just-drinks has spent this week visiting Chile as a guest of the country’s largest wine producer, Concha y Toro. Here’s a closer look at the facts and figures behind Chile’s wine industry:

  • The wine-growing area of Chile stretches 600 miles north of Santiago and 600 miles south of the capital
  • Total vineyard area in the country is around 126,000 hectares with the red/white varieties split at 73% to 27%
  • Cabernet Sauvignon dominates Chile’s vineyards, accounting for almost one-third of all varieties grown. Sauvignon Blanc is a distant second, followed closely by Merlot, Chardonnay and Carmenere
  • With an average width of just 177km (the country is 4,300km in length), Chile’s climate is heavily affected by The Andes to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. The country is framed by desert to the north and Antarctica to the south
  • There are 14 Denominations of Origin in Chile, stretching from Elqui Valley in the north to Malleco Valley in the south. The largest DO, in terms of number of wineries, is Maipo Valley, located next to Santiago in the middle of the country’s wine-growing area
  • A common regional term used on wine from Chile is Central Valley. This is not a specific region, but a reference to the valley that runs north to south through the majority of the wine-growing area, with the Andes to the east and the (much lower-lying) coastal range of mountains to the west
  • The term Rapel can be used on wines from both the Cachapoal Valley and the neighbouring Colchagua Valley
  • The northern DOCs are being badly hit by drought, with many vines in the Limari and Elqui regions being left to die
  • There are three wine producers whose names match the names of wine regions in the country – Vina Maipo (owned by Concha y Toro), Vina Casablanca and Vina Leyda
  • Chile has the lowest level of per capita consumption of wine of all the world’s wine-growing countries. Consumption domestically stands at around 14 litres per capita, a fall from the height of 40 litres per person 40 years ago. 

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