HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY: Getting out of the city
BUMMER OF THE DAY: Liz losing her IPhone
BUYS OF THE DAY: My ticket into the winery for 16AUD
WORD OF THE DAY: wine wine wine
Wine, wine, wine. We are off to a winery today. We have decided to get ourselves there rather than book on a proper day tour. This is good to do when there are a few of you, if you’re on your own I don’t mind paying the extra money and doing a more organized thing.
So there were 7 of us up for the tour. Helen, Gray, Liz, Paul, Mike, Kirrily and myself. Kate isn’t a wine drinker and I’m not sure what the rest were up to, but we were all set at 9am to walk the 5 minutes to the Metro. I felt a little special as I had been here yesterday, and I could show people where to go to purchase their tickets on the lower level! I looked like I knew what I was doing! So we pointed to the window lady the stop we wanted to get off at, and she explained in Spanish that we had to change lines to get to our final destination. I have to say, Paul had done all the research on this for us today, and knew that we had to do the change, so while I remember, thanks Paul for organizing it all for us and for also making the booking at the winery yesterday. Very efficient of you and it nearly makes up for the faux par at dinner last night, nearly.
Reception had told us that we should leave at 9am to get to the winery on time for our 11.30am tour. We figured it was better to have more time and have a drink before the tour than have to rush, leaving a little later and we are glad we did it that way. We had to travel 7 stations to Tabalaba station where we got off and then transferred onto the blue line to take us another 13 stops to the station closest to the winery, La Mercedes. From there we had to catch a taxi that was a 10 minute drive from the station to the front gates of the Concha y Toro Winery. The train cost us 2.32AUD return, the taxi cost 3.00AUD each return and the entrance/tour was 16AUD each. So for the day out it cost us a total of 21.32AUD each. Not bad, not bad at all!!!
We arrived at the gates at 10.30am, so it took an hour and a half to get there, so after checking in, paying and receiving our group sticker for the tour, we were allowed to pass in and head to the gift shop, restaurant and bar. The winery looks like what you would picture a Spanish Ranch to look like. Large cream buildings with big black ‘horse doors’ that swing open. It was a beautiful setting and with the morning coolness and clouds just lifting it was going to be a magic day. Well we beelined straight for the bar of course with the ladies ordering glasses of white wine in varied flavors and the gents buying a bottle of red and sharing that for the next hour. The prices per glass all seemed quite reasonable with the cheapest glasses starting at 1200 (2.40AUD) to the Sauvignon Blanc that I chose at 2500 (5 AUD). There is something risqué or naughty about drinking alcohol at 10.30 in the morning, but as I always say it is midday somewhere in the world, to make it acceptable and it always seems to work. So we managed to squeeze in 2 glasses of wine just before 11.30am and with a quick toilet stop we met our handsome guide Marco for our hour long tour.
Concha y Toro is the largest producer of wines from Latin America and is one of the global leaders in its field. It is headquartered in Santiago, Chile. Concha y Toro Winery is located in Chile and comprises 8.720 ha spread throughout Chile's major wine regions: Maipo, Maule, Rapel, Colchagua, Curico, and Casablanca.
The Concha y Toro Vineyard was founded by Don Melchor de Santiago Concha y Toro and his wife, Emiliana Subercaseaux, in 1883. To start the winery, he brought grape varieties from the Bordeaux region in France. The grapes that he brought were: Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon, Merlot, and Carmenère. The vineyard was incorporated as a stock company in 1923 and shares were sold in the Santiago stock market. Concha y Toro began exporting wine in March 1933 to the port of Rotterdam, Holland. In 1950, the winery began to acquire more vineyards and also began the process of adapting its business to new markets and meeting a higher demand.
In 1971, Eduardo Guilisasti Tagle became Chairman of the Board, who succeeded in expanding the company. In 1987, after partnering with U.S. importer Banfi Vintners, the company started to incorporate more advanced technology in all of its production stages. It also started using small French oak barriques. In 1994, shares of Viña Concha started trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
Concha y Toro produces several different wine styles including a Late Harvest Sauvignon Blanc made from grapes the Maule Valley. They also produce a barrel fermented Chardonnay and a single vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon named after the winery's founder, Don Melchor. The wine comes from the Puente Alto Vineyard in Maipo Valley.
After going for a walk through the grounds and seeing the house where Don Melchor spent his summers on the estate, well house maybe an understatement with 22 bedrooms but only 1 bathroom, the ‘house’ is now used for administration and ‘special’ wine tasting events, which obviously wasn’t us, so we only got to see it from the outside, but it was a beautiful looking home we then headed to the vineyard itself to see the variety of grapes that they grow. The grape varieties of Concha y Toro include White: Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon, Gewürztraminer and for the reds: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Carmenère. The vines were named with little wooden signs on what they were, so they made for some great photo opportunities. We then ventured to the first tasting of a white wine, and too be honest I can’t even tell you what it was. All the glasses were perfectly lined up on a table top of 3 wine barrels and we rolled, swished and sniffed our wine before drinking. Good old Marco the professional did the spit thing, but not us, we drank with relish after walking around outside for 25 minutes, poor us I hear you say!!!
From here we were lead in to where they stored and kept all the barrels. There were hundreds and hundreds of them all in a climate controlled room, just waiting their turn to be processed, bottled and then consumed. Each barrel holds 300 potential bottles of wine and one barrel could be used for many varieties of wine. The climate control included spray releases of water from the roof every couple of minutes covering us and the barrels in a fine mist as we walked around. Our last stop was in the original cellar, where 100 years ago the whole Conch Y Toro story started with their first wines called Castillo de Diablo was first stored. There is a story that the cellar was possessed by the devil which was s tory fabricated when Don noticed that employees were stealing his wine from the cellar, so he made up the myth and miraculously the wine stopped walking out the door. The cellar was really cool, with older barrels down here, mood lighting and the doors were closed and the lights switched off as the story was told to us via some speakers that were located in the walls. Something a little different and a nice way to finish the last wine tasting we had which was some form of red wine, which I am not a big fan of but after 4 glasses so far, I’d give anything a go. This was where the tour finished and we got to keep our glasses as a souvenir and a cardboard bag to pop them into. So with a tip and a farewell to Marco we decided to stay on at the winery for lunch. Why not, it was a shame we couldn’t get a table outside as it really was a glorious day, but we managed to get some seats inside and with my Corn and chicken pie ordered for lunch and a glass of red, well it was recommended with the pie, we kicked back on some free Wi-Fi and talks over lunch. This is the way to wile away a Saturday afternoon. Lunch was spot on and with one more glass of white wine for the road it was time to head back to town, as the newbies had their welcome meeting at 6pm. So working in reverse and not feeling super drunk, just a little tipsy we stopped at the gift shop and with a bottle of red and a bottle of white wine under the arm it was time to head back the way we had come via taxi and metro to get home. The front gate rang for taxis for us, which we only had to wait 5 minutes and the taxi driver we had let me talk on his walkie talkie to the taxi behind us that had the rest of the crew in. Damn I wish my Spanish repertoire had more words than amigo, hola and Feliz Navidad. But it was funny all the same and I am glad I couldn’t understand the reply that came back. We only had to wait 5 minutes for the first train and at the switch we only had to wait another 5 minutes to get us back to ‘our’ station. Everything was so streamlined and worked out perfectly.
The only downside to the day was Liz had her IPhone stolen on the Metro on the way home, either that or it was left at the winery, but after a phone call to them to confirm it wasn’t there, it looked like it was the metro. What a shitty way for the day to end, as it was a superb day till that point. They made a Police report for insurance purposes with the help of Mark.
It was only 5 o’clock and dinner wasn’t until 7.30pm. So Helen, Kate and I decided to go for a quick snack to tie us over till then. We ended up at Kentucky and with 14 nuggets, well they only came in packs of 7 and I wanted 10, here in Santiago KFC also sell beer, so H and I also got a beer, a large of course, for the grand cost of 5.32AUD each. With nuggets and beer downed H had to get back to the hotel for the meeting and Kate and I did one more supermarket run for our departure on the truck tomorrow to Pucon. I bought some water, a bar of soap and I found some more of those Arnotts ‘taste alike’ Mint Slices (for half the price I paid at the servo) so I stocked up with 3 bags of them for 7AUD. I am now all set for tomorrow’s long day in the truck.
Dinner was with the new group tonight and we seem to be getting overwhelmed with Swiss people, having 5 on tour. We had our meal AGAIN at the Italian joint for the 3rd night in a row, but I didn’t care. I ordered the same meal I had last night and it was just as good with beef strips and chips covered in an Alfredo pasta sauce. DELICIOUS!!! By the time we got back to the hotel it was just after 10pm, so with a little bit of internet I was tucked up in bed and sleeping by 11pm. Our last night in a bed for the next 7 nights when we get a reprieve in El Calafate for 2 nights in a hotel.
So this is the official Bernie/Tucan welcome to 9 new people on the trip for the next 42 days.
Sven and Kate – Swedish and Swiss
Elizabeth and Susanne - Swiss
Anna – Swedish
Andreas - Swiss
Helen - UK
Mike - UK
Kirrily - Oz
Travel gods, keep us safe on the next part of the journey, work your magic tomorrow for the ‘hot seats’, keep harmony in the group that we have worked so hard at and I think it is paying off and just watch over us. Thanking you in advance xx
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