Things change.

I passed by Vina Mar yesterday to show some tourist how sparkling wine wine is made.

As we entered the winery, i realized that some big changes had been made and the main changes were the fact that all of the bottling and all of the elaboration of sparkling wine done through the Charmat method had been moved out of the Casablanca valley and to the Maipo valley.

This is all to do with the San Pedro wine group which owns Vina Mar and their necessity to cut costs.

Fortunately the traditional method (Champenoise) for making sparking has remained at the vineyard, which is good news.

New food and wine pairing lunch at Morande.

Yesterday was my first tour with a food and wine pairing lunch since returning from London in August.

We started with some seared tuna topped with a mushroom and mango cream paste, served with a Vistamar Sepia Reserve Chardonnay from Casablanca.

Next was a cream of lentil soup with rabbit ravioli and toasted Serrano ham, served with Morande Gran Reserve Pinot Noir from Casablanca.

We continued with seared Mahi Mahi fish (From Easter Island) with gnocchi, blue cheese and sautéed pears. This was served with Morande Terrarum Reserve Carmenere from Maipo.

The next plate was grilled skirt steak also known as Entrana in spanish. This was accompanied with a white bean, bacon puree and minted peperonata. This was served with Zorzal Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon, Gualtallary, from the Uco valley.

I then added to the normal menu a Iberic salad, which consisted of rocket leaves, sun dried tomato, slices of serrano ham topped with grated parmesan cheese. This was served with a Morande Terrarum Reserve Sauvignon Blanc from the Casablanca valley.

The lunch was then rounded off with a mixed desert plate full of delightful sweet things. We had molten chocolate cake, walnut crisp with creamy caramel, pistachio creme brûlée, chocolate crepe with red fruits, pear and almond strudel with brie cheese, then scoops of vanilla, pistachio and caramel ice-cream. All of this was served with a Vistamar Late Harvest Moscatel from the Limari valley and accompanied with tea and coffee.

So as you can imagine everyone afterwards felt plenteous and satisfied.

Shoes on a wire.

What does this mean? Does it mean that Valparaiso is full unfriendly bullies that will rip your shoes off and throw them onto electrical lines or is it a strange porteno game or is it a way rival gangs mark there territory.

The mystery is out there on streets of Valparaiso.

Casas del Bosque Mirador almost finished.

I had a peak at the new mirador complex at Casas del Bosque vineyard and it looks very impressive.

With a scintillating view of the vineyard and the north western part of the valley, the new modern building which resemles a cross between Frank Loyd Wright and Luis Barragan includes a fine kitchen and a barbecue for weddings and corporate events.

Alot of the building has been constructed with materials taken from the surrounding area and uses alternative energy such as solar panels.

Private tour with Grant Phelps at Casas del Bosque.

I had a more than interesting time with Mr Grant Phelps, winemaker and funky pole dancing Dj.

He arranged a private tour for a very good friend and Portillo skiing partner Javier Mota automobile journolist from Miami.

After a jaunt around the winery and vines we settled down to a three course set menu, which included seared salmon and baked herb potatoes as the main course.

Back in action.

A mixture of seafood on black squid ink rice at the Oda pacifico restaurant in cerro bella vista, Valparaiso.

This is where i was inspired to start writting on the blog again after being some what busy.

So i suppose that i am now back in action.

Another Naval wine tour

With the Naval Expo or Expo Naval in Valparaiso coming up this November, i thought i would dig out some of the photos i have of the last winetour i did with the crew of the Canadian navy, that were here in September on the HMCS Protecteur.

We took out 70 of the sailers and as usual with navy folk had a great time visiting William Cole vineyard, Emiliana and then lunch at Indomita vineyard.