I have not placed anything on my blog for a long time now, well ever since the earthquake in fact.
The truth is there was not much to talk about until now and I had been very busy taking people on ski trips in a very good ski season for 2010.
In September we conducted winetoursvalparaisos first trip to the Aconcagua valley situated 90 km north of Santiago and a 3hr drive from Valparaiso, with the closest towns being San Felipe and Los Andes.
The Aconcagua valley is known for producing predominately red varieties such as Syrah (Shiraz) and Cabernet Sauvignon with some whites for example Chardonnay. The valley has a good water source which is The Rio Aconcagua which comes direct from the Andes Mountains unlike Casablanca which has no river and takes its water from underground wells.
The Valley has a Mediterranean climate and receives a lot of influence from the sea especially at its most westerly parts, yet is still considered a warm valley that can produce varieties such as carmenere, which is a variety that needs warm climate conditions. The valley also does not have much rain fall which helps provide a better concentration in the fruits.
On this trip we had a group of 8 academics from the US, UK and Australia, who were visiting Chile for an international conference on therapeutic techniques using virtual reality (interesting stuff).
With complications of tour availability at some of the vineyards and time constraints, we decided to visit just the San Esteban vineyard for a tour and tasting then on to Errazuriz vineyard for lunch with a tour and tasting.
Although I would have liked to have gone to the Von Seibenthal vineyard the 2 that we toured made an interesting day for everyone.
San Esteban formed in 1974 situated in the Piedahuen area of Los Andes has 120 hectares of planted vines. They not only produce their own wine but also help in the production of a wine called Flaherty (very good indeed) from the Californian head wine maker at Tarapaca Ed Flaherty. The wines included in the tastings were a Chardonnay, a Carmenere, and Cabernet Sauvignon.
Errazuriz one of the oldest family vineyards in Chile formed by Don Maximiano in 1870 and is located in the Panquehue area of Los Andes. Most notable about this vineyard is the contrast between the well preserved old house and cellar with the stylish new arquitecture of the winemaking facilities. The wines included in the tastings were a Chardonnay, a Merlot, a Carmenere and a Cabernet Sauvignon all reservas.
We arrived back at the San Martin hotel in Viña del Mar around 9:00pm and everyone seemed quite tired after their sing along to a Beatles compilation in the van on the journey back.
