(VinePair) - Chile’s geology and climate are perfect for making wine. With the ocean on one side and the Andes on the other, Chile’s vineyards get the benefit of salty winds and cooling airs, plus wide day-to-night fluctuations — perfect conditions for grape growing. And yet, up until the mid-’80s, the wine produced in Chile was by all accounts pretty awful. It was made by Chileans for Chileans, mostly from a grape called pais, or Mission, and barely any of it was exported. Chileans themselves were drinking less wine than ever, and by the 1980s, half of the vineyards had been uprooted. In 1985, the entire industry was valued at a scant $11 million. But all that was about to change.