Last year, we visited El Cuadro vineyard and it was my favorite experience of the entire trip. This year, LG and I did a day trip to two wineries as part of a tour: Santa Rita and Concha y Toro. Though these two wineries were not as amazing as El Cuadro, we had a great day and drank some great wine.
We went to Vina Santa Rita first. The tour was interesting because it focused on the industrial process of making wine. The small vineyards I've been to emphasize how non-industrial they are. So I liked this tour because Santa Rita proudly proclaimed how much wine they made (a lot, in qualitative terms).
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| Of course, since I found the industrial aspect of the winery most interesting, I didn't take any pictures of it. A picture of me next to some aging barrels will have to suffice. |
"In 1814, General Bernardo O’Higgins, one of our country’s forefathers, together with 120 patriots fighting to achieve Chile’s Independence, found refuge in the Santa Rita Hacienda, after a fierce battle against Spanish Crown soldiers in the city of Rancagua where they had been defeated. History tells us that the distinguished dame Paula Jaraquemada, with great courage, defended the 120 patriots by hiding them in the basement of the Santa Rita house, confronting the Spanish soldiers and not allowing them to enter her home by throwing a brazier full of hot coals at them. Thanks to her bravery, the 120 soldiers where able to regain their strength and continue on their quest for Chile’s independence. This historical fact was printed on the label of our vineyard’s most traditional wine, the 120 line as homage to those brave 120 soldiers."
That story was moving enough that I bought a bottle of 120 Carmenere.
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| Of course, since I found the historical aspect interesting I didn't take any pictures. A picture of LG and me with some aging barrels will have to suffice. |
Another awesome thing was that there was a museum on the grounds called Museo Andino, which had thousands of artifacts from the Indians of Chile (more on that in another post).
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| This is actually a picture of me that is related to the what I wrote about. The Museo Andino is behind me. |
Our second winery was Concha y Toro, which is the largest winery in the world in terms of land area and the fourth largest in terms of production (or at least that's what our guide told us). The size of Concha y Toro is best exemplified by the fact that the only Chilean Carmenere I can find at the Estherville Hy-Vee liquor store is Concha y Toro. And wouldn't you know, one of the three wines we tried was the Casillero del Diableo 2013 Carmenere--which is what you can find at Hy-Vee and is the wine I've consumed the most in the past year. But I happily drank it.
There were two features of the Concha y Toro tour that I really enjoyed. The guide spent a lot of time talking about the importance of pruning in determining the quality of the grape. He gave this explanation in "The Garden" which consisted of the twenty-six most common wine grapes grown in Chile. If I had visited in March or April, I could have tried the grapes. But alas, there were only "twenty six kinds of sticks" (a great line by the tour guide).
The other part of the tour that was enjoyable was visiting the Casillero del Diablo--the Devil's Cellar. Before modern technology, wine was stored in cellars in order to age. The Devil's Cellar acquired its name because the cellar was robbed. So after being robbed, the owner started a story that the devil hung out in the cellar in order to keep away thieves. Apparently, it worked. Though I'm guessing it was stronger locks and more guards...For you superstitious and supernaturalist types, the devil doesn't really hang out there.
Regardless, the wine was good and we had a great time!
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| Salud! |
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