As stated in a previous post, Chile is a long, narrow country --
dominated to the east by the Andes and to the west by the
Pacific Ocean -- with vineyards located along an 800-mile
stretch of land from the Atacama Desert in the north to the Bio-
Bio region in the south. Chilean vineyards are allocated to one
of four regions based on Denominacion de Origin laws introduced
in 1994. The major regions are, from north to south, Coquimbo,
Aconcagua, Valle Centrale, and Southern Regions and each region
is, in turn, further subdivided into a number of sub-regions.
The vast majority of Chilean wines are produced in the Valle
Centrale region. Valle Centrale, in general, and more
specifically, Maipo Valley, one of its four sub-regions, is
renowned for its Cabernet Sauvignon. Valle Centrale is the
fertile basin that lies between the Andes and the Chilean
Coastal Range and runs north-south from approximately 50 miles
north of Santiago to 250 miles to its south. Vineyards in the
valley benefit from: the Andean snowmelt that