The first grapevines were brought to Peru shortly after its conquest by Spain. Spanish chroniclers from the time note that the first vinification in South America took place in the hacienda Marcahuasi of Cuzco. However, the largest and most prominent vineyards of the 16th and 17th century Americas were established in the Ica valley of south-central Peru. In the 1540s, Bartolomé de Terrazas and Francisco de Carabantes began vineyards in Peru. The latter established vineyards in Ica, which Spaniards from Andalucia and Extremadura used to introduce grapevines into Chile.
The growth of mining in Potosí in present-day Bolivia, which became the largest city in the Americas in the 17th century, created a constant demand for wine which was supplied mainly from Peru. In Potosí part of salaries were paid with wine. Furthermore, Peruvian wine growers supplied the city of Lima, the most important political centre in South America in the 16th and 17th centuries.
In 1687 the whole southern coast of Peru was struck by the 1687 Peru earthquake which destroyed the cities of Villa de Pisco and Ica. ...
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