Discover the best Chilean wine regions and their signature grapes. From Maipo’s bold reds to Casablanca’s crisp whites, explore Chile’s diverse terroir!

Chilean wine, like most New World wines, is all about the grape, but exploring Chilean wine regions can give you a deeper understanding of how terroir shapes each bottle. When picking your next Chilean red, you’ll likely look for a Carménère and won’t care too much if it comes from Colchagua or Maipo. And that’s fair, but it’s still worth learning about Chilean wine regions to get a clearer picture. Keep reading to get a quick overview of the winegrowing regions of Chile!

Wine regions often encompass smaller valleys, each with its unique charm and growing conditions. Let’s dig into them a bit. From north to south:

Northern Chilean Wine Regions: Coquimbo Region and Limarí Valley

You will find wine grapes from further north, but you’re likely to encounter bottles from Limari as the first northern valley. The whole area is close to the Atacama Desert[i], o the weather here is predictably hot and dry. This valley, however, benefits from the Limarí river and fogs that sidle to the valley during summer mornings, making the area cooler and higher in humidity. This area also produces Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, and Pinot Noir wines, with stellar results!

Aconcagua

The Aconcagua valley gets its name from the highest mountain in the Americas, and is, therefore, our first high-altitude wine region. You can find wines planted up to around one thousand[ii] meters high, but some vineyards also exist closer to sea level in the slopes of the mountain. This region is dominated by reds, including Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon, but once again, Syrah is the standout to watch for.

Casablanca and San Antonio Valleys

Here I’m giving you the two-for-one promo. Casablanca and San Antonio are very close to each other. They are both cool coastal valleys near Santiago. These valleys churn out crisp, very aromatic wines. I’m fond of their Sauvignon Blancs, but you can also find exceptional Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs from both regions.

Maipo, The Heart of Chilean Wine Regions

Just south of Santiago you will find Maipo Valley, which gets little rainfall, and it tends to higher temperatures, making it ideal for growing fruit-forward, full-bodied reds, a style that many associate with Chile wines. Cabernet Sauvignon reigns here, and this region produces many of the great-bang-for-your-dollar wines you know and love. Then, there’s also Alto Maipo, with altitudes of around 2000 ft., is home to several premium wineries.

Colchagua and Cachapoal

The Colchagua Valley is one of the most famous Chilean wine regions, and it’s where you’ll find your Carménère. A bit cooler than Maipo, it maintains a perfect Mediterranean climate throughout the year. It mostly grows red wine grapes, and other than Carménère you will find fine Cabs, Syrah, and even a little Malbec! A quick bonus region is lesser known but promising Cachapoal, which shares many climate characteristics with Colchagua, and it’s sandwiched by it and Maipo.

The Maule Wine Region

Let’s talk a little about Maule. Chile produces a lot of bulk wine—some of it for local markets, sold in bibs[iii], and some exported to be bottled at its destination. For the former, winemakers used the the Pais grape, one of the O.G. varietals brough by the Spaniard conquistadors to make communion wine. For many a year people viewed it as a grape to make inexpensive and low-quality wines. In recent years, innovative winemakers have given more attention to the humble País grape. Also, old-vine Carignan growers associated themselves, and are making excellent wines in this cooler region.

Hard to Imagine Chilean wine without the influence of the Andes and the Pacific

Itata

Itata is not the southernmost wine valley in Chile, but it is the last one I will talk about today. Spanish settlers likely brought vines to this region in the 1550s, making it the birthplace of Chilean wine. País was among the first grapes brought over, and you can still find it thriving here today.. But the flagship grape of this valley is Cinsault. As you can imagine, good Pinot Noirs also come from this cooler region, but not a lot of it is planted here.

But Wait, There’s More!

All right, so I cheated a little bit. These are not all the wine regions you’ll find in Chile, just the ones you’re more likely to find outside of the country. But you’re still reading, so let’s quickly mention the rest of them to quench your curiosity.

Other Chilean Wine Regions in The North

• I mentioned the Atacama Desert above, but Limarí is further south. There are grapes grown closer to the desert. Mostly table grapes and those used to produce pisco[iv]. You can find wine grapes here as well but grown at a smaller scale. Syrah and Pinot Noir for reds, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc for whites. There’s two sub-regions in Atacama: Huasco and Copiapó.
• Limarí is a valley in the larger Coquimbo region, but there’s another two valleys worth checking out: Choapa and Elqui, better known for pisco grapes, but you will also find Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Carménère, and Chardonnay.
• Above I mentioned the Aconcagua Valley, and the coastal regions of Casablanca and San Antonio. What I didn’t mention is that they’re both in the larger region of Aconcagua. But wait, it goes deeper! In San Antonio there’s an additional sub region called Leyda, home to some excellent coastal Pinot Noir, although they also grow Sauvignon Blanc and Syrah here with great success.

Other Chilean Wine Regions in The Central Valley

• And then we get to Valle Central, which is huge! But fear not, here’s the lowdown. Before, I mentioned Maipo, Colchagua, Cachapoal, and Maule. Well, they’re all in the Central Valley. Colchagua and Cachapoal are in the larger subregion of Rapel. Maule is also one of those larger subregions, and it has three smaller ones: Claro, Loncomilla, and Tutuvén. But we’re not done yet, there’s another large subregion I have not mentioned, which is Curicó, with its two smaller valleys, Teno and Lontué.

Other Chilean Wine Regions in The South

• Itata is in what we just call Sur, along with Biobio and Malleco. The first is interesting because it’s succeeding in growing Riesling, Viognier, and Gewurztraminer.
• Sur—as you can guess by the name—used to be Chile’s southernmost wine region, but climate change has pushed winegrowers to explore farther south, so now we have the Austral region, with its two main valleys: Osorno and Cautín. These regions thrive with colder-weather grapes like Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.

The Last Drop

From north to south, Chilean wine regions, sandwiched between the Andes and the Pacific Ocean, offer a stunning variety of microclimates that shape the country’s diverse wines. This diversity creates ideal conditions for growing wine grapes, resulting in unique valleys full of vineyards. It’s a lot of information, and can get confusing, with all those unfamiliar region names. But here’s the good news, you don’t really need to know them to appreciate Chilean wine. Here, the varietal is more important than the region, and you will be fine if you only pick your wine based on that.

When you’re ready to take the next step and dig deeper into Chilean wines, then you can start seeking for the better regions for specific grapes. You will, of course, find better wines this way, but you might also have to search more to unearth them. Did you already know about Chilean wine regions? Do you have a favorite one? Let me know down below!

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Footnotes

[i] It’s probably worth mentioning that the Atacama is the driest desert on earth.

[ii] That’s about 3.300 feet above sea level.

[iii] The elegant way of saying boxed wine. BiB comes from “Bag in Box”

[iv] Pisco is a grape brandy-like spirit whose name is disputed between Chile and Perú. And no, I’m not opening that can of worms.

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Cover Image: Chilean Wine doesn’t lack in variety! Photo by Joakant