Alice and Randy Live in Chile: In the Colchagua Valley - Learning about Winemaking from a Maestro

We drove from the Tumunan Lodge westward into the Colchagua Valley, the equivalent in Chile to California's Napa Valley. It is beautiful and full of wineries and vineyards. The center town is the lively and pretty Santa Cruz. But our goal that morning (Saturday) was the Caliterra Winery, a large but not open to the public one in the northwest of the valley. One of the university colleagues in Valparaiso, Cecilia Montt, was gracious enough to put us in touch with her nephew, Juan Ignacio Montt, who is the second in command at this place.

The winery is large but not open to the public and located in a relatively remote valley of Colchagua

The main administration building

Juan Ignacio was very busy with the harvest season but took time to show us around extensively

As it was harvest season, the winery was in full swing and everyone was busy. However, Juan Ignacio was generous with his time and gave us the full tour and a special tasting, all direct from the barrels. After explaining the background of the winery (originally a joint venture with wine giants, the Mondavi's, it is now own by Errazuriz, a large Chilean company with other wine making ventures. The Caliterra holding number over 200 hectares and they make exclusively red wines with the grapes they grow here. In particular, they have carmenere, malbec, cabernet sauvignon and others.

Juan Ignacio explains about Caliterra to Randy

Ash and Randy listen attentively

Another interesting aspect is that they are creating a whole beneficial bio-habitat. They intermittently put little gardens in the vineyards to attract beneficial insects and they plant vegetables near the vines to enrich the soil. The fertilizer used is mostly composted grape cuttings. There are bird houses to bring the birds of prey to hunt the rabbits which eat up the grapes. (We did see an animal on the drive in along the long gravel road of the winery which we could not identify - Juan Ignacio thought it may be a fox but the tail was not busy and the shape seemed almost like a small anteater or large possum.) The whole attitude of the winery was progressive, natural and clearly demonstrated a passion for wine.

Juan Ignacio took us in his well worn four wheel drive vehicle for a tour of the vines. Then, we visited the industrial sized production area (outdoors) up close and personal. Next, we saw the aging areas with the oak barrels stacked high. Finally, we ended up in the aging room for the select wine which Juan Ignacio gave us generous tastings of the red varietals - including a really fabulous malbec (his own favorite and the only one he did not spit out after tasting). It was so special to get to know top Chilean wine making from a master and in a setting that is authentic and not touristic. Thank you, Juan Igacio! We hope to find your wines to buy in the U.S. (Caliterra ships now mainly to Europe but are entering the U.S. market.)

One of the flower garden biohabitats in the foreground with vines in the background

A roosting home for rapters that will hopefully control the rabbit population

A detail of one of these bird houses

This is real wine country

They only make from reds grown here and sell any white grapes they grow and for their white wines they buy grapes from vineyards in cooler areas nearer the sea

Ash was on his way to recovery from the late night at Tumunan Lodge

Arin enjoyed the education on grape growing and wine making

Juan Ignacio explains the holdings to us

Juan Ignazio and Alice enjoy the fine day

Another detail of one of the garden areas

A vineyard selfie

Getting down to the essentials - the grapes

These beauties are nearly ready to harvest

We tasted and they are very delicious

The production facility is all outside

People were working hard on this Saturday afternoon

The grape waste is used for compost

The good grapes are processed in several steps involving separation, pressing and fermenting

An earlier problem had left grapes all over the machinery that they were still cleaning up. Bees were everywhere!

The industrial scale of Caliterra production

Grapes are dumped from overhead into this moveable container for pressing

Beautiful grapes ready for processing

An experiment was fermenting naturally (without yeast at this stage) in a barrel

The grapes make a minor amount of alcohol on their own

Barrels are mostly French oak with some American and Hungarian

Three aging rooms are divided by the fineness of the wine and are all keep humidity (very humid) and temperature (cool) controlled

Getting ready for the tasting

Juan Ignacio shares Caliterra's finest from a variety of aged barrels - all were very nice especially the nuanced malbec

Along the gravel road leading back to civilization we encountered a herd of sheep and then goats which were being taken to other pasture lands. Again, reminiscent of driving in the hinterlands of Turkey. Driving back west past Santa Cruz we went to the garden restaurant of the Viu Manent Winery. The wines here are not superlative but the restaurant is. It was very crowded on this fine Saturday afternoon but I had reserved so we had a primo table in the garden. We dined well on salads, spicy mashed potatoes, fish (for Ash), steak (for Arin) and grilled vegetables (for Alice). We drank a bottle of their white wine which was perfect for this al fresco late lunch.

The sheep were moving fast

The goats were a big slower

There was one huge goat (on right center) who kept the rest in line

Goat traffic jam

Our trusty Hyundai under the vines at Viu Manent

Lunch al fresco

For a trim guy, Arin eats - steak and "poor man's delight" - fried potatoes and onions topped with fried eggs

Afterwards, we briefly visited two nearby wineries just to glimpse them. Lapostolle, French owned, is noted for using six floors of gravity in their wine making process. Montes is famed for Feng Sui and piping Gregorian chant music into their barrel aging room. Alas, we were already satiated with wine so we did no tasting or buying.

Ash wanted to visit to see the six floors of gravity aided wine making

From the top

A worker (with reflective tape on his uniform) mixes a barrel

Lapostolle has a garden on the roof with fine views of Colchagua Valley

View from the roof top garden. Lapostolle also rents out four luxurious cabins - maybe next time if we have a bigger budget

Montes was a our last winery stop and is located nearby Lapostolle

Arin was tickled by the two antique trucks at the Montes entry - here with an aged Chevy

He wanted to take this venerable Ford home

Symbol of the winery - the angel

We got a free taste and Arin enjoys it in the holy of holys - the aging room where Gregorian chants are played constantly

Checking into the Casa de Campo hotel, a small and very pretty inn just outside of Santa Cruz, we relaxed by the pool and made use of the recently upgraded WIFI. Refreshed, we later headed to town and walked around on this Saturday night. The church on the square had just gotten out from Mass (this was the Saturday before Palm Sunday) and we also took a view of the casino but they charged an entry fee so we did not go in. The check in guy at the hotel had recommended a restaurant complex that was walkable from the center town. We followed his map through darkening streets wondering if we were on the correct route but finally found this fun and upscale complex of about four restaurants. We choose the Peruvian one, La Casita de Barrieales, and were not disappointed at all. We ate outside and enjoyed the food and pisco sours a lot. While Ash and I stuck with Peruvian specialties, Arin had their version of chicken fingers and Randy had their version of fish fingers (both loved their fried delights). Randy and Ash finished with a shared tres leches cake. We walked back to the car and headed home for a good night of sleep and woke to the wonderful and full breakfast of this hotel.