Carmenere is not a red wine that I was aware of until I had my first taste of it and some amazing history on my wine tour to these two huge wineries. Carmenere vines had become extinct in Bordeaux due to a Phylloxera (louse that eats vine roots) breakout that killed all known plants in 1867. Fast forward to 1994- an ampelographer- person who studies vine leaves…yes, one can specialize THAT much!!! Realized that the merlot vines in Chile were turning red in the fall; BUT merlot vines turned yellow in the fall before losing their leaves. Further testing revealed that Chile now contains 95% of the world’s Carmenere! Vines were brought from Bordeaux in 1850s and were well protected from attacks by Chile’s natural borders.
Santa Rita was the first stop on the day trip out of Santiago. The winery was founded in 1880 in the Maipo Valley. It is located 40km south of the city. The current most popular brand of the winery is “120”, named after 120 army personnel who took refuge on the estate during the battle of Rancagua.
The winery has magnificent gardens and a boutique hotel that costs 500 USD per night. It also boasts its own church-due to the fact that its original owner was a very religious man. One of the owners was also a fanatic collector of pre Colombian Art- which is now housed in a free museum on site. This collection is very extensive and has gold pieces that I had not even seen in the museum in Santiago! There is a total of 3,000 pieces that are well displayed and described, and included earthenware, textiles and metal work.
After this winery we went to lunch- having an opportunity to meet the others in the group and chat. While most of the group was Spanish they introduced themselves, when all of a sudden people around the table started clapping-being behind on story here I inquired as to what was happening. The couple next to me were on their honeymoon. Upon finding this out the Mexican lady sitting opposite me, says that she has something to wish them well with- Elxir de Amor (Elixir of love) – and whips a hip flask filled with tequila from her handbag. To this we all passed the flask around the table and drank to their health- SALUT!
Concha Y Toro – the second winery for the day, is located in Pirque. It is the largest producer of wine in Latin America! It was founded in 1883. The company is listed on the Santiago and New York Stock Exchange.
The brand is best known for its “Casillero del Diablo” / Cellar of the Devil range of wines.
I asked out guide as to the numbers of visitors they have daily… low season is about 300 to 400 and high season- 1000 per day!!
As a matter of fact Chilean wines are very cheap- not because they are nasty- but because the wine is not taxed. A good bottle of wine will set you back 5-10 USD. On another side note…books are taxed at 19% in Chile … leading the to the highest illiteracy levels in Latin America!
2 replies on “Santa Rita & Concha Y Toro Wineries”
Bardzo mi sie podobaja Twoje opisy. Ciekawa sprawa z podatkiem na ksiazki i wino. A pozostale alkohole? Ile VAT w sklepie? Bardzo podoba mie sie piwnica z winnem. Koscil jest tez ciekawszy w srodku niz na zewnatrz. Super dzien. Jakie jest glowne zrodlo pradu w Chile? Dlugi kraj a wiec redystrybucja pewnie bardzo droga.
I love “Casillero del Diablo”, you can buy it in South Africa and is also very reasonably priced.
No tax on wine, I think that the only country that has such policy…
Very nice place