Chilean wine

[winoweenie]

Avrohom, welcome to the board. Your friend is taking his nationalism a little past reality.The vines in France are ( or were ) the mother lode of cabernets and merlots. ALL of the vineyards in Chile are planted with some derivitave of these vines. The vines in Calif were planted with cuttings of the great chateaus of France. We reciprocated when in the late 19th century their vineyards were decimated by phylloxera ( Started in early 1870`s). The wine industry in Chile was elevated in class with the formation of many partnerships with great French AND American wineries that shgowed the existing wineries how to modernize and produce higher quality wines. As of today, IMHO, the Chilean wine industry is just in the early educational process ( Kindergarten) and has some marvelous techers from the college and graduate level. Again IMHO, the best wines are from the Maipo valley, BUT they sure `aint no Lafite Or Araujo. Winoweenie