10/24/05 Monday question - South American wines

Welcome to Vine to Wine this is your host Linda Moran and today we are answering a question from the email. Recently a listener wrote to ask, "What can you tell us about the wine industry in South America and why it is that the wines seem so inexpensive?" Wine in South American has a much longer history than many of us are aware. South America was actually the first continent that was colonized by Europeans who brought with them grape wines. In the sixteenth century, the Spanish conquistadors introduced winemaking first to Mexico followed by Peru then Chile and Argentina. Much of the rest of the wine making world is envious of South America because it is able to produce wine at a very low cost; they are virtually disease free and has consistently dry warm summers with lots of water from the snowmelts of the Andes. And of course, many other aspects of the economic climate enable the area to produce wines at a lower cost. Although Argentina produces almost five times more wine than Chile, Chile actually exports more wine than Argentina. Now perhaps a few years ago, your experience with wines from South America was less than positive or as some would put it, they got what they paid for. Well consider giving them another, chance and especially revisit the wines of Chile and Argentina. Remember to send your wine questions to Linda at vine to wine dot net and thank you for joining me on today's Vine to Wine.