Wine Tours in Chile

It's always funny how different opportunities present themselves.  Last December, I was working a flight to Chile and I struck up a conversation with a passenger in Business Class about wine.  Turns out he lived close to our layover hotel and he offered to leave me a bottle from a case he had just purchased.  It was delightful.

Fast forward to April and I am flying trip to Santiago again with my friends Adriana and Juanita, and a new friend named Sharon, who I had met the week before on my Madrid trip.  It was Sharon's first trip to Santiago.  During boarding, I noticed that Juan, my nice Business Class passenger who brought me the wine back in December, was again on my flight.

When he learned that it was Sharon's first trip to Chile, he kindly offered to come pick us up the next day and treat us to a tour of a local vineyard.  He offered to take the whole crew, but in the end, just our business class team went along for the adventure.

Juan arranged for us to have a tour of the Cousiño Macul vineyard located outside Santiago.  The Cousiño family has been making wine since 1856 and produces about 250,000 barrels a year, making them the second largest producer after Concha y Toro.

The interesting fact of the day that we learned from our tour guide was that up until 1994, the world thought the Carmenere grape had been extinct since it's destruction by insects in France back at the turn of the century.  Chile harvested a Merlot grape but for some reason, come harvest time, it always had a green pepper taste, like it was harvested too soon.  A wine making expert was brought in and after some examination, discovered that the grapes were not Merlot, but rather Carmenere, and if allowed to grow for the longer period that this variety needs, could produce a fantastic Carmenere wine.  PRESTO! Chile's Carmenere wines hit the market in full force and are now it's most popular export!

We all received a complimentary wine glass as part of our tour.... I wonder what that could mean?

We got to see how wine was made and then it was time to get busy with.....

samples and tastings!

After our wine tasting experience, we made our way with Juan to the Bella Vista neighborhood and treated him to lunch at a local spot with good Chilean food.  Sharon tried the Pastel de Choclo, another first for her.

Another great layover, with great friends, old and new.