Grape cultivation for wine began centuries ago in Chile,
immediately following the 16th century conquistadors. Priests
and missionaries came to Chile to bring the message of
Christianity to the Americas and of course they needed
sacramental wine. Grapes were planted and wine was made. Fast
forward a few centuries. In the mid to late 1800's, the
phylloxera epidemic was destroying vineyards throughout Europe.
Many vineyard workers and winemakers became unemployed and moved
to other areas of the world to practice their craft. The
established chateaux in Europe thought grape production might be
over on the continent and they started to look elsewhere for
suitable sites. Chile became extensively planted with mostly the
noble varieties from France. Moving forward another century,
with increasing consumer demand for high quality wine and high
value wines, in conjunction with increasing knowledge of
terroir, cultivation and wine production, it became clear that
Chile could make quality wines that could appeal to wine