Everything you ever wanted to know about Chilean wines

Mint

29-07-2025

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All wine drinkers in India are familiar with Chilean wines, for many it is our everyday glass. What's not to love? Great pricing, fruit-forward wines, and a whole lot of deliciousness. It's often served by the glass at hotels and restaurants for that very same reason. The challenge has been that only the lower end of the spectrum of wines from Chile were usually imported into India, thereby creating a reputation for non-fussy, easy going, value for money wines in our minds. However, Chilean wines cannot be relegated to purely commercial wine categories. If that's the impression of Chilean wine you have today, this is for you.
All wine drinkers in India are familiar with Chilean wines, for many it is our everyday glass. What's not to love? Great pricing, fruit-forward wines, and a whole lot of deliciousness. It's often served by the glass at hotels and restaurants for that very same reason. The challenge has been that only the lower end of the spectrum of wines from Chile were usually imported into India, thereby creating a reputation for non-fussy, easy going, value for money wines in our minds. However, Chilean wines cannot be relegated to purely commercial wine categories. If that's the impression of Chilean wine you have today, this is for you.
But first, some basics. Chile lies in the southern hemisphere, a sliver of a country facing the Pacific Ocean to the west, the Antarctic to the south and the mighty Andes to the east. It is for all practical purposes fairly isolated which has worked to its advantage, staving off the deadly phylloxera outbreak that ravaged the world's vineyards. This has allowed the vines to be planted on their own rootstock.
Chile is not new to making wine, in fact it has been doing so for over 400 years. The Spanish conquistadors brought with them their vine cuttings followed by an introduction many years later of French grape varieties. For many years, Chilean wine was just well nothing to write home about, but in the late 1900s with serious investments, Chilean winemakers started using modern vine growing and winemaking practices, steel tanks, French oak and more to channel their wine qualities to the stratosphere. Also Read | Why wines are so expensive in bars and restaurants
The melting water from the Andes gives vine growers sufficient water and the warm summers help the vines to ripen their fruit, aided by the cold Humboldt current that passes up Chile's coast line and influences of the Andes and Pacific Ocean, all come together to allow Chile to produce wines of very high caliber and with a signature purity of fruit. That signature is undeniable.
In fact, at the Berlin Tasting of 2004 which took inspiration from the Judgement of Paris tasting, top class Chilean wines tasted blind against European counterparts, and they scored in some cases higher points than some of the world's most famous Chateaux.
In this article, I do not want to focus on the everyday Chilean wines that you are familiar with, but wines that are premium, high-end and even fine. It amazes me how almost always, anyone with a choice between two wines at exactly the same price, between the old and new world wine producing regions, almost always decides upon wines from the old world. Nothing to do with wine-making skills et al, just decisions based on historical assumptions. That sort of decision always bugs me, because great wines often get missed.
India's love for wine continues to grow, we experiment and our palates mature, creating a demand for well-crafted wines. Well, Chile makes them and they are here now for you to try. For the longest time higher end expressions of Chilean wines were not available in India. Great producers have been here for the last decade or more but their top shelf offerings have been kept out of the market.
Now, we are beginning to see the formation of a different market space, because consumers are beginning to understand. In the last few years, a small number of world-class expressions of Chilean wines have entered the market. These could give highly regarded wines from any part of the world a run for their money. Oh, and before I forget, did I mention that even at this top end of the spectrum, Chilean wines still offer value.
You're spoilt for choice too. Love Pinot Noir, they have it. Want a glass of hedonistic Cabernet that will blow your mind into vinous smithereens, oh boy do they have it. Carménère has found a home in Chile, so much so that people forget its French heritage, one my personal favourites. Bordeaux blends with a bit of tweaking here? Definitely. Juicy Merlot? Yes Sir. Zippy Sauvignon Blanc and complex Chardonnays? Yes, and yes, it's all here.
Top Chilean wines available in India that you should get your hands on:
Bodega Volcanes Tectonia Grenache, Petite Syrah, Mourvèdre
Casa Lapostolle - Clos Apalta
Montgras - Intriga (Cabernet Sauvignon)
Viña Aquitania Cabernet Sauvignon led blend Also Read | The best wines to drink during the monsoon
Nikhil Agarwal is a sommelier and founder of the beverage company All Things Nice in Mumbai. Topics You May Be Interested In