Drink the taste of South America in a glass

With plentiful water, low labour costs and few pests, South America is producing a bounty of high quality, good value wines — and the bottles are starting to cross the seas to Australia in increasing numbers. But if you want to see what the fuss is about, where do you begin?

Independent sommeliers Ben and Dan were in South America recently (for work), tasting their way from Argentina to Chile. What did they learn? Argentina’s winemakers don’t believe in talking about vintages. And competition between Australian and South American wines is only going to get hotter. The latest episode of Cheers TV is their rapid-fire tour of the countries’ vineyards.

So tonight if you want to try some South American vino, why not pick some up at the local, and pair it with a cook-up of Chilean empanadas and pastel de choclo (corn and meat pie).