Did you know that Chile is a unique global repository of pre-phylloxera vines? This is more than just a historical fact; it’s a living museum, allowing us to taste wines whose flavor was lost in Europe over a century and a half ago!
What are "Pre-Phylloxera" Vines and Why Does It Matter?

In the mid-19th century, the wine world suffered a catastrophe: the phylloxera epidemic (a root louse) wiped out virtually all vineyards in Europe, including the legendary regions of France, Italy, and Spain.

To save the industry, European vines were grafted onto resistant American rootstocks. But Chile escaped this fate!

Thanks to its incredible geographical isolation—bordered by the high Andes to the east, the Pacific Ocean to the west, the Atacama Desert to the north, and glaciers to the south—Chile became the only major wine region where phylloxera never managed to penetrate.

This means that vineyards planted on their own European roots (ungrafted) still flourish in Chile today. These are direct descendants of the vines that grew in Bordeaux or Burgundy before the 1860s.

The most striking example of this miracle is the Carménère grape variety, which was considered extinct in Bordeaux but was "rediscovered" in Chile and has become the country's signature grape.