Great Cabernets of South America

Other varieties may hog the limelight across South America, but the world’s most popular grape for red wines has played a critical role in the continent's wine heritage. We trace Cabernet Sauvignon’s story here, and recommend 16 benchmark wines to try

- By Amanda Barnes

Malbec and Carmenère may have become South America's most _emblematic red varieties, but in keeping with the rest of the wine world, the most-planted wine grape is actually Cabernet Sauvignon. With 50,677ha of vines in Chile and Argentina alone (2022), according to government data, this Bordeaux variety has been the darling of the continent since its arrival some 180 years ago.

In the newly independent South American republics in the mid-19th century, the wealthy elites had a penchant for European fancies. It became a rite of passage to take a 'Grand Tour' around Europe, during which many developed a taste for the wines of Bordeaux.

This was the catalyst for developing the wine industries of Chile and Argentina - to recreate the sophisticated flavours experienced abroad. The native Criolla grapes growing at home were fine for jug wine and brandy, but didn't come up to the standards of the colour and structure of the red wines of Bordeaux.

In a bid to get closer to the wines they so admired, a handful of wealthy vignerons started an import program in the 1840s and 1850s importing not only French vines but winemakers, too. 'The French paradigm completely changed the style of wines here,' says leading Chilean historian Pablo Lacoste, 'and more and more people demanded these styles as time went by.'

All in the timing

The love affair with Bordeaux has run hot ever since. Although there's a medley of international influences in South American wines today, it can be argued that Bordeaux has been the single most significant, bringing in knowledge, investment and vine material key to the development of South America's Cabernet Sauvignon.