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Chile

The real Chile is not yet known in the United States. The real Chile is far away from Santiago,
at the extremes. People aren’t coming here because it is too far out of the mainstream—so
99% of sommeliers don’t understand our real potential. But ever so slowly we are drawing a
little attention. We are starting to show people the dark side of the moon.
-Pedro Parra (Clos des Fous, Aristos, Parra Family Wines), speaking from Concepción in Itata

Contents
  1. Five Centuries of the Vine
  2. Geography and Climate
  3. Geology and Soil
  4. Wine Law in Chile
  5. Chile's Grape Varieties
  6. Winegrowing Regions of Chile
Chile is one of the 10 largest wine-producing countries in the world and second only to Argentina in the Southern Hemisphere. In the last 30 years the country has vaulted forward as a major exporter of wine and today ships more wine offshore than its citizens drink at home. According to USDA GAIN reports, Chile exports more wine, in both volume and value, to the United States than any other South American country. But Chile’s story, beyond single-digit bargains on the supermarket shelf, is not often told in the US. With a few exceptions Chilean wines rarely appear on fine-dining wine lists, and even when they do the category is usually a half-page entitled “South America,” offset by a chapter of Burgundy. Too often lumped in with Argentina and left behind by sommeliers, Chile deserves a second look.
Five Centuries of the Vine

Wine, Conquest, and Religion in Spain’s New World
Muscadine grapevines may have grown wild in Mexico, but it was the Spanish who introduced Vitis vinifera to the New World. As early as 1519, the Spanish Empire decreed that all ships sailing for the West Indies carry vine cuttings. The conquistador Hernán Cortés, who brought ruin to the Aztec civilization of Mexico in 1521 and established the American colony of New Spain the following year, reiterated the order and set quotas for vineyard production in his
  • in reply to Toni Albiol

    www.bcn.cl/.../navegar

  • in reply to Jonathan Eichholz

    According to the decree, Chiloe is a subregion and Rapa Nui is considered an area. I'm not entirely convinced, but that seems to be the current legislation.

  • in reply to Juan David Quintero

    Hey Juan! Great question. The answer is both. As of now, since the approval of the DO, not much salient information is out about either DO. Once there is, we will be sure to add them to the expert guide. 

  • are Rapa Nui DO in the Pacific and Chiloé DO in Patagonia Sub-region DO or Zone DO, not really super relevant but there isn't much info and i'm just curious.

  • in reply to Jairo Carrillo

    Yes, we have this one on the roadmap! 

  • in reply to Jairo Carrillo

    Hey, Jairo! We have three new expert guides in the works ;)

  • Is there an expert guide on the works for Argentina?

  • in reply to Maximilian Gregor Glatz

    https://www.wip.cl/chile-suma-102-variedades-para-sus-d-o-ig/
    I couldn't find it in english. The government did NOT approve Pais or Cinsault, there were many more grape varieties that were added (41) in March 2025 and now the total of approved grape vaieties in Chile for D.O. wines is 88. The next president will get the chance to modify it and approve the two varieties since by popular vote says that people wanted them but they were not approved, we will see.

  • in reply to Evan Martin

    i searched all over - can you give a source for this? thx

  • As of March 2025 País can now be on DO labels! 

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