Lima

Spanish colonists planted vines around Lima using varieties brought from the Canary Islands. Wine spread south from here and travelled across South America during the export boom of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. After nineteenth-century disasters, commercial restrictions and pressure to plant other crops, the vineyards that remained turned mainly to Pisco and sweet Borgoña. Most of Lima's vineyards are in the south, around Cañete and Lunahuaná. It is a subtropical desert climate with little rain. Fog supplies atmospheric moisture, while the cold Humboldt Current helps form the local vineyard climate. Pisco remains central: a spirit distilled from freshly fermented grape juice, with Lima among the authorised coastal areas in its denomination. Sweet Borgoña, made from Isabella with Niagara also used, remains part of the local tradition. Dry wines from heritage grapes are attracting growing interest. Albilla can show delicate white-fruit and citrus aromas, while Moscatel is known for floral and citric notes.