Our Chilean Wines

When we think of Chilean wine, we often think of Carménère or Cabernet Sauvignon. Yet Chile has much more to offer. With its unique climate, valleys with varied soils and unexpected grape varieties, it's a land of contrasts and creativity.

At Vinodelice, we invite you to venture off the beaten path with an original selection of Chilean wines, from confidential terroirs and sometimes little-known grape varieties... but oh so seductive.

🍷 Chile beyond Carménère

Let's not lie to ourselves: Carménère remains the national icon. This long-forgotten Bordeaux grape found a second life in the Colchagua valley, where it produces supple, spicy reds with silky texture. But today, the Chilean wine scene is reinventing itself, and that's what our selection reflects.

Our Malbec from Colchagua is the perfect example: a red that's both fruity and structured, rivaling its Argentine cousins while asserting a distinctly Chilean personality.

🍇 Chilean grape varieties: diversity and personality

Chile cultivates a wide range of red and white grape varieties, often with a very recognizable signature:

Reds:
➤ Carménère, supple and spicy, the most emblematic.
➤ Cabernet Sauvignon, deep and structured.
➤ Merlot, round and accessible.
➤ Syrah, fleshy and sometimes peppery.
➤ Malbec, concentrated, fruity and elegant.
➤ Carignan and País, two rarer grape varieties, but full of charm and authenticity.

Whites:
➤ Sauvignon Blanc, lively and citrusy, with beautiful minerality.
➤ Chardonnay, often taut and saline.
➤ Sémillon, historic grape variety offering textured and gastronomic whites.

🗺️ Focus on major wine regions

Colchagua Valley: Located southwest of Santiago, this valley is the stronghold of powerful and elegant reds. The warm climate, tempered by Andean breezes, produces concentrated but balanced wines. The San Carlos terroir (where our Viu Manent Malbec comes from) is particularly renowned.

Maipo Valley: Historical birthplace of Chilean viticulture thanks to its proximity to the capital Santiago. It's renowned for its deep and elegant Cabernet Sauvignons, with characteristic mentholated notes.

Cachapoal Valley: Neighbor to Colchagua, this valley offers concentrated and spicy reds, often from Carménère, Syrah or Cabernet Sauvignon, with good aging potential.

Maule Valley: One of the country's oldest wine regions. Old vines of Carignan or Sémillon produce sincere wines full of character, very popular among natural wine enthusiasts or artisan cuvées.

Itata Valley: Further south, a cool and coastal terroir that's being reborn thanks to a new generation of winemakers. País and Sémillon find an ideal playground here to produce light, fresh wines, sometimes vinified in amphora or maceration.

Aconcagua Valley: Nestled between mountain and ocean, this valley offers character reds, often solar but balanced. Both Syrah and Cabernet or Carménère are cultivated there.

Other regions like Casablanca Valley or Bio-Bio Valley offer incredible diversity of styles, from structured reds to mineral whites including bubbles.

🔎 Local grape varieties and regions to (re)discover

From north to south, Chilean producers explore new grape varieties and territories. Result? Vibrant wines, often vinified in small quantities, offering a real taste of freedom. Vinodelice invites you to travel between Andes and Pacific:

In Itata Valley, discover two natural pearls:
➤ a País, Chile's ancestral grape variety, producing a light, fruity and crisp red.
➤ a Sémillon, textured and vibrant, with a saline and taut palate.

In Maule Valley, refined rusticity takes center stage:
➤ a Carignan juicy and structured, with beautiful energy.
➤ a Sémillon aged in wood, full and complex, perfect for gastronomy.

In Colchagua Valley, a Malbec full of fruit and freshness, demonstrating that this grape variety has also found its voice on the other side of the Andes.

This confidential selection testifies to a new generation of Chilean winemakers, attached to their roots but resolutely focused on the future.

🌎 Chile, new playground for curious enthusiasts

What makes Chilean wine so exciting today? Its ability to surprise. Whether you're a lover of natural cuvées, Bordeaux elegance or forgotten grape varieties brought back into fashion, you'll find in Chile what you need to enrich your cellar and your dinners.