Wine Tours from Santiago | Private & custom-designed
Our wine tours from Santiago are a blend of two main elements. An introduction to Chilean wine on your first night here, with a guided tasting at a wine bar. Then the next morning we start our selection of full-day adventures out to the wineries, how far you travel and how long that adventure will be, is entirely up to you!
What does the “ideal” Santiago-based program include?
- Private pick up and transfer upon arrival in Santiago
- Comfy hotel in a great location, Vitacura or Las Condes
- Introductory tasting on your first evening, at a great venue
- Many options on full-day trips visiting contrasting wineries
- Wine experiences in Santiago, Pirque, and Isla de Maipo
- Private guide and driver just for you and your group
- Premium tastings, tours with owners or winemakers
- Traditional food at wineries or local restaurants
Gary and Malka will be your hosts while you are here in Chile, from your airport pickups and transfers, through all the tastings, visits and tours they will always be with you.
Remember: Everything we do is modular and custom-designed. This means you can add easily destinations to your Santiago wine tour. For example, that might be a couple of nights in Colchagua. Maybe you would like to blend in a cultural or outdoor destination such as Atacama, Easter Island, or Patagonia? Chile is very well connected with short flights, so let us suggest an itinerary and deal with the logistics.
Your First Night in Santiago
You have been picked up by us at the airport, driven to, and checked into your comfy hotel, enjoyed a hot shower, and you are now ready for a drink and to have something to eat. Sound about right?
So early evening we will swing by to take you to your introductory tasting. We work with a number of wine bars and “vinotecas” which are perfect for enjoying your first taste of Chilean wine on native soil. Your wine guide will take you through a flight of regional highlights with some local cheese and bread. We may choose an ancient bush vine Carignan from Itata, a tree-climbing Pais from Maule or a high altitude Carmenere from Aconcagua. You will enjoy 4 or 5 wines that differ in a number of ways and guide you through the geography and terroir that they express.
After the tasting, if you want to continue drinking at the same place or move on then that we can do. There are a large number of eating and drinking options nearby. Tired? If so we will walk back with you and bid you goodnight at your hotel.
Next Morning – Historic vs. Cutting Edge
Today we start our exploration of Chilean winery contrasts. Firstly we will take you for a tour and tasting at an iconic Santiago winery that is a national treasure, Cousiño Macul. Later you will enjoy a great lunch, then tour and taste at the high-tech, modern architectural marvel that is Haras de Pirque. Along the way, we will add another visit to add extra interest and fun to your day, which will remain a surprise for now.
The Cousiño Macul winery was founded in 1856 and obviously at that time it did not lie within urban Santiago, now it does. When we arrive we will enjoy a morning glass of wine to get our motors running and then it’s off to have a look at some of the vineyards.
After getting close up and personal with the all-important plants themselves, we will have a tour around some of the original buildings and equipment, some production areas, and of course the historic underground cellars. Along the way, we will try a couple more wines and at the end of the walkabout, we will taste a further 2 or 3 more premium wines in the comfort of the historic patio with a little bread and cheese to keep us fueled.
Onward we go, back to the vehicle and driving out into the nearby countryside for around 40 minutes. There are a number of options we can opt for en-route and the beauty of a private tour is we can adapt to your interests.
Arriving at the impressive Haras de Pirque we will have lunch in the lovely restaurant first, as you will probably be hungry at this stage, and then enjoy a tour and tasting of this Antinori property. The rest of our afternoon is spent here with some time to simply relax and sip with the view you see above before we head back into the city and drop you at your hotel.
Gary shot the drone footage below when he wasn’t as good at flying and filming as he is now (he is still not great he admits!), but you can see how Haras de Pirque is a really spectacular winery. We can personally confirm that it’s a real treat to spend time lunching, sipping, and wandering around here.
Second Morning – Large scale vs. Boutique
Today we venture into the nearby countryside and show you an interesting contrast in scale and history. We will be enjoying the historic powerhouse of Viña Santa Rita first. The vineyards you will see to the left as we drive in are shared with Viña Carmen, a sister winery and the oldest in Chile. Viña Carmen is not only Chiles’s first winery (founded in 1850) but these vineyards are the place where Carmenere was “re-discovered” in 1994.
Santa Rita came into being in 1880 so it too is steeped in winemaking history. The beauty here is that unlike Carmen, you can actually visit Santa Rita, and what a great visit it is.
Upon arrival, some 60 minutes after leaving your hotel, we will tour the production facility, some of the original buildings, the underground cellars plus enjoy a tasting of course. Something unusual in a winery is an Andean Museum, Santa Rita has one which we can visit if you are interested. The on-site hotel in its own private park is quite a place, we can arrange a quick look round but be warned, you might want to stay.
To be fair you could spend hours at this winery, there is a cafe in the original winery bakery with one of the original train carriages inside! There is a great wine store in a wing of the old hacienda which also houses an excellent restaurant. So you can see how the time could just disappear. BUT we do need to move on to the boutique winery visit, where we will have lunch.
The LOF winery is a recent family venture and their small estate vineyards were planted with Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon in 2008. Just 900 bottles were produced in the first vintage. Each year this number has increased and the aim is to produce 6,000 bottles of each variety.
We will have lunch at the family home when we arrive, trying their two wines while we chat, as you can see above. The experience is very intimate and it is a real pleasure to spend time with these lovely people. After we have eaten we will tour the brand new facility and the surrounding vines and see how they do it.
At some point, although we know you won’t want to leave, we need to get you back to your Santiago hotel. In our experience, most of the way back will be spent asleep!
