South American Wines

South American wines come from three main countries that offer an amicable climate to grow and produce wines: Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay. Although other countries on the continent do produce wine, these three offer the best opportunities for someone looking to break into the wine market.

The largest wine producer of South American wines is Argentina, although it mainly is consumed within its own borders. The major varietals actually come from European grapes, such as Malbec, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Chenin Blanc. The main Argentina wine regions are broken into: Northwest, South, and Central-West.

Chile is located in an ideal place for wine growing. Chilean wine producers focus on producing Sauvignon Blanc, Semillion, Malbec, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon, all from the Bordeaux grape varietals. Just as Argentina is known best for its Malbec, Chile takes pride in Sauvignon Blanc.

This tiny and often unknown country is located between Argentina and Brazil: Uruguay. Similar in size and nature to New Zealand, this country is just coming on to the wine scene. And instead of doing it by producing the mainstream, regular grape varieties, Uruguay has made its name by being the perfect climate to grow a French grape called Tannat. Just as the name sounds, it is rather dominated by the tannins, but Uruguayan wines have found success by combining this with grapes such as Cabernet Franc or Merlot.

Just as with New Zealand and Australia, South America is picking up interest from tourists for wine tours. In fact, many tour through all three of these countries. This is good news for you bilingual job hunters that are hunting for a few years away. Check out our job resources for the qualifications for a wine tour guide, as well as some links to find potential jobs. Further, as South America increases its exports to the U.S. and Europe, this provides other potential jobs at companies within both places. For some quick tips, visit our partner site FrugalMonkey for great Argentina travel information.