The Origins of World Class Wines
It is believed that the first grapevines arrived to the Americas with Spanish conquistadores and priests during the early sixteenth century. In Chile , Francisco de Carabantes, a Jesuit priest, planted the first grapevines in 1548 around the city of Concepcion , some 300 miles south of Santiago . Although Carabantes was primarily seeking to produce an essential component for his missionary work, Chilean wines soon caught the attention of other producers motivated by less pious intentions.
During the seventeenth century, as commercial production expanded and quality improved, Chile became the most important wine exporter to the rest of the Spanish colonies. Faced with a sharp reduction in the Crown's revenues, Spain prohibited Chile from planting new vineyards and imposed special tariffs on its exports. As with many orders from Spain , the prohibition was largely disregarded and production continued to grow. The decree was finally eliminated in 1678 and Chilean wine exports resumed.
A few years after Independence , in the early 1850s, Chilean winegrowers led by Silvestre Ochagavía, introduced in Chile French vinifera vines including Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot, Chardonnay, Carménère, Gewurztraminer, and Riesling. Some of the now world known Chilean brands can be traced back to that period.
Favored by Nature
Planted in valleys encrusted between the Andes and the Pacific Ocean, grapes grew in extraordinary favorable conditions. Chile's Mediterranean climate -long and dry summers with hot days and cool nights, and wet winters- and rich soils allowed for consistent and high quality vintages year after year.
Furthermore, its geographical isolation provided an insurmountable barrier that protected Chile from the phylloxera scourge that wiped out vineyards all over the wine-producing world during the late 1870s. Chilean vines, unscathed by the outbreak, became the sole inheritor of the traditional grape varieties from Bordeaux .
Chilean Wines for World Markets
Since the mid 1980s, the Chilean wine industry modernized production techniques and aggressively marketed its product internationally. Indeed, wine growing in Chile has come a long way since the days of Carabantes.
In 2001 Chile produced over 40 million cases -half of which were exported- from its more than 210,000 acres of vineyards. These New World wines, the direct descendants of the grapes that Ochagavia and his fellow vintners brought from Bordeaux , are now savored in homes and restaurants in more than one hundred countries.
For the last two decades wines have been at the center of Chile's export boom contributing to the country's sustained economic development. This contribution, which in 1994 equaled US$ 143 million, reached US$ 840 million in 2004.
In 2003, Chile was the fifth largest supplier of wine to the U.S. Chile ranked behind France, Italy , Australia and Spain with total exports of US$ 140 million.
In terms of market destination, the U.K. is the largest consumer of Chilean wines, followed closely by the United States , which accounts for 19% of total Chilean exports. The third place with 6% is shared by Denmark , Canada and Germany .
Did You Know?
By the late 1800s Carménère had a Impost disappeared from the world wine map. This once popular Bordeaux grape had been a major crop until the phylloxera; outbreak of the 1870s and 1880s. As French vintners replanted their fields, Carménère was replaced with higher yielding competitors.
However, the grape had been taken to Chile around the 1850s, just before the phyllloxera occurrence. Thus, for the next 100 years Carmen6re grew in the remote vineyards of Chile out of the expert's eye and palate. In the early 1990s, while most Chilean vintners were aggressively marketing their Merlot worldwide, some winemakers identified clear differences in the leaf coloring of some Merlot vines. Rigorous scientific analysis revealed that many of the vines that were believed to be Merlot were in fact specimens of the long lost Carménère.
They recognized the potential of Carménère's low tannins and blackberry fruit which makes it the perfect companion for a broad range of foods and which Carménère lovers around the world now enjoy.
Napa Valley and CasaBlanca Valley , a Wine Sisterhood
Fostering closer ties between the wine industry in the U.S. and Chile, Chilean vintner Agustin Huneeus promoted an agreement to name the Napa Valley and the Casablanca Valley, sister valleys. Under the agreement, wine producers from Casablanca and Napa will strengthen relationships, cultural ties and business opportunities.
The content of this document was kindly provided by the Economic Department of the Embassy of Chile, Washington, D.C.
