Abstract

Although natural wines, as in other wine-growing countries, represent a smaller percentage of the national production dominated by large corporations, they have found a favorable environment in recent years. Current trends turn valuable the his tory, culture, and craftsmanship associated with foods and drinks, revaluing the winemaking methods used before the industrial era, that is, until the mid-nineteenth century, turning natural wines into sumptuary consumption goods, attracting the interest of new actors, including winemakers, merchants, wine writers, and som meliers, in coincidence with global currents. What is particular about the Chilean case is that the renewed approach to natural wines is based on artisanal and peasant winemaking that has remained latent in the last 150 years, parallel to the industrial paradigm’s hegemony. The persistence of these traditional wines has facilitated the deployment of new winemaking tendencies with a singular richness and cultural thickness.