Chile's wine history dates back to the 16th century, when Fransisco de Carabantes, a priest, brought vines from Peru to be planted. The grapes grown at this time included Moscatel, Torontel, Mollar, and Pais, also known in California as the Mission grape. In the ealy 17th century, the Spanish monarchy, responding to pressure from Spanish winemakers, forbid wine production in its colonies. By the 18th century, this ban was repealed and Chile resumed producing large quantities of mediocre wines. Most of the wine involved a combination of dry juice and boiled grape must, producing a sweet wine of very low quality by today's standards.
Chile continued producing this style of wine for about 100 years, until it gained independance from Spain in 1818. In 1830, a Frenchman named Claudio Gay started the Quinta Normal, an organization that studied botany, including European grape vines. This started what has been a long standing relationship between France and Chile in winemaking. By the middle of the 19th century, this relationship had advanced considerably, and to this day many french winemakers, such as Château Lafite Rothschid and Margaux have started wineries there.
Towards the end of the 19th century, as Phylloxera devastated the rest of the world's wine producing ability, Chile remained one of the few places in the world unaffacted by the louse. As a result of this, at the beginning of the 20th century, Chile's wine industry was booming. The government of Chile then squashed this growth. They were concerned with the riches being amassed by the wine producers, and the increasing consumption of the Chilean people, so they began to tax wine heavily. By the 1970's, close to half of Chilean vineyards had been uprooted. This course was reversed in 1979, when a Spanish winemaker named Miguel Torres brought modern winemaking techniques to Chile for the first time. Up until this point, Chile was way behind other countries in terms of modernization, but by the 1980's, Chile had begun to catch up. Today, Chile has new wine laws and and appellation controls designed to help it compete favorably on the international stage.
