Bolivia's Wine Capital — the Spanish-colonial city in a high Andean valley where Bolivia's finest wine is produced in unexpected quantity and quality, the city squares fill with folk music and singani (grape brandy), and the San Benito Valley is the farthest-south significant wine region in South America
Tarija is Bolivia's southernmost major city — a Spanish-colonial city in a sheltered Andean valley at 1,840 metres elevation, known as 'the garden of Bolivia' for its fertile fruit-growing valleys and as an unexpected wine region. The Tarija wine region (Chapaco wine country) produces 90% of Bolivia's wine in the Concepción and San Benito valleys south of the city — a wine culture distinct from the rest of Bolivia, which is generally too dry and high for viticulture. The region's climate — sunny days, cool nights, low humidity, and altitudes between 1,800 and 2,800 metres — produces wines (pr…
The Tarija valley was inhabited by Tomata and Chichas indigenous peoples (related to the Tiwanaku culture) before the Inca expansion incorporated the region into Collasuyu. Spanish conquistadors reached the valley in 1535; the city of San Bernardo de Tarija was officially founded by the Spanish Captain Luis de Fuentes y Vargas on 4 July 1574. The city was strategically important as the southernmost Spanish colonial garrison against incursions from Chiriguano (Guaraní) tribes from the Chaco lowlands to the east. Tarija's colonial churches — including the Franciscan mission of San Francisco (16…