In 1987, when the sometimes volatile political winds of Chile were shifting toward a rebirth of democracy, a Danish-American wine merchant named Søren Axelsen traveled to Santiago to see if he could begin exporting Chilean wines to Europe.

Axelsen's company, Cabernet Corporation, was the first to export Chilean wines in bulk to Europe after the country's rebirth. What began as a trickle is now a torrent. Chile's coastal valleys have the world's finest growing conditions, and with large infusions of cash and expertise from American, French, and Italian winemakers, among others, Chile has become one of the world's great wine producers.

Axelsen, a grape grower himself, had founded Cabernet Corporation in 1980 in Monterey County, California, and he moved it to Tiburon, in Marin County, in 1985. The company prospered on sales of bulk wines to Europe, where a distribution network was already in place when the Chilean venture began. And the time was right: the good but inexpensive Chilean wines came to the market when California wine prices were climbing steeply.

In 1989, Cabernet Corporation began importing fine bottled wines through its newly created subsidiary La Playa Vineyards (Viña La Playa S.A.) in Chile.

Cabernet Corporation also holds exclusive import rights in the United States to Vino de Eyzaguirre. This fine Chilean wine from the Colchagua Valley is popularly known as the "Wine in the Sack" because of its distinctive burlap wrapping, a century-old tradition. It is regarded as a superb example of the value represented by Chilean wines.

In 2003, Cabernet Corporation expanded its line of imported wines to include Proyecto 4, a new style of blended red wine from Spain. The producer is Bodegas Concavins, in the Conca de Barberà wine region of Catalonia. In the same year, the company also began importing a line of new red wines, Don Rodolfo, from one of the world's highest-elevation viticultural regions (about 6000 feet), the Cafayate Valley in Argentina's Salta province.

Cabernet Corporation is privately held by the Axelsen family. Peter Axelsen is Chief Executive Officer. Eric Axelsen, who left his law practice to join the company in 1996, is co-Chief Executive Officer and General Counsel. The company moved to Novato in 1997.