Easter Island-Santiago Day 8

Day 8 – Friday November 30, 2007 – Full Day Private Tour of Cachapoal Valley Wine Route

We began our day with breakfast at the hotel. We walked to the shopping center to get water and a few things we needed. At 10:30 Eduardo and our driver Marcelo picked us up and we were on our way to the Chilean Wine Country!

We left the city and took Route 5 South to the Cachapoal Valley, a viticultural paradise. On our way out of town Eduardo pointed out several more of the city’s highlights. We could barely see the Coastal Range and the Andes Range because of the smog in this valley today.

Eduardo told us more of the history of Chile and the importance of General Bernardo O’Higgins, one of the first leaders of the independence movement in Chile. He also explained some of the current information about the ID card everyone carries. It has one number used for driver’s licenses, passports, and all other official documents.

We crossed the Maipo River which is used to generate electricity, for irrigation, and for drinking water for the city of Santiago. Although the climate here is officially Mediterranean, with four distinct seasons, it is very dry, especially this Spring with a traditionally long dry summer.

As we drove south away from the city, the air cleared and we could see the surrounding mountain ranges. Central Chile is the 4th largest exporter of fruits and vegetables in the world. Only through irrigation is this possible. The hillsides are covered with giant cacti while the fertile valley is green with garden’s produce.

Just an hour and a half from Santiago, this valley is home to eleven of Chile’s most important wineries that offer not only excellent wines but beautiful parks, century-old mansions, and state-of-the-art wine-making facilities as well, with the omnipresent Andes Mountains as a backdrop.

The Cachapoal Valley is one of the most beautiful valleys of the central zone of Chile. We arrived at the "Casa Porta" Winery at Requinoa, a small town of farmers, located in the heart of the valley, very close to Rancagua.

Our wine guide, Louis, was waiting to greet everyone and explain about the culture, people, fruit plantations and the wines of the area. Louis was a young man of 34 who is from the Burgundy Region of France. He is working here to bring more information back to his county and his family’s wineries. He has also done internships in Napa Valley, New Zealand, and now here in Chile.

We were able to tour this small, but specialty wine center before having our lunch in the gardens on the grounds of the winery. We were served a very elegant lunch with wines that accompanied each of the five courses of the meal. The weather could not have been more perfect, it was 80 degrees, with a cool breeze in the shade, and the humidity was 45%.

At 2:30 we reluctantly left the "Casa Porta" Facility and continued South through the Cachapoal Valley Wine Route to the Gracia Winery. Our guide Isabel welcomed us and then gave us the most extensive wine tour we have ever had. We began with the ageing rooms where the wines rest in French oak barrels, each holding enough wine for 300 bottles.

Then we met one of the wine makers, Rodrigo, a 37 year old agricultural engineer who has traveled all over the world studying the harvests of many famous wineries.

Not only did he explain the process of blending wines but he also answered the most important question of whether cork, plastic, or screw on tops are the best for wines. We wondered what our friends reading this journal would think. The answer will appear in tomorrow’s journal after you have had a chance to consider the alternatives….

At the Gracia Winery we were able to see the whole process of bottling wines from washing the bottles to filling, corking, and then applying the labels and then packaging the wine for export.

The largest importers of their wines are England and Korea. Their company ships over 450,000 cases per year to foreign countries. The labels are placed on the bottles in the language of the countries ordering the wine for export.

At the end of the official tour, there was the usual tasting area where very generous glasses were poured for all of us. Isabel told us more about the business side of making wine and her role in promoting their products.

After a few hours of enjoying the wine and the company of our Feisel Group, we returned to Santiago and arrived back at our hotel about 8:00.

We had seen a German café that had been highly recommended so Gennie and I, along with our friends Carol and Judy walked to the Kika. It was not long that almost our entire group had heard the same recommendations and also decided to try the menu. We had a great meal of specialty hotdogs.

After dinner we went to our little corner ice cream shop and treated ourselves to a little dessert before returning to our hotel to sort the photos from our delightful day and write up our experiences in Chilean Wine Country!

If you wish to visit the Gracia Winery website Click Here.

Accomodation: Hotel Diego de Velasquez - - - Meals: B, L

A CD OF EACH TRIP IS AVAILABLE.

These CDs are compilations of slide presentations of each day (pictures of the events during the day) accompanied by music reflective of the nation and day.

On most CDs there are presentations on the people of the country, people traveling with the group, flowers, and panoramas.

On more recent trips, short videos have been included on the web pages and these videos are also available in the CD.

The CD is available for $20 US. Shipping and handling is included for US addresses. Slightly higher for overseas shipping.

To view an example of the presentations Click Here

As it is an 8:13 presentation, give yourself time to see it in its entirety.

Please contact garciatrips@gmail.com for more specific information and a screen capture of the CD menu.