Courtesy Errazuriz

Vineyard at Errazuriz winery

During the years of the Spanish conquest, one of the first orders put forth by the King of Spain, and enforced by the Catholic Church, was to begin the process of Christianizing the inhabitants of the New World. In order to be able to perform the ecclesiastical ceremonies necessary for such conversions, Spanish clergymen brought grapevines to America. Thanks to them, Chile became a wine-producing colony.

It is said that in 1548, Father Francisco de Carabantes arrived at Concepcion (300 miles south of Santiago) where he planted the first vines. Around 1550, Francisco de Aguirre planted vineyards in his haciendas at Copiapo and La Serena, which are located north of Santiago. Although these are the official records of the first vines introduced in Chile, there are other chronicles claiming that there were wild grapevines near the valley of Curico, in the central skirts of the Andes mountain range.

Around 1554, in the region of Santiago, the first viticulturist was Juan Jufre de Loaiza and Montesa, a soldier who later went on to plant vineyards in his plantations of Macul and Nunoa.

According to many historians, during the 1600s and 1700s, the production of wine grew immensely throughout the central region of Chile (north and south of Santiago). However, the methods used for the viticulture were outmoded and precarious; hence, the wines produced were of poor quality. For instance, grapes were harvested in sacks made of cattle-leather and the wine was stored in vases sealed with a plant resin that transmitted awkward odors and tastes to the wine.

It was not until the 1850s that Chilean viticulture was transformed. One of the first pioneers was Silvestre Ochagavia, who introduced the first French vines in Chile at his Talagante estate and thus initiated the transformation from the traditional Spanish vines to the Cabernet Sauvignon, Cot, Merlot, Pinot, Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon, among others.

Ochagavia was also the first to incorporate the expertise and knowledge of a French enologist to Chile’s wine production. Practically all large producers followed Ochagavia’s footsteps and hired European enologists, who were out of jobs due to the phylloxera plague of the mid-1800s that destroyed many vineyards around the world, except for those in Chile.

Vineyards began exporting Chilean wine to Europe in 1877 and its quality was distinguished in the wine expositions of Bordeaux (1882), Liverpool (1885) and Paris (1889).

At the beginning of the twentieth century, there were 88,000 acres dedicated to the vines, reaching about 220,000 acres in 1938, when the sector’s growth stagnated due to strict regulations hindering the planting of new vines.

It was not until the 1980s that the sector was liberalized and modern technology was incorporated, including stainless steel vats, French oak barrels and better bottles, in addition to placing attention to the image of the vineyard through its bottles and wines. Moreover, many vineyards were transformed from family-owned businesses to corporations, some with international participation. This led to the export boom that Chilean wines experienced in the 1990s and has been consolidating throughout the first years of the 21st century.