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Chile has a long history of wine making, going back to the conquistadores who brought grape vines with them in the mid 16th Century and planted vineyards. In the mid 18th century, French varietals such as Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot were introduced. However, government decrees prohibited the planting of new vineyards between 1938 and 1974.
Much low quality wine has historically been produced (often from table grapes such as sultanas) and producers have traditionally been more interested in quantity than quality. However, in the early 1980s a renaissance began with the introduction of stainless steel fermenters and the use of oak barrels for ageing. Subsequently, the export business grew very quickly and large amounts of quality wines were produced. The number of wineries has grown from 12 in 1995 to over 70 in 2005. Chile is now the fourth largest exporter of wines to the United States.
The climate has been described as midway between that of California and France. The most common grapes are Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Carmenère, which is often regarded as perhaps the most suitable grape for the Chilean climate.

Contents

Regions

Quality wines

See also

References and external links

Regions

In December 1994, the Republic of Chile defined the following viticultural regions, also known as viticultural zones or appellations:

★ Viticultural Region of Atacama, within the III Administrative Region. Within it are two subregions, the Copiapó Valley and the Huasco Valley, both of which are coterminous with the provinces of the same names.

★ Viticultural Region of Coquimbo, within the IV Administrative Region. It has three subregions: Elqui Valley, Limarí Valley, and the Choapa Valley. All subregions are coterminous with the provinces of the same names.

★ Viticultural Region of Aconcagua, within the V Administrative Region. It includes two subregions, the Valley of Aconcagua and the Valley of Casablanca, Chile. The Aconcagua Valley is coterminous with the province of that name. The Casablanca Valley is coterminous with the ''comuna'' of that name.

★ Viticultural Region of the Central Valley, which spans the VI and VII Administrative Regions and the Administrative Metropolitan Region. Within it are four subregions: the Maipo Valley, the Rapel Valley, the Curicó Valley and the Maule Valley.

★ Viticultural Region of the South, within the VIII Administrative Region. Two subregions are included: Itata Valley and Bío-Bío Valley.

Quality wines

In some international competitions, Chilean wines have ranked very highly. For example, in the Berlin Wine Tasting of 2004, 36 European experts blind tasted wines from two vintages each of eight top wines from France, Italy and Chile. The first and second place wines were two Cabernet-based reds from Chile: Viñedo Chadwick 2000 and Sena 2001.
In the Tokyo Wine Tasting of 2006, Chilean wines won four of the top five rankings.
Chile is entirely free of Phylloxera, so its ''vitis vinifera'' grape vines do not need to be grafted.

See also

★ New World wine

References and external links

★ Asociación de Viñas de Chile A.G.

★ Short history of wine in Chile

★ Chilean Wine Online

★ "Planetavino" (in Spanish) - a ''connoisseurs'' website, covering country-wide wine news.

★ Wines of Chile