Into the Valley of Colchagua

I was privileged and fortunate to visit Chile at the end of February 2016 to see at first hand the natural topography that is perfect for making top quality wines. Chile is dominated by the Andes Mountains and has the benefit of cooling coastal mists rolling in from the Pacific Ocean to premium vineyard areas like Casablanca Valley. The Andes protect the vineyards from insects and pests and from the usual vine growing problems like frost and mildew. The soil or terroir here is also very important – mainly sand and gravel that drains well and keeps out the dreaded phylloxera aphid that attacks the vine roots.

In the early 1990’s, a group of Masters of Wine had visited Chile and the key wine growing areas and had returned to Europe waxing lyrical about the wonderful ripe grapes they had seen at harvest. This was only the beginning of Chile becoming one of the major quality wine-producing countries in the world.

Fast forward 25 years and all of us will probably have experienced well made, good value single varietal entry level wines from the Central Valley region but Chile is now much, much more than that!

Many young winemakers have taken the traditional winemaking skills of their forebears and added innovation in the vineyards and winery and planted new emerging grape varieties. The matching of terroir in certain areas to specific grapes has added a new dimension and quality level to Chilean wines in areas like Casablanca and Colchagua.

Click here to view our Chilean range.