|
|
Valle Central, Chile
Chile is a country sandwiched inbetween the Andes Mountains to its East and the Pacific Ocean to its West. At first glance you might not think Chile would be the most conducive climate for growing wine. In the North you find dry arid desert, and in the South, the frigid beginnings of the Antartic. However, in the middle of these two extremes you find Chile's Central Valley, or as they call it in Spanish--"El Valle Central"
Chile's natural geography allows its wine producing regions to have a relatively isolated and consistent climate. In Chile's Valle Central, the Andes and Coastal hills and ranges create an interesting affect known as "rain shadow."
When the sun is shining during the day warm air becomes trapped in the region. At night, with no sun to warm the air, cool winds from the Andes blow into the region and dramatically drop the temperature.
With warm hours of uninterrupted sunlight and a cool night, Chilean vintners are able to maintain high levels of acidity as their grapes develop and ripen. As this article describes, Chilean wineries in this region assert that their unique growing conditions allow for flavonoids to develop in the wine, producing resveratrol and antioxidants.
The Andes also provide a ready source of irrigation which was historically done in flood plain style. Chilean vineyard owners would dig canals throughout their vineyards and then flood the entire surface area with water allowing some to seep into the ground and the run off to be funneled away through the canals. This encouraged excessive irrigation and high yields which had a negative effect on quality. During the wine renaissance of the 1980s & 1990s more vineyards converted to drip irrigation system which allowed greater control and helped reduce yields.
During the 1990's Chile benefited from an influx of foreign investment and winemaking talent that begin in the late 20th century. One such improvement was the introduction of French and American oak barrels and stainless steel tanks for aging. Today, Chile has one of the most efficient and well reknown wine industries in the world. Chilean wines consistently rank very high in international wine competitions and can be found in supermarkets and resturants around the world.
Mir Global Marketing, is extremly excited about our new Chilean selections. It is a new and exciting product. Click here to see our catalog!
|
