Experience a South America vacation escape by bringing home a bottle of Chilean wine. Here’s a post from 2009 that provided the history of Chile’s beautiful vineyards.

International wine-lovers should raise a glass to Chile’s freakish geography: Thanks to the country’s isolation at the southwestern fringe of South America, its vineyards played an unexpected part in saving the wine industries of Europe.  Production first began with the Spanish conquistadors, who planted the first vines from the pips of raisins they had carried in their pockets from Spain.  The fertile valleys around Santiago proved ideal for agriculture, and soon immigrants from Germany and Switzerland, who felt at home in the gentle alpine climate, were bottling excellent vintages for local consumption.  Then, in the 1880s, a visionary landowner named Don Silvester Ochagavía decided to improve the standard by traveling to Bordeaux in France and bringing back vine cuttings for Sauvignon Cabernet and Sauvignon Blanc.  It was a fortuitous move.

Not long afterwards, the vineyards of Europe were struck by a plague of the insidious phylloxera insect, which chews away at the roots of the parent stock.  The invasion wiped out production in much of France, Italy and Germany.  But Chilean vineyards were protected by nature: the central valleys of this spaghetti-like strip of land, 2,700 miles long but never more than 110 miles wide, are shielded from vermin and disease by the Pacific Ocean on the west, the towering Andes on the east, the world’s driest desert, the Atacama, in the north and the wilds of Patagonia to the south.

Soon it was the European producers who imported the untouched vines back from Chile, grafting them back onto their own stock and slowly recovering their footing.  It was a close call for wine lovers, who might have lost some of their most beloved varietals.  Today, Chile boasts many of the world’s oldest continually growing vines, some over a century old, which are now being hand-crafted into succulent wines that rival anything from France or Italy.

In today’s post we will day a trip south of Peru into Chile to tour the beautiful vineyards of this region.

International wine-lovers should raise a glass to Chile’s freakish geography: Thanks to the country’s isolation at the southwestern fringe of South America, its vineyards played an unexpected part in saving the wine industries of Europe.  Production first began with the Spanish conquistadors, who planted the first vines from the pips of raisins they had carried in their pockets from Spain.  The fertile valleys around Santiago proved ideal for agriculture, and soon immigrants from Germany and Switzerland, who felt at home in the gentle alpine climate, were bottling excellent vintages for local consumption.  Then, in the 1880s, a visionary landowner named Don Silvester Ochagavía decided to improve the standard by traveling to Bordeaux in France and bringing back vine cuttings for Sauvignon Cabernet and Sauvignon Blanc.  It was a fortuitous move.

Not long afterwards, the vineyards of Europe were struck by a plague of the insidious phylloxera insect, which chews away at the roots of the parent stock.  The invasion wiped out production in much of France, Italy and Germany.  But Chilean vineyards were protected by nature: the central valleys of this spaghetti-like strip of land, 2,700 miles long but never more than 110 miles wide, are shielded from vermin and disease by the Pacific Ocean on the west, the towering Andes on the east, the world’s driest desert, the Atacama, in the north and the wilds of Patagonia to the south.

Soon it was the European producers who imported the untouched vines back from Chile, grafting them back onto their own stock and slowly recovering their footing.  It was a close call for wine lovers, who might have lost some of their most beloved varietals.  Today, Chile boasts many of the world’s oldest continually growing vines, some over a century old, which are now being hand-crafted into succulent wines that rival anything from France or Italy.

Any vacation to Peru isn’t complete without a tour of the country’s most famous site, Machu Picchu, the lost city of the Incas.  Here you can discover the lasting impact of the Incan civilization during this exciting travels in Peru.

Travel to Uruguay in South America to experience the historic quarter of Colonia del Sacramento, Barrío Historico.  The area is built in Portuguese style with colorful houses lining cobblestone streets in a pattern different from any other Spanish colonial city.  This delightful city, not far from Montevideo, was named a UNESCO heritage site in 1995.

Prepare to explore the far reaching corners of the globe as we begin our next series covering a few of the sites on UNESCO’s World Heritage List. The list includes nearly 900 sites that span from Austria to Australia, and Turkey to Thailand; and with the Globus family of brands, travelers will visit many of the sites on the World Heritage List when they select from over 400 vacations to more than 70 countries.

To be included on the World Heritage List, sites must be of outstanding universal value and meet a set of selection criteria that includes:

- Representing a masterpiece of human creative genius

- Containing superlative natural phenomena or areas of exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic importance

- Be an outstanding example of a type of building, architectural or technological ensemble or landscape which illustrates a significant stage in human history

On our journey to the UNESCO World Heritage sites we will travel through the mountainous Shokawa Valley to Shirakawa in Japan, which is listed for the Gassho-Zukuri (joined hands)-style thatched houses that can only be found in this remote region.  Then we invite you to experience a long siesta in Montevideo, Uruguay and take a trip to nearby Colonia del Sacramento. Next join us as we view the many Buddha statues and ruins of temples and monasteries in Sukhothai Historical Park in Thailand. Finally we will wrap our whirlwind adventure by vacationing in Sydney, Australia where we will catch a breath taking view of the Sydney Opera House while cruising the harbor.

Bienvenidos, or welcome, to our series of posts on South America. Take a break from the daily grind and join us over the next two weeks as we introduce you to the people, landscapes, architecture and animal life of South America.

During our series you’ll cruise the Galapagos Islands seeing topical birds, sea lions, iguanas and fauna found nowhere else in the world.  You’ll walk along the cobblestone streets of the capital city of Quito to shop for handicrafts. And, finally you’ll learn about the must-see sights and undiscovered gems of Ecuador. Your South American journey is just starting…