Top 10 Wineries in Chile
Chile's wine story begins with an accident of history: when phylloxera destroyed European vineyards in the 1870s, Chilean vines — isolated behind the Andes and the Pacific — survived ungrafted. Cuttings of Carménère, imported from Bordeaux in the mid-19th century and thought lost in France, continued growing as "Merlot" in Chilean vineyards until DNA analysis in 1994 identified the true variety. Since then, Carménère has become Chile's national grape, and the country has invested heavily in demonstrating that it can produce fine wine rivalling the world's best.
1. Concha y Toro, Maipo Valley and Multi-Region
Chile's largest wine producer and the world's third-largest publicly traded wine company is also its most decorated, thanks to two flagships that regularly appear on international top-wine lists. Don Melchor (Cabernet Sauvignon from Puente Alto, Maipo Valley) has been produced since 1987 and is consistently among the finest Cabernet Sauvignons outside Bordeaux — the 2015 and 2016 vintages received near-perfect scores from major critics. Carmín de Peumo (Carménère from Peumo, Cachapoal Valley) is Chile's reference Carménère, demonstrating the variety's potential for complexity, silky texture, and dark fruit concentration from the Cachapoal Valley's clay-rich soils. The Casillero del Diablo and Marqués de Casa Concha ranges represent accessible quality across the portfolio.
2. Viña Errázuriz, Aconcagua Valley
One of Chile's oldest family-owned wineries, Errázuriz was founded in 1870 by Maximiano Errázuriz in the Aconcagua Valley north of Santiago. The prestige Don Maximiano Founder's Reserve (Cabernet Sauvignon-dominant Bordeaux blend) and Kai (Carménère, 100%) are the estate's flagship wines. The Las Pizarras Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, from a recently planted site on shale (pizarras) soils in the cool Aconcagua Costa subregion near the Pacific coast, represent the most exciting recent development in Errázuriz's range. The Seña joint venture with Mondavi (now fully Errázuriz-owned) produces one of Chile's most elegant Bordeaux blends from a high-altitude Aconcagua site.
3. Viña Montes, Colchagua Valley
Founded in 1988 by Aurelio Montes and Douglas Murray, Viña Montes is the estate most associated with demonstrating Colchagua Valley's potential for world-class reds. Montes Folly — a single-vineyard Syrah planted on the impossibly steep Apalta hillside slopes against conventional wisdom — became a landmark in Chilean wine when first released in 2000 and remains one of the finest Syrah produced in the Southern Hemisphere. The M (Merlot) and the Montes Alpha M (Bordeaux blend) are the prestige range. Montes Purple Angel (Carménère with Petit Verdot) is one of the best Carménère-dominant blends produced in Chile. The angular winery building in Apalta, designed by Álvaro Fernández and incorporating feng shui principles, is one of the region's most distinctive cellar door experiences.
4. Viña Almaviva, Maipo Valley
Almaviva is the joint venture between Concha y Toro and Baron Philippe de Rothschild SA, conceived in 1997 as Chile's answer to a first-growth Bordeaux. The estate vineyard in Puente Alto, Maipo Valley, is adjacent to Don Melchor's source blocks at high-quality alluvial and clay soils immediately below the Andes foothills. The flagship Almaviva (Cabernet Sauvignon-dominant with Cabernet Franc, Carménère, and Petit Verdot) is produced only from the estate's best barrels; EPU (second wine) represents the remaining selection. The 2014, 2015, and 2019 vintages are the most critically acclaimed, and Almaviva consistently performs among the top ten Chilean reds in international rankings.
5. Viña Santa Rita, Maipo Valley
One of Chile's four largest producers, Santa Rita's importance to Chilean wine history is cemented by its 120 brand (named for the 120 Chilean independence fighters sheltered at the Santa Rita hacienda in 1814) and by its prestige flagship Casa Real Cabernet Sauvignon, produced from the oldest vines on the estate in Alto Jahuel. Casa Real is among Chile's most age-worthy Cabernets, requiring minimum a decade to show its best. The Triple C (Cabernet Sauvignon-Carménère-Cabernet Franc), Floresta single-vineyard range, and the Pehuén and Medalla Real tiers round out a quality pyramid that extends from accessible everyday wine to genuine fine wine ambition.
6. Lapostolle, Colchagua Valley
Alexandra Marnier-Lapostolle (of Grand Marnier liqueur fame) established Lapostolle in 1994 in the Colchagua Valley, hiring Michel Rolland as consulting winemaker and purchasing the spectacular Apalta Vineyard in 1997. Clos Apalta is the result: a single-vineyard Carménère-dominant blend (with Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon) from old vines on steep granite and clay soils in the Apalta hillside bowl. First produced in 1997 and quickly recognised internationally as one of Chile's great wines, Clos Apalta was named Wine Spectator's Wine of the Year in 2008. The underground gravity-flow winery built in 2006 is a significant architectural achievement and one of the most visited in Chile.
7. Caliterra, Colchagua Valley and Maule
Originally established as a joint venture between Errázuriz and Mondavi, Caliterra is now wholly owned by the Chadwick family (Errázuriz). The estate's Tributo range — single-vineyard Carménère from Colchagua, Cabernet Sauvignon from Maipo, and Pinot Noir from Bio-Bio — represents excellent value in Chile's premium tier. Caliterra's organic commitment, certification covering the majority of its estate vineyards, and the Valle de Colchagua Reserva range offer accessible quality from one of Chile's most reliably farmed producers.
8. Viña Aquitania, Maipo Valley
A boutique estate founded in 1990 by four partners including Bruno Prats (formerly of Château Cos d'Estournel) and Paul Pontallier (Château Margaux), Aquitania produces small quantities of premium Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinot Noir. The Sol de Sol Pinot Noir, from a high-altitude site near Traiguén in the Araucanía Region at 350 metres elevation, is one of Chile's most interesting cool-climate Pinot Noirs. The Aquitania Cabernet Sauvignon from Maipo is the primary wine, traditionally structured and age-worthy. The Bordeaux partner connection gives Aquitania a credibility that belies its small size.
9. MontGras, Colchagua Valley
MontGras's Ninquén Cabernet Sauvignon — from a single mountain vineyard in Colchagua planted at 500 to 600 metres — has established itself as one of the most distinctive terroir expressions in Chilean wine. The mountain elevation provides diurnal temperature variation that preserves freshness in a naturally warm valley, producing Cabernet with blackcurrant depth and genuine structural complexity. MontGras Carménère and the Quálico range offer consistent quality, while the estate's size and production volumes make them among the most accessible Colchagua producers for export markets.
10. Cousiño-Macul, Maipo Valley
The oldest continuously family-owned winery in Chile, established in 1856 by Matías Cousiño, Cousiño-Macul is the most historically significant estate in Chilean wine. The Finis Terrae Cabernet Sauvignon-Merlot blend and the Antiguas Reservas Cabernet Sauvignon are the flagships, both from the family's remaining Maipo Valley estate vineyards (much of the original estate was sold to Santiago's urban expansion in the 1990s). The Don Luis and Finis Terrae tiers represent genuine premium quality from one of Chile's great historical names.
Carménère: Chile's National Grape
Carménère, thought extinct in France after phylloxera (the last French plantings were not replanted after the 1867 outbreak), survived in Chile because Chilean wine growers had imported cuttings in the 1850s before the epidemic reached Europe. When French ampelographer Jean-Michel Boursiquot confirmed in 1994 that much of Chile's "Merlot" was actually Carménère, the discovery reframed Chilean wine around an authentic national identity. At its best — Carmín de Peumo, Clos Apalta, Montes Purple Angel — Carménère produces wines of dark plum, tobacco leaf, green-pepper spice, and velvety texture that is entirely its own.
Chilean Wineries on the Map
All ten estates here and dozens of further Chilean producers are plotted on the winery map. Use the filter to zoom into the Maipo, Colchagua, and Cachapoal valleys, and plan a Santiago-based wine itinerary that can visit three to four estates in a day with a driver or wine tour operator.