Viticulture in Chile

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Viticulture in the Valle del Elqui

The viticulture in Chile has a long tradition. The unique climatic conditions of the country with warm daytime and summer nighttime temperatures of less than 10 degrees offer ideal growing conditions for powerful, complex wines. The Spanish conquerors brought viticulture to South America . The first vines were planted in Chile in the middle of the 16th century . The first grape varieties were the Albilho, Moscatel , País (Negra Peruana) and Torontel from Spain . According to tradition, the privateer Sir Francis Drake is said to have hijacked a ship on his circumnavigation in 1578 that was supposed to bring wineskins from Chile to Peru in 1770 - an indication that wine was already being exported from Chile at that time.

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Modern Chilean viticulture began when French winemakers immigrated in the mid-19th century and began producing varieties such as B. brought the Cabernet Sauvignon .

The old Bordeaux grape variety Carménère is typically Chilean . With the grape varieties Cabernet Sauvignon , Syrah , Merlot and other well-known grape varieties such. B. Pinot Noir , Carménère is one of the plants that are reimported worldwide: Chile was spared the great phylloxera plague in the 19th century due to its geographical remoteness, which is why the descendants, which have emerged from old, undamaged Bordeaux vines , are particularly popular. True-root grape varieties were even reimported to France after the phylloxera was eradicated from Chile .

Chile is the only country in the world that has so far been spared phylloxera. Downy mildew has also not occurred in Chile so far. Therefore, fewer chemicals can be used and the grafting of the vine seedlings can be completely dispensed with.

In the mid- 1980s, Chile's wine export was still marginal. Although wine has been grown and pressed in the country since colonial times , the quality was not at world market level. In 1985 Chile exported wine for just 10 million US dollars. 13 years later it was already 550 million. The boom started in 1981 when the Spanish winery Miguel Torres built a huge winery in the central valley near Curicó . Numerous foreign investors followed, including Château Lafite-Rothschild , Larose Trintaudon , Grand Marnier , Robert Mondavi and the Christian brothers. Everything that has a name in Bordeaux tried to buy into Chile and develop terroir .

Grape variety mirror

The Chilean wine regions have been replanted extensively with higher quality grape varieties in recent years. The País grape variety , which was still to be found on 44% of the area in 1985, is declining more and more. Grape varieties that have hitherto hardly been noticed have been planted in Chile, e. B. Syrah . Other varieties with one percent acreage and more were Moscatel Alejandria (white, 5.39%) and Tintoreras (red, 2.49%) in 2004 . Other growing areas for the production of pisco and table grapes totaling approx. 63,000 hectares are not included in the table.

Grape variety index of the Chilean Ministry of Agriculture SAG, figures in percent
Grape variety 1985 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2018
Cabernet Sauvignon 12.12 20.93 22.58 23.38 25.17 27.98 30.66 34.62 35.74 36.16 35.76 35.77 28.7
País (Misión) 43.77 30.12 28.09 27.28 23.98 20.48 18.11 14.61 14.09 13.78 13.58 13.26 3.4
Merlot 1.49 4.43 4.97 5.77 8.51 11.16 12.02 12.35 12.05 11.76 11.70 11.54 12.6
Carménère 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.52 1.55 2.70 4.54 5.05 5.35 5.49 5.75 7.4
Syrah 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.03 0.32 0.75 1.19 1.96 2.05 2.16 2.24 2.45 6.9
Pinot noir 0.15 0.26 0.40 0.51 0.65 0.78 0.98 1.55 1.36 1.32 1.29 1.28 2.5
Cabernet Franc 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.03 0.10 0.18 0.37 0.66 0.77 0.80 0.84 0.94
Other red varieties 5.29 3.27 3.26 3.37 3.41 3.57 4.44 5.13 5.12 5.32
Total red varieties 62.82 59.01 59.30 60.38 62.66 66.46 70.48 75.44 76.23 76.31
Chardonnay 0.36 7.82 8.09 8.04 8.75 8.89 8.09 7.39 7.07 6.96 6.87 6.89 9.6
Sauvignon Blanc 7.39 11.27 11.28 11.02 10.35 8.96 7.69 6.54 6.24 6.49 6.69 6.91 13.9
Semillon 9.23 5.10 4.87 4.67 3.82 3.22 2.76 1.82 1.74 1.70 1.65 1.53
Riesling 0.41 0.58 0.54 0.57 0.53 0.46 0.34 0.28 0.27 0.26 0.26 0.26
Chenin Blanc 0.03 0.19 0.19 0.17 0.15 0.14 0.11 0.07 0.05 0.05 0.05 0.07
Other white varieties 19.76 16.04 15.72 15.15 13.73 11.87 10.54 8.47 8.41 8.03 7.6
White varieties overall 37.18 40.99 40.70 39.62 37.34 33.54 29.52 24.56 23.77 23.69
Total area in ha 67,132 53.093 54,392 56.003 63,550 75,388 85.357 103,876 106,970 108,569 110.096 112.056

Regions

Regions in Chile

Due to its great north-south expansion, Chile has different climatic zones. Viticulture is therefore concentrated on four wine-growing regions and their sub-regions, which lie between the 30th and 38th parallel.

  1. Coquimbo wine-growing region
  2. Aconcagua wine-growing region
    • Valle del Aconcagua
    • Valle de Casablanca
    • Valle de San Antonio
  3. Central Valley wine-growing region
    • Valle del Maipo
    • Valle de Rapel
    • Valle de Curicó
    • Valle del Maule
    • Valle Sur wine-growing region
    • Valle del Itata
    • Valle del Bío-Bío
    • Valle del Malleco

The best growing area is Maipo, about 40 kilometers south of the capital Santiago de Chile , where the best red wines come from the Rapel valley to the south. In the Región del Maule , also in the south, the red País variety is predominantly cultivated. The best white wines made from Chardonnay and Sauvignon are produced in the Casablanca area near the Pacific coast.

Web links

Commons : Viticulture in Chile  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Growing areas Chile chateau-royal.de, accessed on April 11, 2020
  2. ↑ The Weinland Chile brunnergetraenke.ch, accessed on April 11, 2020
  3. ↑ Las producciones de vinos 2018 por Regiones Administrativas , accessed on August 5, 2018.
  4. ↑ DIARIO OFICIAL DE LA REPUBLICA DE CHILE Núm. 42,065, dated May 25, 2018, accessed August 5, 2018