Simplicity is the key to Chile's success.
Vintages hardly matter, because Chile's vineyards enjoy temperate, semi-arid weather that ripens the grapes consistently from year to year. It's simply hard to go wrong. Most of the early wineries were established in the Maipo Valley, just south of Santiago, Chile's capital. This is still the heart of Chile's wine country, which extends 250 miles through the country's Central Valley, a narrow, fertile region at the foot of the Andes. The wine industry foundered in the wake of the Allende years, during the 1970s and early '80s, but now has the critical mass of capital and expertise needed to propel it into the top ranks of quality.