Chile has been making wine for 500 years. Like much of South America, Spanish missionaries brought grapes here in the 1540’s. The country’s geography is extremely distinctive, with the nation running down the west coast of the Andes mountains in an extremely narrow band. This at once defines all of Chile as simultaneously subject to coastal influence and extremely high elevations (not to mention the proximity to the Antarctic winds of Patagonia). The mission grape, in Chile called Pais (a relation of Listan Negro from the Canary Islands) is still grown in Chilean vineyards, and produces wines distinctively Chilean. Elsewhere you’ll find extremely well priced Sauvignon Blanc, Torrontès grown at extremely high altitudes, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Carmenère.
