January 26 - Casablanca, Chile

I had a wonderful day!  This morning Adolfo, my driver from yesterday, picked me up and we headed west toward Valparaiso which is on the coast.  A little geography lesson is probably in order.  Santiago lies in a valley or bowl between the Andes and the coastal mountains which are not nearly as high. When you travel out of the city, you come to the agricultural part of the valley and there lies the area called Casablanca, which is a wine region.  We visited two wineries and had lunch at the first.

On the way we stopped at a little eatery so I could taste a little drink called Chicha.  It’s a fermented drink made from corn and it reminded me a little of grappa.  With it they brought me little samples of two cakes, one made with apricot jam and the other with dulce de leche.

Before I write about the wine we tasted, I’m going to write about some interesting information I learned from the master sommelier who was our guide at the second winery. I thought that the Chilean wine industry must be as old as the Conquistadores but not so.  When the Spanish came here, the wine they brought with them was essentially sacramental wine, not the best.  As they settled here they began cultivating grapes, but the basic rule was that the best vines were not brought here because the best wine had to be produced in Spain. When phylloxera killed most of the grapes in Europe in the 19th century, the Europeans looked to the US and to Chile to help revive the wine industry because vines from those countries were resistant to the disease.  Chile, because of its geography, is actually isolated from the rest of South America and didn’t have a problem.  On the north Chile is desert, to the east its barrier is the Andes, to the south Cape Horn and Antarctica, and of course to the west the Pacific.

So, the Europeans took some of the vines from here and from the US and began grafting to revive vineyards in their countries.  At the same time they began grafting here and began producing some great wines.  They found that in the valley south of Santiago the climate was great for red varietals.  In Casablanca where I was today it is perfect for white wines.  Since it’s near the coast,  during the night  and in the early morning fog rolls in. As the sun burns off the fog the salt and minerals from the ocean go into the soil and add a different character to the grapes.  Anyway, the upshot is that it wasn’t really until the 1960’s and later that quality wine-making really took off.  Strangely, Chilean people don’t drink a lot of wine.  I found that odd because they are Latin people so I would have thought they would be like the Italians, French or Spaniards.  Not so.  The average Chilean drinks less than 12 bottles of wine a year.  As a result, most of the good wines (90 %) are exported.

Enough of the history of wine in Chile.  The first vineyard we visited was Viña Mar.  It was a lovely setting and we walked in two vineyards. Since it’s the equivalent of late July here, the grapes were not even close to being ready to be harvested.  I tasted a sauvignon blanc grape and it was actually pretty sweet despite not being ripe.  This vineyard no longer presses and ages their own wines. They belong to a wine commune and send the grapes there to be pressed and processed.  I asked if the grapes are mixed with ones from other vineyards and the guide said they aren’t.  Then I got to taste three wines. They were good, not great.  I asked the guide if they produced any carménère wine. That’s a varietal only produced here in Chile. He had a carménère from another vineyard and he gave me a sample.  It was spectacular!

After tasting we had lunch upstairs on a terrace of the lovely building.  I was expecting a light lunch but I had some kind of appetizer with a paté, followed by delicious salmon with a side dish of avocado.  I thought that was it, but out came a short rib and potato gratin and finally a chocolate ganache cake and raspberry gelato.  It was all great but way too much food.  I was ready for a siesta, but it was time to go to another vineyard, Villard.

This one was actually much more interesting because they grow and process their own wine. I got to see the whole process.  The vineyard is owned by a French family who emigrated to Australia, but two family members live and operate the Chilean branch.  They produce about 115,000 bottles each year and export 95% of it.  The three wines I tasted were exquisite.  After that I really was wined up so Adolfo and I headed back to Santiago.  We got back to the hotel a little after 6 PM so I had a full day.  I’ll see Adolfo tomorrow because he’s driving me to the ship. 

Alexandra, the sommelier, and Adolfo