Thursday, February 15, 2018

We got a glimpse of the Andes Mountains from the plane on our approach into Comodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International airport this morning.

Sunny skies and refreshingly cool breezes greeted us as we departed the airport in Santiago.   We met up with our wine tour guide, Christian, and driver, Hector, at the airport for our tour to the Casablanca wine valley.  We will concentrate our visit on small family wineries.  It was a pleasant drive through the countryside enroute to the vineyards.  We passed numerous corn fields and almond trees.  Corn is a big commodity in Chile and is used mostly for human consumption.  We also passed one of the large copper mines.  Copper and Lithium mining are major industries for the country.

Casablanca Valley is situated on the coastal plain between Santiago and Valparaiso and is Chile’s fastest growing wine region.  It is relatively new to the wine industry with production beginning as late as the mid-1980s. Despite that, the area has gained recognition in particular for the white wine production of splendid crisp Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc, but also for some stunning reds such as Pinot Noir, Merlot and Syrah. Casablanca Valley is one of the cooler wine regions in Chile and has a Mediterranean climate similar to California’s Los Carneros area. Soil and climate favors the production of top quality Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc. Cool misty nights and hot days provides excellent growing conditions.

The first vineyard we visited was Attilio & Mochi.  Joanna, one of the owners, met us upon arrival and we bonded with her (& Franc, the shy black lab) immediately.  The vineyard was founded by Joanna and her husband, Mark.  Theirs is a true love story.  They had come to the beaches of Chile from Brazil for a vacation.  After arriving, they discovered that they had no cell phone service.  After 2 days of panicking about not being able to contact their office, they relaxed, enjoyed themselves and decided they wanted to slow down their lives and start a vineyard.  Three years of searching led to the purchase of the plot of land where the vineyard now resides.  However, they wanted to make red wine in a white wine valley….all the area vintners found this very amusing.  Fortunately, their journey has been a very successful one and their wines have gained great fame in spite of the fact that they produce a low volume of wine.  We toured the vineyard and learned about the various types of grapes that are being grown.  Upon entering the wine processing building, we were greeted with the wonderful aroma of yeast…Joanna had made fresh bread to go along with our wine tasting in addition to an artful display of cheeses, nuts and olives.  We sampled 3 wines– Syrah, Cabernet Franc &  Malbec.  They were all delicious.  We bought a bottle of the Cabernet Franc to take back to the hotel to drink later.  We hugged Joanna goodbye and set off for our next stop for lunch and wine pairing.

Lunch was enjoyed on the patio of House-Caso del Vino.  We enjoyed a 3 course meal with wine pairings and then headed off for our last vineyard stop of the day.  Good thing, our energy is starting to sag.

Our final stop is at Bodegas RE, a small family vineyard that has passed through nine generations.   Their unique wine concept is based on RE create, RE invent and Reveal ancestral wines from biblical times produced in past centuries in beautiful clay tanks (much like what we saw in the Russian Georgia area).  We sampled 5 wines.  They were very unusual blends, i.e. Pinotel, Chardonnoir, Velado, Syranoir and Viña Roja.

Finally on the road back to the hotel, I had a little nap.  Tummy full of food and wine!  We will definitely be hitting bed early tonight.

Hotel:  The Hotel Mandarin Oriental