The wineries in Chile aren't really close to eachother (as they are in Napa Valley or Niagara) and it typically has taken us 1-2 hours to get to each winery throughout the day depending on our itinerary. We have been spending hours of our day in a van, cracking jokes, sleeping with our poncho's and talking about the wine we've been tasting. The country side of Chile has been really quite beautiful with lots of palms, livestock, mountains, the Andes and small little towns all over the place. The people we have met have been friendly and helpful and everyone is always smiling and seem happy every single day. Chile feels like a great place to live and to be stress free. There doesn't seem to be much stress here, and in fact it feels like quite the opposite. It may be a a great place to park yourself if you're in need of some R&R, plus the dollar is VERY Canadian Friendly.
Day 4 started off at 9am - and here are some of the highlights:
Winery #1 - Valdivieso
- began the morning tasting 12 different barrel samples with Valdeivieso Winemaker
- enjoyed some great sparkling wine and found out that Valdivieso was the first sparkling wine house in Chile and SA
- drank through many other still wines and really enjoyed the Rose
- sampled a bottle of Semillion late harvest and got the winemaker (Brett Jackson) to sign a bottle to bring home
- For pics click here>>
- Arrived at the winery and jumped on board the official Cono Sur bikes (which I quickly fell off of while laughing hysterically) to begin our vineyard tour
- biked around the vineyard to see geese, vines and other sustainable practices and organic agriculture at the winery
- learned that Cono Sur makes a whole lot of pinot noir (and other varietals too-but this wine is what they are known for)
- met 2 of the winemakers from the team who were eager to show us their organic practices and some of the oldest pinot noir vines in Chile
- learned about the Pinot Noir Project
- tasted through the Cono Sur wine portfolio
- enjoyed an amazing lunch with home made guac, an awesome bottle of Riesling, an apple pie and much more.
- Cono Sur was a fun visit and I especially enjoyed the bike tour (thank god we didn't drink and bike!) and the Riesling at Lunch
- For pics click here>>
- arrived at Casa Silva Hotel (which is freaken gorgeous! I highly recommend staying there if you come to Chile) and checked in
- took a ride through the vineyards and saw a Chilean Rodeo
- drove back to the winery and went on a winery tour and then tasting Casa Silva Wines
- went to the Casa Silva club house and saw the Casa Silva polo field
- ate some dried horse jerky (it was better than I expected)
- enjoyed a Chilean BBQ with Chicken, Beef and Pork
- capped the evening with after dinner drinks at the Casa Silva Wine Bar
We are mow heading back to Santiago so stay tuned for more!
