Chilean Wines

 We made it to the wine valleys. A little jiggery-pokery to get the car but that is another story. Sufficed to say we are on the road (and have been for 4 days, sorry).

The driving isn’t too bad and the highways are really very good. For the most part twinned and well paved. Even the signage is pretty good, light years from Panama! 

First stop is Casablanca, not the Moroccan one, it is a smaller valley a little west and north of Santiago not too far inland. We found a nice little hotel in the valley with a winery 400 meters up the road. The El Refugio is quite nice, we were in the Vinilla room. There is a pool, a nice dining room and I very nice yard to wander in. Very comfortable.



The room came with breakfast and we decided to take dinner there. All very large and delicious.



I am getting ahead of myself. Before dinner we walked up the road to Bodega Re. Very cool winery, and quite busy. We decided not to do a tour, we have done many, and went for a tasting only. We ended up talking to a young man who decided he needed to practice his english, so he abandoned his post and treated us to a tasting of pretty much everything they made, it was glorious and he had a great time. The wine is amazing, and we wobbled home.




From there, after a good night we headed south. All the way to Santa Cruz, via Santiago. We needed to go to Santiago to book our bus over the Andes. Not too long a ride but we hear the border can be slow, oh well, we want to see the Andes! 

Santa Cruz is a little odd. Nice enough looking town but hard to navigate. Lots of one ways and no signs. We found a nice hotel fairly centrally located and hunkered down for a couple nights. Oh glory be, no window in our ground floor room (heaven for Jane, no sleep mask. The sun comes up really early here).

On the way to Santa Cruz we finally found a winery. We are driving the posted wine route, however wineries are hard to find, especially ones that are open.

Anyway, we stopped at Ravanal, a bit larger winery to taste. Again no tour which for some of the greeters is a little off-putting I think. The people who actually do the tasting are more understanding. The wines are very good, the whites are delicious and fairly full on the palate, they even had a Sauvignon Blanc that Jane could drink (sort of), they are more minerally and grassy than citrusy. The reds are nicely medium bodied with oak and concrete and stainless in their production. Lots of blends using Carmenere, their grape of choice, but they use Cab Sav, Syrah, Merlot, Cab Franc and a few others. All together a very good sample of Chilean wines that we do not get at home.

I will add more tomorrow, it’s been a long day. You will love Laura Hartwig!


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