A Brief History
Often overlooked, is the fact that grape vines have been planted in South America since the 16th century, long before countries like Australia, New Zealand & South Africa made their first bottle of wine. As global wine companies search for new places to produce high quality wines & where acreage & labor is inexpensive, a renewed interest in South America has emerged. South America & its new world partners have judiciously applied science to the long traditional methods of their forefathers. It has only been in recent years that winemakers have not only tried to understand & match the European concept of “Terroir” but has incorporated science & technology alongside it.
Argentina
Agricultural irrigation here originated in the 1500’s with Spanish settlers, although much of this system developed from the adopted methods of their predecessors, the ancient Inca. Trenches were dug in the Andes Mountains so that snowmelt could be used as run-off into man made reservoirs. This past & present method of collecting & using water to inundate agricultural fields is known as “Flood Irrigation” to which much needed moisture is used to cultivate vines, which in natural conditions, would rarely see water. With the addition of Argentina’s superior vineyards & modern production facilities, those wine makers who have focused on quality, rather than producing the mass-produced jug wines of the past, have given consumers an incredible value with some amazing wines.
As a wine producing country, Argentina is the 5th largest in the world & 8th largest in consumption. Although, the county has always been one of the world’s largest consumers of wine, over the past few decades recent generations seem to be less interested in wine & more interested in beer. We’ll have to wait and see how that trend affects Argentinean wine.
Chile
It is widely accepted that grape growing in Chile was started during the 1550’s, when the Spanish settled in the Central Valley. Wines produced at that point were used more for sacramental purposes than general consumption, but the long history of winemaking in & around Santiago remains. To a great extent, Chile’s wine production was once much like that of Argentina, where the focus was once on quantity over quality. Wines were even sweetened with boiled grape concentrate leaving wines with an inferior “maderized” character. But that all changed around 1830, when a Frenchman by the name of Claudio Gay convinced Chilean officials to set up an exotic botanical nursery containing pre-Phylloxera vines from France.
Phylloxera is an aphid that eats at the roots of vines, especially wine vines. They once wiped out European vineyards to such an extent that all European vines are now grafted onto American “resistant” rootstock. Yes, it’s true—America saved the European wine world! But what is unique to Chile is that most Chilean wines you buy today are from the original unadulterated French vines that the French themselves don’t even possess. These ancient cuttings are safely & naturally protected in an agricultural isolated area (protected by the Pacific Ocean & the Andes Mountain Range) free from Phylloxera and common vine diseases like powdery mildew. And that’s how you can drink a bit of history with Chilean wines, and the best thing about it—is that you can do it at a reasonable price!
Stop in to 21st Amendment at 3404 E.146th St. Carmel, In 46033. Meet Wine Director Bryan Criswell a Sommelier from the Court of Master Sommeliers and Wine Master from the Wine Education Guild. Bryan will freely consult with you Tuesday through Saturday & assist with any purchase, questions or suggestions that you may have.