New Colchagua Wine Routes

New Colchagua Wine Routes

With some recent quality time exploring wineries and hotels on the Colchagua wine route, we have come up with some new programs for 2021. Below is the latest to get your juices flowing.

• Contrasts between boutique, artisanal, and high-investment wineries
• Under the radar “one-man (or woman) bands” vs. world-famous producers
• Intimate, private wine experiences with owners and winemakers
• Stay at the winery itself and/or in wine-themed hotels to suit our route
• Enjoy picnics surrounded by vines, plus some great winery restaurant options
• Premium tastings, led by the people responsible for the wine, in situ!
• Flexible visits, add or subtract anything you like, want to stay longer? No problem
• Wine expert driver/guide/sommelier who is with you the whole time

Let us assume that you choose to take the most popular option of 2 nights away from Santiago, which is enough time to get a great overview of this lovely wine region. If you had another day open to you, even better, and we can fill it easily. If you wanted to visit really old vine territory in Maule or Itata you would need a couple more days on top of this.

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Day 1 | Launch into the Colchagua Experience

We will pick you up from your hotel in Santiago this morning around 9.30 am, most likely you will have enjoyed an evening tasting with us the night before so we don’t want to get you up too early, plus we miss the worst of the traffic.

It will be around a 2-hour 30-minute drive to our first winery, stopping for a coffee and comfort break along the way. Arriving at the boutique Lugarejo winery we will meet the owner, winemaker, agronomist, marketing manager, and expert bottle labeler; Elina Carbonell. Elina will explain in detail her process and how she has arrived at where she is today, self-taught, with plenty of youtube videos, and trial and error of course. After having an in-depth look around this small but perfectly formed winery you will enjoy a tasting with Elina. She has several blends and styles and she can walk you through them, along with the accompanying stories.

Next, we will drive a short distance, around 10 minutes, to the impressive winery of Viu Manent. We will be having a look around, a tasting, and enjoy lunch here. Let’s assume we have lunch first, which is most likely as you will probably be hungry. You will enjoy a tasty lunch at the winery restaurant called Rayuela (meaning Hopscotch). Sipping a glass of Viu Manent wine over a dish of your choice with a view over the vines is a perfect lunch in our opinion. After lunch, we will have a look around the surrounding vineyards, the winery, and enjoy a tasting.

Note: Horse riding is possible at Viu Manent and we can add this if you wish, plus close by there is also the option of Chilean cooking classes?

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Depending on the time of year there may be something that we can have you participate in, at pruning or harvest times for example. After a very relaxing afternoon, we will head off the short distance to your hotel to check you in. We have lots of options in the region and we will give you plenty of choices at the planning stage to find the best one with regards to style and price point.

You will probably be checking in at around 5 pm and you will have a couple of hours to get installed, shower, and have a snooze. Then at around 7.30 pm, we will meet again and we will drive you 15 minutes to the unusually shaped Estampa winery. Visually this building gets your attention, especially when the sun goes down and the lights come on as you will see. The Cocciopesto amphorae look great set within an “airport terminal” style winery workspace and we have the chance to wander around a little and your guide will explain what Estampa is currently working on. Plus we can get the winemaker to come and meet us if she is in town. You will learn how Estampa is not only using traditional Italian winemaking techniques but also Italian grapes here in Colchagua.

After a look around, you will kick back on the winery terrace (November to March), enjoying a bottle of Estampa between you with a cheese and charcuterie platter, Views over the vines with the amphorae backdrop is a lovely way to round out your first day. Afterward, we will drive back to the hotel and confirm what time we will head off after breakfast the next day.

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Day 2 | Deep Dive Santa Ana

We have a very relaxed departure time today, probably around 11 am, as will be out until the evening again. The micro-zone of Santa Ana is some 30 minutes from Santa Cruz and is appearing on the wine radar more and more with several boutique and small-scale wineries setting up shop there. We will spend the day visiting 3 of these, all different with regards to scale, setup, philosophy, and winemaking. Plus, at the end of today, we have yet another lovely evening experience to add.

Out first port of call will be at La Despensa boutique winery. This project stems from the wine passion of an Englishman, Matt, and his Chilean wife Ana. Over time they have increased their production, but never exceeding a few thousand bottles per year, so boutique is a very good description. Matt loves Rhone Valley wines and has focused on them at his winery. Southern Rhone-style GSM is a specialty and he is underway with Viognier, Marsanne & Rousanne in homage to the northern Rhone.

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Being a small-scale producer, like Lugarejo yesterday, you can witness the winemaking equipment and learn about the process up close and personal, plus freely wander around the vines. Matt gives you all the information you could want about his winery and then of course will guide you through a tasting. If you like pets then you will love today as many of the winery owners are mad about dogs, just look at Matts’s wine labels!

After La Despensa we will have a look at La Sirca. As we have already covered winemaking and looked at the vines today this visit will focus on a premium tasting with the resident winemaker, Pancho. You will get to taste several of the La Sirca wines in their new custom-built facility, just recently completed. The wines here are produced under the watchful eye of Marco Puyo, a well respected consulting winemaker who works with several clients in the area.

Our next visit will be at a winery and old hacienda which will surprise and entertain in equal measure. We will not tell you too much about the visit to Clos Santa Ana at this stage, partly because there is a lot to tell. It is much better that you experience it. But we will enjoy some time with the owners and winemakers here, explore their eclectic collections of antiques, wander the lovely buildings, hear about the ongoing natural wine projects, and learn about very low intervention techniques at the very quirky winery. We will enjoy a picnic at the hacienda sitting in one of the patios, or among the vines, with some of their wines to try of course.

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We will time our departure from Clos Santa Ana to coincide with our last visit for the day, the sunset over the vines experience at the Ventisquero viewpoint. Around 45 minutes drive away is a small piece of wine paradise, the Apalta D.O. This very much sought-after terroir is home to several producers and although Ventisquero does not have a production facility here it does have vineyards stretching up the hills. We will drive up to the winery’s beautiful viewpoint for a tasting with fantastic vistas. What a way to end your wine day!

Note: We may also include the Camino Mar winery which we like a lot if we have time in the schedule, or Camino Mar might replace another if a certain visit is not possible on a certain day.

Day 3 | Rounding Off in Style

Our third day together and the fun just doesn’t stop. We have 2 wineries to visit and lunch to enjoy today before we leave Colchagua and head back to Santiago. We will check out of the hotel after a lazy breakfast at around 10 am and head in a new direction to the OWM winery.

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We will leave all the explanations to Antonio the winemaker and co-owner at OWM. He is literally exploding with enthusiasm and can tell you all about the history, name, mission, and results so far. Antonio will guide us through a tasting from barrels and tanks in his unusual cellar. This is very much a hand made wine, with lots of manual processes, and a quite low tech approach. As with a number of smaller producers fermentation is done in plastic bins covered with film, use of native yeast, gravity versus pumping, manual punch-downs, and a number of quirky touches. You will try wines from several barrels, have the chance to make a blend, and also taste from his commercial blends already in the bottle. This is quite a visit.

After OWM we will head off to a local restaurant for lunch, maybe one where we can bring our own wine so we can try a couple of bottles from the trip so far. When we have refueled we will visit our last winery of the trip, most likely this will be at Laura Hartwig which is a lovely spot close to town. We will have a quick look around the vineyards and fruit trees closeby, then a stroll around the production area before a tasting on the shady terrace.

After time enjoying a glass or two in this lovely place we will head back to Santiago. It is likely you will snooze most of the way back and we will stop for a comfort break halfway. You will be dropped at your hotel with instructions and advice for the next day. Maybe you are traveling onward to Patagonia or Machu Picchu with us. Wherever you are going you will have had a great wine experience to take with you.