Tour of Wineries in Chile before the cruise to Acapulco 

Our tour of wineries in Chile was off-the-chart-great!  We visited 10 wineries (two per day is just right to get the proper amount of time at each and still have a nice lunch and have some leisure at the end of the day) and stayed at three wonderful and interesting hotels.  Overall conclusion was that Chilean wines are winners in all respects.  And the wineries should be on everyone's travel list -- beautiful scenery, clean and modern facilities and very personable and knowledgeable guides.  Although not cheap, VIP tours are the way to see these wineries.  Not only tasting the best wines but also getting a flavor of the personalities of the people involved. 

 
Favorite wines:  Pinot Noir from Matetic and the SOLdeSOL Chardonnay from Aquitania (see discussion below).
 
Surprises:  The large number of excellent Pinto Noirs (no wimpy wines here!) and Sauvignon Blancs.  I had not realized that Chile had such a great selection.
 
Favorite Winery:  This is a tough one, but Matetic, Casa Marin, MontGras and Montes were certainly in the running.

Favorite Question:  "Are you wine experts or wine lovers?"  The brother of the owner of Casa Marin asked us this question before the tasting.  Honestly we answered, "wine lovers". Thinking back over the week, we realized that many of the wines we had tasted might have been even more enjoyable to a "wine expert" and we appreciated him asking the question.  We tasted some from both groups at Casa Marin and could see the difference (particularly in complexity).
 
Best New Experience:  Introduction to tasting the tannins in the skins of grapes on the vines just before harvest.  Although the meat is sweet, are the tannins ready?  Have they smoothed-out enough yet?  Although, I'm certainly no expert now, at least I appreciate this last step before harvest.
 
New Technology:  Several of these wineries use a gravity-feed technique.  The harvested grapes are delivered to the top of the processing facility and each step is performed at the next level down, eliminating the need for pumps.  They believe this prevents damage to the grape/juice resulting from the use of pumps.
 
Wineries and Hotels:  It's a good thing Joann was taking a few notes!  I was having such a good time that when I tried to reconstruct the week, the details were mostly lost.  But here goes ...

 
Aquitania -- Maipo Alta, actually within the city of Santiago.  Across the street from Cousino Macul (whose vineyards are turning into residential housing), this visit was after more than 24 hours traveling.  So, the fact that it was memorable says something about the quality of the experience.  Built in the middle of what was previously a walnut tree orchard, they rewarded their pickers with fresh-picked walnuts. All excellent wines, but the surprise was a chardonnay that was tasted last  -- and for good reason.  The SOLdeSOL is probably the most complex and robust chardonnay I ever tasted!  It needed to be tasted after the reds. Sourced from the southern-most vineyard in Chile, in the Malleco Valley, it was a real eye-opener

 

Domus Aureas -- next door to Aquitania.  This is a stop for the very serious "wine expert" (versus "wine lover") to get a feel for the passion some of these vintners have for their work.  We tasted very serious cabernets straight from the aging barrels and even did some guided blending.  Truthfully, this was a little beyond my expertise and this was the only stop I might skip next time.

 

Bonaparte Hotel -- A nice business-person's hotel in Santiago.  Our driver/guide Mauricio took us to a local restaurant he referred to as The Vine.  We were the only non-locals there and got to observe the "2-hour lunch" common to the area while eating some great beef and pork surrounded by other local dishes.  The folks who were there when we arrived were still going strong when we left!

Matetic – A Romanian name, so not pronounced as you expect.  San Antonio Valley (Rasario Valley).   This was among our favorite wineries and definitely had some of the wines that we liked the best – beautiful, serene setting; very nice conference facilities, a B&B and restaurant.  Bruno Osvaldo was a wonderful VIP host.  A great stop for tourists on the way from Santiago to the cruise port of Valparaiso. We had a very nice lunch at the restaurant after the tasting. Organically produced grapes (wines not certified) -- “EQ”  Pinot Noir –- Our favorite wine!  Chardonnay – Second only to the SOLdeSOL.

Casa Marin – San Antonio Valley (Lo Abarco Hills)  This was a very laid-back visit, made more enjoyable by the brother of the owner who was our VIP host.  Beautiful architecture accented by tile-work art pieces by the sister.   All were great (both those for the “wine lovers” and those intended for the “experts”).  We took a bottle onboard the cruise ship with us.

Hotel Residencia Historica – An old monastery very nicely remodeled as a luxury lodge.  A little cool the first night since we didn’t know how to turn on the heat, but, once that was rectified, we really enjoyed this almost fully self-sufficient hotel.  Most of the produce was grown on-site.

MontGras – Colchagua Valley.  Beautiful scenery and very well-done meeting facilities.  Founder introduced drip-irrigation to the region which allows the current level of wine development.  All extremely nice wines -- Ninquen (local Indian word for plateau – the first vines were planted on the top of a nearby hill) -- Antu, Quatro (not tasted – our guide said it needed more time) and Reserva – All that we tasted were keepers.

Lunch at Hotel Santa Cruz, which was good and a lot of fun.  We also drove by another interesting hotel/winery, Hotel Vina La Playa.

Los Vascos – Colchagua Valley,  Rothschild (Lafite) owned, therefore a quality operation.  Joann and I disagreed on some of these wines, however, I would have bought any.

Montes – Colchagua Valley.  An amazing place!  Beautiful, peaceful … you felt your heart rate and blood pressure drop immediately after as you entered.  Great believers in Feng Shui and it seemed to work on me.  Maybe the prettiest views of all.  Great wines across the board.  (if it seems like the tasting reports are getting abbreviated, we beginning to get wined-out!)

Casa Lapostolle --  Colchagua Valley.  A French name, so again, not pronounced as Spanish.  Wonderful wines ...  As we tasting, they were notified that one of the wines we were tasting (the Apalta, I think) was awarded 96 points by Wine Spectator!

Casa Real Hotel (Santa Rita winery) – An absolute must-stay!  We did not do the tasting here because we wanted to spend our time in the gardens and chapel. We actually got so involved in walking the gardens that we missed the closing of the museum.  A quick look around indicated to me that it was very nicely done with an extensive collection of Pre-Columbian and well-staffed. After our walk we enjoyed a couple of Chile’s national drinks – the Pisco Sour (this one made with limon de pica and lemons) under the “second largest” bougainvillea in the world (it was at least fifty feet tall with a steel girder system holding it up over the veranda.)  This was followed by an excellent dinner.

Emiliana – Casa Blanca Valley.  This and the next stop would both be excellent stops from the Santiago airport to the cruise terminal in Valparaiso.  The only certified organic wine in Chile.  Their non-organic wine is marketed in the USA under the Walnut Crest label.  Special reserve syrah, sauvignon blanc and chardonnay were all very good.

Morande -- This was actually a wine/food pairing that we used as lunch. Although the wine was not the focus, it was all good, especially as presented with the appropriate food.  I would definitely do it again.  Beautiful place and good food.