In Spanish, the word “lágrimas,” or “tears,” is used instead of “legs” to describe the drops of wine that stream down the inside of your glass after a swirl.
It’s a small difference, but one that reflects the romance of viticulture in South America – and in Chile in particular. Vines were first planted here in the 1500s, but it was during the second half of the twentieth century that Chilean wine began to earn serious international recognition.
Today, the valleys between the Andes and the Pacific produce some of South America’s best wines, with excellent small hotels and estates making it easy to spend a few days exploring them properly. Here are some of our favourite places to stay and taste in Chile’s legendary Aconcagua and Central Valley regions.
Colchagua Valley
A couple of hours’ south of Santiago, the Colchagua Valley is one of the great red-wine territories of Chile’s Central Valley. Its combination of warm, dry, summers tempered with ocean breezes and alpine winds provide ideal conditions for late-ripening varieties to mature fully. It is best-known for Carmenère: a Bordeaux varietal that was believed to have disappeared from Europe after phylloxera, and was rediscovered in Chile in 1994 after having long been mistaken for Merlot.
Clos Apalta is the place to stay. The estate belongs to the Bournet-Lapostolle family, whose history in wine and spirits stretches back seven generations. Alexandra Marnier Lapostolle – great-granddaughter of the creator of Grand Marnier – came to Chile with her husband, Cyril de Bournet, in the 1990s looking for somewhere to make wine. In Apalta they found a pocket of old Cabernet Sauvignon and Carménère vines in the hills, some planted from French material in the early 20th century, and bought the property in 1994.
Guests stay at the family’s residence above the vineyard, which feels more like being invited into a family’s wine estate than checking into a wine-country hotel. Dinner is served at the house, with vegetables and herbs from the garden and different estate wines brought up from the cellar. Days are spent walking and riding among the vines, and tasting at their seven-storey, barrel-shaped winery built into the hillside.
Casablanca & Rosario Valleys
Closer to the Pacific, the Casablanca and Rosario Valleys are cooler and greener than those inland, with morning fog that rolls in from the ocean – conditions that have made this part of Chile particularly successful with Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.
Check into Matetic, a colonial manor house turned ten-room boutique hotel set on a family-run biodynamic winery. Matetic was an early champion of cool-climate Syrah here, planting it on the valley’s old granitic soils at a time when the variety was far more closely associated with warmer parts of Chile. Grapes here are still harvested and sorted by hand; guests can hike and ride through the property and get a feel for the rhythms of life on a working winery.
From here, cross into Casablanca to some of the valley’s smaller producers. Attilio & Mochi is a tiny operation run by Brazilian winemakers Marcos Attilio and Angela Mochi, who grow eight varieties, including the valley’s first Grenache; visits are very personal and often hosted by Angela herself. Nearby, Bodegas RE is the passion project of veteran Chilean winemaker Pablo Morandé and his children. One of the first to make wine in the valley back in the 80s, he takes an experimental, old-meets-new approach, using clay amphora pots owned by the family for generations to make unconventional blends such as Chardonnoir, made from Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.
Maipo Valley
Maipo is Chile’s historic Cabernet country. In the 19th century, wealthy landowners began bringing over vines and winemakers from France, laying the foundations for the Chilean wine industry; the gravelly soils, hot days and cool Andean nights of Alto Maipo proved particularly well suited to Cabernet Sauvignon.
Santa Rita has been making wine here since 1880, when its founder, Domingo Fernández Concha, set about modernising the estate with French grape varieties, winemakers and equipment. Among the vineyards is Hotel Casa Real, a small Pompeian-style country house hotel that was once Fernández Concha’s summer residence. Its 16 rooms are surrounded by 40 hectares of gardens laid out by the French landscape gardener Guillaume Renner, along with the estate’s old cellars and a neo-Gothic chapel.
Nearby, Viña Haras de Pirque is worth a visit. Overseen by Italy’s Antinori family, the estate brings together the family’s two longstanding passions: wine and thoroughbred horses, reflected in its striking horseshoe-shaped winery and on-site racetrack and stables. Grapes are picked by hand, and both the vineyards and wines are certified organic.
Cachapoal Valley
Wedged between Maipo and Colchagua is the Cachapoal Valley, a quieter wine region known particularly for Carménère, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot.
Varied microclimates, gentle Pacific breezes, and clay soils create the perfect formula for a diverse selection of grapes to thrive. Younger wineries are beginning to establish themselves in the area, bringing the valley up to par with its neighbouring regions.
The best-known place to stay is Viña Vik, set within an enormous vineyard in the Millahue Valley. The 29-suite hotel sits high above the vines, with striking contemporary architecture and killer views across the surrounding countryside. The winery is an experience in itself, with tastings, vineyard walks, and a restaurant built around local produce. There’s also a spa with treatments using ingredients from the estate, including its own wine and grape-seed oil.
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Whether wine is the reason for the trip or simply part of it, we know Chile’s wine country well and can introduce you to the places we think are really worth knowing, along with helping you map out a wider route. Get in touch to speak to one of our specialists.
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