Chile: Industry organization

Most of the big wine-exporting companies, many of them run by descendants of the wine dynasties of the mid 19th century, have their headquarters in Santiago or nearby in the Maipo region. The likes of concha y toro, Santa Rita, Santa Carolina, and San Pedro own several wineries and many different vineyards, although it is also the norm to buy grapes from a wide range of growers. Estate wineries such as the historic Cousiño Macul, Los Vascos, Montes, or Portal del Alto, for which practically all grapes used are grown by the owner/winemakers, are increasing in number. Foreign investment has come from kendall jackson (mondavi), France (Chx mouton rothschild and Lafite-rothschild and many others), Spain (torres), presumably attracted by the relatively low cost of land, vineyard establishment, and running costs in Chile, although this is offset by the need to import all sophisticated equipment and cooperage. In the mid 1990s, however, some of the larger Chilean wine companies invested in Argentina, tempted by lower land costs across the Andes. Kaiken (Viña Montes) and Trivento (Concha y Toro) are two obvious examples.