Santiago, Chile
We arrived in Santiago bright and early feeling pretty good considering we slept on a bus. Once we got to the bus terminal, we called an uber to come pick us up and take up to the Hilton hotel that Tim booked by the airport. Since Tim is a platinum Hilton rewards member, he worked his magic and the staff let us check into our room at 6am when we arrived. This was clutch because we were getting picked up for a wine tour just outside Santiago at 9am that day. That way we could take naps, sneak in some showers before we had to leave for the wine tour. The wine tour group came promptly at 9:15 and we were off for a day of wine tasting!
We picked the Casablanca Valley for wine tasting because they wineries looked full and ranged from small scale to large establishments. Tom from Bodega Wine Tours was wonderful. He explained the agenda as we went towards the valley from Santiago and highlighted some interesting facts about where we were going. The first stop was Veramonte Vineyard which had a giant mansion style house overlooking the field of grapes. They just harvested the Malbec grapes a week before so the vines were mostly empty but the one that were left that we got to try. Surprisingly, they were delicious! Tom explained the vine cycle while we wandered the rows of grapes. After, we went inside to a beautifully set table with 4 premium cool climate wines. The group of us didn’t really know too much about wine so it was nice to have a worker help us try and identify some different notes. We also learned about the caramenere grape which is now the national wine of Chile because 85% of all caramenere wines are produced with Chilean grapes.
After our first wine tour, we went to a small batch vineyard which ended up being our favorite. They were harvesting that day, and let us help with picking and were able to eat grapes right off the vine as they were picking. We were definitely not very efficient at it. After we strolled around, we got to see the their facility which was a bunch of shipping containers! It was super cool and they don’t use any smart temperature control. All they do is open and close the doors depending on the season and the time of day. Once we finished the tour, we sat down and ate some fresh bread with homemade olive oil (which was amazing!) and olives. The wines were delicious and we all ended up buying a bottle of their Malbec. Tim enjoyed talking to the owner who was Brazilian about his time in Brazil and all the things he missed there, and Jenny loved the dog that was with the walking the vines with us, but the dog wanted absolutely nothing to do with us.
Our third bonus stop off at Bodega RE where we just got a quick tour and tried a 94 point bottle of red wine they make. The cool part of this vineyard was that they use clay containers to make their wine. It’s an old ancient style to make wine and they are bringing it back. They are the only vineyard in the world doing this style on scale they are. It was incredible to see but since they were in fermentation when we visited, the smell in the room was so strong we could only stay for a few minutes. Tim got some olive oil from here which was also supposed to be rated quiet highly.
The fourth and final stop was to Vinamar vineyard which also had a giant plantation look to it. We did a blind taste test of three wines. Our course, we did not get any of them right but it was still fun to try. After the tasting, we went upstairs, enjoyed this panoramic view of the vines and eat some lunch. The lunch was good, but a tad fancy for us. After lunch, we headed back to the car and back to our hotel.
The rest of the evening was mostly just napping and watching the final four games on my computer. We had a really tough time trying to get delivery so eventually after a few hours of failing, we ordered some Papa Johns for pick up. Tim and I called an uber to drive us to the papa johns and we headed over there. The traffic was so bad we ended up hopping out of the uber and walked the rest of the way. We finally got our food, called another uber and headed back. By this time it was already 10pm and we were starving. Jenny and I had an early flight to La Paz the next day so we pretty much eat our pizza and crashed. Papa Johns hit the stop though. It was so nice to have Tim join us for part of the trip. We had a great time with him and I think he did as well.
*****
Lodging: Hilton Garden Inn-Santiago Airport
Activities: Bordega Wine Tour
Restaurants: Veramonte, Attilio & Mochi, Vinamar Vineyards, Bodega RE, Papa Johns
We picked the Casablanca Valley for wine tasting because they wineries looked full and ranged from small scale to large establishments. Tom from Bodega Wine Tours was wonderful. He explained the agenda as we went towards the valley from Santiago and highlighted some interesting facts about where we were going. The first stop was Veramonte Vineyard which had a giant mansion style house overlooking the field of grapes. They just harvested the Malbec grapes a week before so the vines were mostly empty but the one that were left that we got to try. Surprisingly, they were delicious! Tom explained the vine cycle while we wandered the rows of grapes. After, we went inside to a beautifully set table with 4 premium cool climate wines. The group of us didn’t really know too much about wine so it was nice to have a worker help us try and identify some different notes. We also learned about the caramenere grape which is now the national wine of Chile because 85% of all caramenere wines are produced with Chilean grapes.
After our first wine tour, we went to a small batch vineyard which ended up being our favorite. They were harvesting that day, and let us help with picking and were able to eat grapes right off the vine as they were picking. We were definitely not very efficient at it. After we strolled around, we got to see the their facility which was a bunch of shipping containers! It was super cool and they don’t use any smart temperature control. All they do is open and close the doors depending on the season and the time of day. Once we finished the tour, we sat down and ate some fresh bread with homemade olive oil (which was amazing!) and olives. The wines were delicious and we all ended up buying a bottle of their Malbec. Tim enjoyed talking to the owner who was Brazilian about his time in Brazil and all the things he missed there, and Jenny loved the dog that was with the walking the vines with us, but the dog wanted absolutely nothing to do with us.
Our third bonus stop off at Bodega RE where we just got a quick tour and tried a 94 point bottle of red wine they make. The cool part of this vineyard was that they use clay containers to make their wine. It’s an old ancient style to make wine and they are bringing it back. They are the only vineyard in the world doing this style on scale they are. It was incredible to see but since they were in fermentation when we visited, the smell in the room was so strong we could only stay for a few minutes. Tim got some olive oil from here which was also supposed to be rated quiet highly.
The fourth and final stop was to Vinamar vineyard which also had a giant plantation look to it. We did a blind taste test of three wines. Our course, we did not get any of them right but it was still fun to try. After the tasting, we went upstairs, enjoyed this panoramic view of the vines and eat some lunch. The lunch was good, but a tad fancy for us. After lunch, we headed back to the car and back to our hotel.
The rest of the evening was mostly just napping and watching the final four games on my computer. We had a really tough time trying to get delivery so eventually after a few hours of failing, we ordered some Papa Johns for pick up. Tim and I called an uber to drive us to the papa johns and we headed over there. The traffic was so bad we ended up hopping out of the uber and walked the rest of the way. We finally got our food, called another uber and headed back. By this time it was already 10pm and we were starving. Jenny and I had an early flight to La Paz the next day so we pretty much eat our pizza and crashed. Papa Johns hit the stop though. It was so nice to have Tim join us for part of the trip. We had a great time with him and I think he did as well.
Lodging: Hilton Garden Inn-Santiago Airport
Activities: Bordega Wine Tour
Restaurants: Veramonte, Attilio & Mochi, Vinamar Vineyards, Bodega RE, Papa Johns
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