When you get an email on Sunday night to head to a vineyard the following day, with a newfound travel friend you met while touring vineyards in Mendoza, you know it’s going to be the start to a good week!
Monday it was off to the Concha y Toro vineyards located in Pirque, just about an hour outside Santiago.#Didyouknow factoid: C&T are the second largest producers of wine in the world, Gallo being the first.
Being the second largest wine producer they certainly get the job done in giving their grounds the ‘tourist’ appeal almost like a theme park- Disney to be exact.
The enchanted castle is Don Mechlor’s gorgeous European inspired mansion which had Chilean Downton Abbey written all over it- sign me up! Don M, for those who are wondering, founded Concha y Toro back in 1884. To get things started he brought back grapes from the Bordeaux region in France to test their viability in Chilean soil. His venture paid off and his Cabernet Sauvignon grew exceptionally well and it is the variety C&T wins the most awards for. Another fun wine fact, Chileans only discovered they were cultivating Carménère by accident in the mid 90’s. Chilean wine makers believed they were growing and producing Merlot but sommeliers abroad kept remarking on the sour taste of the Chilean Merlot. Well lucky for Chile, after testing their ‘Merlot’ blends to see why they were receiving negative reviews they found they were actually producing Carménère which was extinct in France and most of Europe due to the Phylloxera virus. With some light gardening work they removed the Carménère vines from the Merlot base, the cause of that funky taste, and were able to revive an extinct wine varietal. Good job Chile- in making bad Merlot you discovered you are about the only country in the world to produce the now coveted Carménère wine!
Back to the vino Disney park…
After seeing Don M’s enchanted castle de vino you are brought to the ‘Epcot’ portion of the tour where the full line of vines are planted so you the tourist can walk around and admire the different grapes. You can hop from Cabernet Sauvignon to Sauvignon Blanc to País and much more.
As you can see it did me some good!
Next you head to the ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ experience where you head down to the famous cellar, Casillero del Diablo. Really it is just like the ride, I was half expecting a Chilean Johnny Depp to start singing, A pirate’s life for me.
Some more knowledge to drop on you- the mortar that binds the bricks of this famous cellar is called Cal y Canto and is made from sand and egg yolks. This DIY cement mixture is actually quite strong and has survived multiple earthquakes without a single fracture or shifted brick.
A light show complete with shadow puppets walk you through the legend of the cellar and the meaning behind the name Casillero del Diablo. So not singing pirates, but not far off…
The tour provides three tasting but naturally this left us thirsty for more so it was time to hit the tasting rooms where a friendly sommelier helped us through a few more glasses of wine.
After a few glasses we lost track if time. Only when our waiter cleared our plates, when we weren’t quite finished, did we look up and realize we were the only people left. Yes! I can now officially put on my list of life accomplishments that I closed down Concha y Toro. As a wise man said, always be closing.
The Back Pack Chronicles 