Coquimbo is the northernmost wine region in Chile, with barely 2,000 hectares of vineyards, yet what it lacks in size it more than makes up for in character and singularity. Its three sub-regions, Limarí, Elqui and Choapa, offer a remarkable diversity of terroirs.

In the Limarí Valley, where vines have been cultivated for over 400 years, the limestone soils, low rainfall and a regular morning marine fog giving way to warm sunny afternoons all combine to give the wines a rare and distinctive minerality. Further north, the Elqui Valley, on the edge of the Atacama Desert, produces brilliant and intensely aromatic wines, particularly from Sauvignon Blanc and Syrah, where the secret to successful viticulture at such extreme latitudes lies in altitude. The vineyards here receive levels of solar radiation far higher than any wine region in Europe, which translates directly into the vibrancy and intensity of the wines.

From the briny minerality of Limarí whites to the sun-drenched, concentrated reds of Elqui, Coquimbo stands out as one of the most fascinating wine regions in the New World, understated, uncompromising, and unmistakably its own.