Chile is one of the world’s top wine destinations considering it has fourteen wine regions located in its Southern region. Wine has been produced here as far back as the year 1550, and this means it’s the oldest wine producing country in the Americas.
Thanks to its isolation, it gets an exemplary harvest of grapes. This is partly because it is lodged between desert, ocean and mountains, and as a result, its vineyards are protected from being infested by dreaded diseases and pests like the Grape Phylloxera pest, which is known to have an adverse effect on grapes. The other reason is the favorable climatic conditions. The hot summers and cooling breezes from the coast favor the growth of healthy grapes. These two benefits combined with some moderate rainfall throughout the year leads to the production of good quality grapes, ideal for exceptional wine production.
Wine tours in Chile
The great wine regions in this country attract a lot of wine enthusiasts to the country. The main airports in Chile including Antofagasta Airport are plied by major airlines, and this makes it easy to travel to here from various places around the world. Reliable transport is invaluable for any visitor looking to visit the wine producing regions in the South. There may be a problem when it comes to language between foreigners and the locals.
For this reason, once you get to here, the prudent thing would be to use chauffeured car hire services for your trip to the wine regions. This will allow you to travel in comfort, and these chauffeurs will help with translation where need be. They are also well informed about how to get you to the best vineyards, in the shortest amount of time possible. They may also show you some local attractions and expose you to local cuisine that you may otherwise not discover on your own or as part of a tour.
Some of the coastal wine regions you will discover include Cata de Vino, which is considered to be the country’s first coastal wine region. It is located about two and a half miles from the Pacific Ocean and well known for its production of Chardonnays, Pinot Noirs and Sauvignon Blancs. You may visit some vineyards that offer tours within the vineyard to showcase their wine making processes to guests for a small fee. This package sometimes includes wine tasting and some nibbles, which makes for an interesting trip as the French are known for their good food.
The Valle del Elqui, the northernmost valley of the 14 wine producing regions in Chile, is another attractive wine region well known for the production of non wine liquor. This liquor is known as Pisco, and it is similar to brandy, albeit with a clear consistency. It has also been compared to white tequila.
Considering there are fourteen wine producing regions here, it makes sense to use car hire to get a personal vehicle that you can use to move from one vineyard to the next. Apart from tasting the various wines produced here, it is interesting to see the production process that is used to make them. These tours must not be hurried, especially for wine enthusiasts, and so self drive car hire will give you a chance to see things at your pace.