The history of Brazilian grape growing and wine making industry started being written in 1875, when Italian immigrants settled in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, in the south of Brazil . Heirs of a long tradition in grape growing and wine making, they soon conferred great economic importance upon the activity - by 1884, more than 8 million liters of wine had been produced in the region. The grape and wine production chain grew and drove the development of the area where the immigrants settled. From 1964 on, there was a significant quality leap in the sector with the installation of multinational companies from this sector in Brazil . In the Seventies, the grape growing and wine making industry started expanding in the region near the border with Uruguay and in the semi-arid places of the Northeast, more specifically in the Sao Francisco river valley, between the states of Pernambuco and Bahia . In the middle Eighties, small grape growers started investing in the qualification of their own wine making. To this end, among other actions, they sent their children to enology courses, from where they returned able to elaborate quality products. In the late Nineties, there was an enlargement of horizons with the appearance of other zones as an option for the expansion of grape growing and wine making. In 1998, the Brazilian Wine Institute (Ibravin) was created, gathering the main entities in the production chain of grape and wine, and becoming the forum for discussions related to the industry.
The whole world is discovering Brazilian wine. Brazil has been developing an exceptional capacity for the production of quality wine. Nowadays, the country is regarded as one of the best regions in the world for growing grapes intended for the production of sparkling wines.
Currently, Brazil counts on approximately 10,000 ha of vineyards with Vitis vinifera, resulting in approximately 45 million liters of wine, including sparkling wines.
Over recent years, the grape growing and wine making industry has made heavy investment in research and technology by developing advanced crop and production techniques, with labor qualification, acquisition of state-of-the-art equipment, renewal and expansion of vineyards, grapevines grown in trelis, and control of production, thus reducing quantity and improving grape quality.
The result is impressive. Brazilian wine has expressively evolved!
And the recognition could not have been greater. Ever since 1991, Brazil has obtained over 1,000 distinctions in international contests with its wines.
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