The art of wine making first arrived in Chile with the Catholic missionaries. Wine was needed to celebrate the sacrament at mass, so the padres began to plant and tend to their own vines. The first professional vineyards were recorded in Copiapo in 1554. Wineries are an essential stop for any tourist in Chile. The dynamic wine industry has started producing top quality wines and vineyards offer some of Chile's most beautiful landscapes. There are beautiful landscapes in the Chilean wine country. There are several wine tours which are short trips through the Chilean wineries. This tour is designed for a minimum of four people. It is a luxurious wine tour with visits and tasting in the most famous Chilean wineries. This wine tour includes all advance itinerary planning and arrangements. In the Maipo Valley there are the most important wineries located. Colchagua Valley is also famous for the exceptional wines at Vina Casa Silva. Most of the famous vineyards are situated within a 50 km radius around Santiago. Thus one can stay comfortably in Santiago and enjoy the many excellent restaurants and nightlife the capital has to offer while visiting and tasting during the day.

History
Wine grapes ( Vitis vinifera) are not native to the Americas; they arrived with the Spanish in the 1500s. Early attempts to form vineyards in more northerly climes, such as the Caribbean, Mexico, and Peru proved unsuccessful; in Chile, however, the vine found its first true New World home.The Catholic missionaries who followed the Spanish Conquistadors lamented the lack of wine that was essential for celebrating religious rites, and they set about to resolve the problem. Fray Francisco de Carabantes is widely credited with bringing the first vines—probably País (pronounced " pah-EES" and known as "Mission" in California) into Chile through the port of Concepción round 1548. Such was the success that vineyards were quickly planted throughout the country—from the Limarí Valley in the north to Bío-Bío Valley in the south—precisely the areas that still delimit the vast majority of Chile's wine production today.Of course the desire for wine in Chile was not limited to the Church-there were plenty of secular uses for the traditional European beverage of choice. The thirsty residents of the burgeoning capital city of Santiago also clamored for wine, and the surrounding Maipo Valley proved to be a ready and abundant source of red wine.Improvements in maritime transportation made cross-Atlantic travel much more viable by the early 19th century. Chile, freshly emancipated from Spain, yearned for knowledge of its European roots, and members of the country's wealthiest families embarked upon an intercontinental pilgrimage that would change Chilean life and culture in many ways. France was a favorite destination, and soon French customs, from food to clothing to architecture, flourished among Chiles upper classes. It did not take long for the first French-style wineries to make an appearance as well.

Actually
In recent years, the world has begun to take notice of Chile's wines. In 1998, Chile exported $502 million in wines to some 85 countries, and was third in total imports to the US, after France and Italy. Still more telling are the results of the VinExpo 99, in which some 40 countries presented their finest export wines. With a total of 67 medals and 3 out of 23 double gold medals, Chilean wines as a group ranked second only to France, the host country. Recent studies also indicate that Chilean wines boast the world's highest levels of flavanol, a natural antioxidant, boding well for a health-conscious future. This recent success caps over 400 years of wine-making tradition, but it is natural conditions - climate, soils, and rootstock - that are responsible for the quality of Chilean wines. A mild Mediterranean climate, with long, dry summers, a daily fluctuation in temperature exceeding 60° F, and a relative humidity of 55-60%, promotes healthy root formation and the accumulation of sugars, aromas, and colors over a long ripening season. Most soils in Chile's wine growing region are alluvial or volcanic in origin. Variations in nutrient content, porosity, and other soil characteristics within and between valleys contribute to regional wine qualities.Most of Chile's finest rootstock was imported from France in the 1800's - just in time, as it turned out, to avoid the disastrous phylloxera plague, which destroyed some 2.5 million acres of vineyards in Europe and across the world. Isolated by its imposing geography, Chile is now home to the only remaining strains of these original vines. Grapes for white wine grown here include Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Riesling, Gewürztraminer, Chenin-Blanc, and Semillón. Grapes for reds include Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Pinot Noir.Chile's wine region, from 30°-40° south latitude, includes eight separate valleys, each with its own characteristics and wines. The Casablanca Valley is generally considered the finest producer of whites, principally Chardonnay but with a growing reputation for Sauvignon Blanc. The Maipo valley, meanwhile, is Chile's most traditional wine region and producer of the country's finest Cabernets and Merlots.