Buy Wines of Chile Online

CHILEAN WINES ONLINE

Similar to the Argentinian wine industry, Chilean wines were primarily produced in high volumes at low cost for local consumption. But, in the early 1980's a renaissance began with the introduction modern equipment (similar to earlier efforts by Australia and New Zealand) such as stainless steel fermentation tanks, refrigeration and more use of oak barrels for aging. The positive consequences of this new investment was a massive improvement in quality and presentation of wine, followed by significant increases in exports, especially to the UK. Again like in Argentina, a number of Chilean wineries, some with support from well established European and American wineries are now producing wines of superior quality and are commanding prices similar to the top growths in France, Italy and Spain.

The entry of Chile into the UK wine market with volume and quality wines during the late 1980's was well timed. Although Australian wines were well established in the UK, some regions started increasing prices way beyond normal inflation and Chile took advantage big time. Not only did Australia lose out, but California (whose wines have never been cheap) and parts of Europe producing wines from similar grape varieties as Chile. The main problem for the competition was Chile's ability to produce easy drinking flavoursome wines at low cost.

The favoured grape varieties of Chile are: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah, Carmenere, Zinfandel, Viognier, Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc and the ever improving cultivation of the Chardonnay grape in the cooler climate regions.

The following are the most important and well known wine regions of Chile and Alexander Hadleigh wine Merchants, Southampton, Hampshire, UK maintain a very large selection of wines from each region for sale online or at our Southampton shop: Casablanca Valley Wines, Maipo Valley Wines, Maule Valley Wines, Rapel Valley Wines, Valle Central Wines, Curico Valley Wines and Colchagua Valley Wines.