Chile is a country where people know how to sip a good glass of wine, how to tell a good story and how to have a good time. Just conjure up the colorful image of Chilean women in multihued dresses, dancing and twirling handkerchiefs in the air. They enjoy life _ and we've learned to enjoy their wine.

Tastiness aside, Chilean wines have become popular because they deliver a lot of bang for the buck _ lots weigh in at around $15 for a pretty good bottle. Fans know that Chilean wines are also long in taste and value.

Chilean wines became trendy in North America in the last two decades or so, but wine has been produced there since the 14th century, when Spanish priests imported vines so they'd have vino available when celebrating Mass.

Those early wine producers discovered they could cultivate many more grapes than those needed for a few bottles for the churches. Chile was nearly divine for growing vines.

It's bordered by the Andes Mountains to the east, the Pacific Ocean to the west, the Atacama Desert on the north and, to the south, hundreds of miles of water and then Antarctic ice. The country is so geographically isolated and gifted with such a variety of environmental influences that it's nearly utopian as a grape-growing climate.

It boasts sunny days, cool nights and long growing seasons, which all make for great grapes. And because it's surrounded by ample physical barriers, Chilean producers have little need for chemicals or have little fear of infestation. In fact, Chilean vineyards (along with those in neighboring Argentina) are the only ones in the world as yet unaffected by the phylloxera aphid plague, which has destroyed many varieties of vines worldwide.

Chile's vines therefore hold direct lineage to those that reigned in Europe before the plague began in the mid-19th century. That has helped Chile position itself as an elite producer of wine.

Combine that reputation with high-caliber winemaking practices and some ideal grape-growing conditions, and you'll get Chile's magical recipe for great wine at great prices.

Chilean winemaking has grown from a cottage industry that created mediocre table wine for domestic use to a quality and quantity exporting business. Chile currently exports about 55 percent of its wine, bringing in about $600 million yearly.

The Chilean wine market started becoming so successful in the 1980s that several highly acclaimed European winemaking families, such as the Torres from Spain and the Rothschilds from Bordeaux, expanded their business interests there. In 1991, there were only 14 wineries in the country; today there are more than 100.

It's believed in Chile that in the beginning God created the wonders of the world and that the leftover pieces _ parts of rivers and valleys, oceans and lakes, glaciers and deserts _ were put all together and cast to the most remote corner of the earth. That is how Chile was born.

From those bits and pieces came the makings for great wine; particularly cabernet sauvignon and merlot in reds, and whites such as sauvignon blanc and chardonnay.