Summary
Concha y Toro is Chile's best-known wine company and at the same time the largest wine producer in Latin America. Founded in 1883 by Melchor de Santiago Concha y Toro and his wife Emiliana Subercaseaux, the house has its historic seat in Pirque in the Valle del Maipo, southeast of Santiago. From there a group has grown that today farms vines in almost every Chilean valley as well as in Argentina and California, selling in more than 130 countries. The range runs from the globally distributed Casillero del Diablo to the icon wine Don Melchor, which put Chile at the international top.
History
The story begins in the second half of the 19th century, when Chilean entrepreneurs imported French vines to make Bordeaux-style wines near Santiago. Melchor de Santiago Concha y Toro, a politician and landowner, had cuttings brought from Bordeaux to Pirque and founded his estate there in 1883. The manor house, the park and the old cellar dug deep into the ground all date from that period and still draw visitors today.
As early as 1923 the business was converted into a joint-stock company and listed on the Santiago stock exchange – an early step that made the later expansion possible in the first place. In 1966 came Casillero del Diablo, the brand that would give the house worldwide recognition. The decisive leap into the quality elite came in 1987 with the first vintage of Don Melchor, a Cabernet Sauvignon from Puente Alto in the upper Maipo Valley.
Over the following decades the group grew strongly: acquisitions such as Cono Sur (1993) and Trivento in Mendoza (1996) followed, plus a joint venture with the house of Baron Philippe de Rothschild that produced the cult wine Almaviva. In 2011 the Californian winery Fetzer was added, operating today under the name Bonterra Organic Estates. Since 2019 Don Melchor has been run as a standalone bodega within the group.
Location & Terroir
The home estate at Pirque lies at the foot of the Andes, where the Maipo river emerges from the mountains. The climate is Mediterranean in character: hot, dry summers, barely any rain during ripening, and a pronounced night-time drop in temperature as cold air flows down from the mountains into the valley. These large day-night swings are the key to the fresh, firm tannins of the Maipo Cabernets.
The soils of the upper Maipo are alluvial, stony and poor – they force the vines to root deeply and yield small, concentrated berries. The third river terrace at Puente Alto, at around 650 metres above sea level, is regarded as one of the finest Cabernet terroirs in the southern hemisphere.
Beyond the Maipo the company draws on Chile's enormous climatic diversity: cool coastal zones such as Casablanca and Leyda for Sauvignon Blanc, the northern Limarí with its limestone soils for Chardonnay, and Peumo in the Cachapoal Valley for the house's best Carmenère wines.
Style & Philosophy
Stylistically Concha y Toro pulls off a balancing act few houses manage: dependable, fruit-forward and affordable wines in large volumes on the one hand, uncompromising terroir wines on the other. The entry and mid-range tiers rely on clean fruit, soft tannins and moderate oak – wines that give pleasure young.
At the top, by contrast, the house works in remarkably plot-precise fashion. For Don Melchor, the Puente Alto vineyard has for years been divided into individual blocks that are picked and aged separately; the team is advised by the Bordeaux oenologist Eric Boissenot. The result is Cabernets with clear cassis fruit, cedar spice, a firm frame and an alcohol level that usually stays under 15% vol. – wines that can age for two decades and more.
The second great narrative is Carmenère: Chile's rediscovery, particularly at home in Peumo, which has given the house its own icon wine in Carmín de Peumo. Alongside that comes a clear sustainability focus – from water and climate targets across the group to regenerative organic farming at Bonterra in California.
Notable Sites & Wines
The brands are clearly tiered, from the supermarket shelf to the auction room:
- Casillero del Diablo – the world's best-known line, since 1966, especially strong in Cabernet Sauvignon and Carmenère
- Marqués de Casa Concha – the terroir range with origins in individual valleys, a classic for value
- Terrunyo and Amelia – single-vineyard wines and a Chardonnay flagship from cool climates respectively
- Carmín de Peumo – icon wine from Carmenère, sourced in Peumo in the Cachapoal Valley
- Don Melchor – the Cabernet Sauvignon from Puente Alto, the flagship of the house since 1987
- Almaviva – a joint project with the house of Baron Philippe de Rothschild, legally a bodega in its own right
Awards
Concha y Toro has been voted the World's Most Admired Wine Brand by the British trade magazine Drinks International several times, among others in the years 2011 to 2013, and has regularly featured near the top of that ranking ever since. Don Melchor received a perfect 100 points from James Suckling for the 2018 vintage; the 2021 vintage was named Wine Spectator's Wine of the Year 2024 – the first Chilean bottle ever to top that list. The wines of Marqués de Casa Concha and Carmín de Peumo are also regularly highly rated in Chilean and international guides.