, some are traditionally Chilean establishments while a couple of others have teamed up with foreign establishments in order to gain a better edge in internationally marketing their wine.

A lot of wine from Chile available internationally are premium wines, some of which have outranked European wines at various wine tasting and rating competitions globally.