Chile – South America’s long, western sliver – is a country of microclimates, stretching for 2,700 miles; or roughly the distance from Denmark to Morocco.
Diverse as Chile’s landscapes are, from the salt-baked planes of the Atacama desert to the metropolitan sprawl of Santiago and the snowcapped peaks of Patagonia, they are united by one problem: a major water crisis. Chile’s “megadrought” is forcing the country to rethink its resources and, for the $6bn wine industry, the climate crisis is giving rise to ingenuity. More than 80 per cent of Chile’s bottled wine now falls under the Sustainable Wines of Chile code, which calls for strict parameters around waste, recycling, energy and, crucially, responsible water use.
