Export Market Guide - Chile

All regulatory information for exporting wine to Chile, including the regulatory environment, duties and taxes, and permitted additives.

Unless an exemption has been granted by Wine Australia, grape products exported from Australia must comply with the Food Standards Code. Accordingly, the labelling and wine standards information in Wine Australia’s Export Market Guides should be read in conjunction with Wine Australia’s Licensing and Compliance Guide which contains the requirements of the Food Standards Code and applicable exemptions.

Chile is a southern South American nation with a long, narrow border along the Pacific Ocean. It has over 4,000 km of coastline but averages only 177 km in width. Chile’s geographic barriers include the arid Atacama Desert to the north, the Andes Mountains to the east, the Patagonian glacial ice fields to the south and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Chile’s coast encompasses around 2,300 islands, including Easter Island with its famed maoi statues.

In 2023, Chile’s population totalled just over 19.6 million people. Chile has a market-oriented economy with a heavy reliance on foreign trade. Chile’s active free trade agenda has grown to 33 trade agreements encompassing 65 economies and includes major markets such as the EU, Mercosur, China, India, South Korea, Mexico and the United States. The Australia-Chile Free Trade Agreement (ACI-FTA) came into effect on 6 March 2009. The Agreement provides Australian businesses with significantly improved market access by eliminating 92 per cent of tariff lines on 97 per cent of Australian goods traded. Chile and Australia are also both members of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement signed on 8 March 2018. Furthermore, Chile and Australia are both active members of the World Wine Trade Group and APEC’s Wine Regulatory Forum.

Chile has a long history of winemaking extending over 460 years to the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors. In 2021, the Chilean area planted for wine totalled 130,086 hectares. The major varieties planted include Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot, Chardonnay and Chile’s signature grape Carménere. In 2023, red wine remained the overwhelmingly preferred wine style with volume sales at 84.3 per cent of the market. White wine accounted for just under 15.0 per cent of the sales.

Chile produced approximately 1,244,369,900 litres of wine in 2022. Chile’s declining per capita consumption in its domestic market has led wineries to explore export markets. In 2022, approximately 833,499,347 litres, valued at just under US$2 billion, was exported around the world. Chile’s top five export markets by value are China, US, UK, Brazil and Japan. 

Domestically, the still wine market is heavily dominated by three companies: Viña Concha y Toro, Compañía de las Cervecerías Unidas, and Claro. The domestic market for imported wine in Chile is small, accounting for just 6,746,670 litres in 2022. Argentina is the leading importer of wine into Chile, followed by Spain, Italy and Germany.