Chile
Wine was brought to Chile during the Spanish conquest and flourished later
under the skilled hands of Franciscan priests. By the end of the XIX century
French wines, mainly brought from Bordeaux, found a natural home in the
central region. The Chilean landscape offered protection from Phylloxera
disease that almost wiped out French vines in the mid-to-late 1800s. These
vines flourished, promoting a continuation of the grape varieties, rather
then their complete loss. These have been their wines since the end of the
nineteenth century and these are the vines that members of Cooperatives
continue to grow today.
Nestled between the snow-capped Andes Mountains and the cool breezes of the Pacific Ocean, central Chile possesses exceptional climatic qualities. Located in the country’s hub for agricultural production, wine regions such as Curicó, Maipo, Rapel and Maule are blessed with well-defined seasons- a bright spring, a scorching summer, a dry autumn, and a rainy winter to quench thirsty farms. It is South America’s most benign climate.
For centuries the Lontue, Teno, and Mataquito rivers
have nurtured the valleys. The landscape of rivers has provided remarkable
drainage, silent breezes and smooth hills, all of which have imprinted
a unique and irreplaceable characteristic in each grape. This cultivation,
occurring for almost half a millennium, has brought a balance of acidity
to concentrate the grapes’ sugar. Instead of minimizing their unique
characters, the area’s Fair Trade cooperatives’ advancements
in environmental sustainability and organic production have favored the
terrain. The individuality of the fruits of these vineyards and wine
cellars has never diminished.
Expert hands of the Chilean people gently take care of the grapes and harvest them at the time of their exact ripeness. At noon, the sun seems to burn over the valley, temperatures rise and forests become shelters. During the night slight winds bring cool flavors from both the ocean and the mountain ice. White and red capture the seasons, the obscure earth and vegetable scents of this famous Chilean valley.