Alice and Randy Live in Chile: Learning About Pisco from a Maestro

The morning brought a large and tasty breakfast delivered to our cabana. We ate on the deck - rolls, fruit, eggs, fresh juice, cake, meats and cheese. We also managed to get the internet router reset by the caretakers and, presto, we had very good internet in the cabin. We also got the toilet in the boys' bathroom plunged because no paper is allowed in their septic system.

Breakfast delivered to our cabin (no, we did not have wine with breakfast - that was leftover from the night before)

Ash admires the Andes with his coffee

Erin catches up on the internet

A friendly frog sits out side our cabin

Entrance door to our cabana

Our cabin was the Cobre (Copper)

The mountain views were great but the farm views were very peaceful and interesting on a Monday morning when farming activities began

An idyllic farm scene from our deck

Randy and Ash were ambitious and took a walk while Arin and I lounged, enjoying our new found internet. We packed up and said farewell to Pisco Elqui. On the way out of the valley we were treated to a true nature experience. We saw two cavorting foxes (Randy thought they were coyotes but further research proved them to be lycalopex culpaeu or culpeo. "The culpeo, sometimes known as the zorro culpeo or Andean fox, is a South American species of wild dog. It is the second largest native canid on the continent, after the maned wolf," according to Wikipedia. These lively creatures were chasing each other in a playful way near the side of the road. There was not time to get a photo but we all enjoyed their antics and seeing a nice piece of nature serendipitously.

A photo from the internet of the beautiful fox we saw that morning on the road out of Pisco Elqui

Another shot from the internet - we saw two playful pups chasing each other with energy and glee

We intended to visit two pisco distilleries - Capel, the largest in Chile and very commercial, and ABA, a family run establishment that is a well kept secret. Both are located just east of Vicuna. We pulled up to Capel but an English tour could not be had for another 45 minutes so we pledged to come back (which we didn't for the reasons below) after visiting ABA. Capel looked like a nice place to visit with a big set up - museum, tours, cafe, store to buy pisco and memorabilia.

Part of the impressive entry area to Capel Pisco Distillery

Randy poses by the cheesy Moai at Capel

Ash does the same

ABA was a different story. I had heard about it on an internet posted review of Capel which suggested a visit to ABA was more authentic. I had emailed Alejandro Aguirre at ABA a few weeks ago through the Spanish language only ABA website. He said he was working all day on Monday and could give us a tour. From his emails I could tell he spoke good English and I assured we would come. And, we did.

Where we learned all about pisco

The place to visit if you want to know the skinny on pisco

Parking in the lot of a small church across from the distillery we happened upon a Chilean babe being photographed by two professionals - part of a publicity campaign that ABA was mounting in advance of Alejandro going to Orlando, Florida to find a U.S. distributor. Alejandro turned out to be the grandson of the founder and he is now 25% owner of the place. He is progressive and has keen business sense. He lived in California a long time ago hence his excellent English. We got a very technical tour with Ash and him grooving on the chemistry aspects of pisco and distilling. He also shared a lot about the business side and his challenges in modernizing this family enterprise and stimulating a demand outside of Chile for pisco. He sells about 30% of their product to the U.K. with minute distribution to Hong Kong and Switzerland. The photos below tell the tale of making pisco. We had a tasting of the products (three types of piscos and two pre-prepared pisco/juice drinks) in the simple tasting/sales room. Meeting Alejandro and learning about ABA and pisco was fun and a revelation. We decided that any other pisco tour would be far inferior and thus drove by Capel without stopping. Thank you, Alejandro and good luck with your family business! We hope to return.

At the rustic entry way

The model poses with the flagship type of ABA pisco - what you don't see are her extremely short cut off jeans shorts

The guys think their thoughts about the pisco (or was it the model?)

Cool dude Alejandro waxes eloquently on pisco

The irrigation pond looked a suspicious color but Alejandro maintained the water was natural and pure

At the vineyards - they sell most of the grapes they grow and only keep about a third to turn into their own pisco

The beautiful and delicious Muscat of Alexandria grapes, the finest for pisco

Macerating anks for the wine which must be made first

The crusher for the wine

Holding tanks of the wine

The historic, beautiful and functioning copper stills that turn wine into pisco

Alejandro explains the complexities of the distillation process

These native wood barrels hold the pisco after distilling

Part of the bottling room

They bottle all by hand

The products - the flagship ABA brand, the Fuego designed for mixing, the aged (brown) Fuego and the two mixed drinks - one with mango and one with acai (a berry)

The aged pisco goes in French oak barrels

The drink back was uneventful and even a little boring as we had to return the same way we came for virtually the entire trip. We arrived in Vina near dusk and stopped by so that Arin and Ash could see the Easter Island moai in front of the Fonck Museum. This moai is one of only a handful outside of Easter Island and while it is not so big it is amazing to see one of these world treasures up close and with no crowds.