Itata Valley

Vines were planted in the Itata in the sixteenth century, making it the oldest wine region in Chile, and the varieties that went in then - pais, the listan prieto the Spanish brought, and later moscatel and cinsault - stayed while the fashionable French varieties took over the central valleys. For most of the twentieth century Itata wine was bulk and cheap. What changed things was the vines themselves: ungrafted bush vines, many well over a century old, dry-farmed on granite soils by smallholders, which a generation of younger winemakers began working with from the 2000s. The result is now among the more interesting wine areas in the country.

Highlights

• Chile's oldest wine region - planted in the sixteenth century.
• Pais, moscatel and cinsault - the varieties that stayed.
• Ungrafted old bush vines - many over a century, dry-farmed on granite.
• A revival from the 2000s - younger winemakers working with the old plantings.

When to go

Year round; March and April for harvest. A full day.

Before you go

Producers are small and mostly need arranging in advance - this is not a set-up wine route with signposted tasting rooms. Roads are rural and poorly signed. Distances between producers are significant.

Nearby

Chillan is east; Concepcion and the coast are south-west.