On a Mission, A Wine Mission...

From Santiago, I decided to make my way south to visit more wine country. I hopped on a bus and headed to Santa Cruz. My first day there, I did absolutely nothing. I wrote a little, walked around the town and watched TV. It was great.

The next morning, I asked about taking a collectivo to Bisquertt winery. A collectivo is basically a shared taxi. The taxi runs a certain route and you hop on and off, kind of like a bus. The collectivos are very economical as compared to hiring a taxi straight away. I have been intimidated by the collectivos in Central and South America, I think because everyone already knows where they are going, how much and it can be a very intimate setting. Weird that I have been avoiding them, but not anymore. I took a 15 minute collectivo ride to the winery...no problema! When I arrived at the winery, I wasn´t even sure they were open. Everything was so quiet. The security guard let me in and had me wait in a very lovely "welcome" room where I later partook in my "welcome" glass of wine. I ended up getting a one on one tour from a really cool lady (her name has completely escaped me). She didn´t speak english so it was all en español! I learned a lot of wine related words in español.

Bisquertt is a family owned winery located in the heart of the Colchagua Valley in Chile. I toured the grounds, cellars and the different rooms of the estate. The family collection of old horse drawn carriages and saddles was a favorite of mine. About 1/2 way through my tour, a couple from France arrived and they joined the tour. They spoke a little spanish, but their english was better so we ended the tour with 3 languages. I would translate what I could from spanish to english, they would talk to me in english and then talk amongst themselves in french. We ended with a wine and cheese tasting - all befitting my longing for a wine tasting experience in Chile! The french couple was so nice. They gave me a ride back to Santa Cruz and we chatted about wines from France and the Bordeaux region of France.

Back in Santa Cruz, I grabbed some chow and asked about another collectivo to Viu Manent winery. A collectivo wasn´t so easy to get there because the winery is set back away from the highway. I decided to take a taxi directly to the winery because I was going to miss the 3:00 tour if I didn´t get there soon. I had a recommendation for this winery from a guy at the hostel in Santiago. I made it there just in time and took a tour of the vineyard in a horse drawn carriage and toured the winemaking facilities. This is the first time I had ever seen concrete tanks used for the production of wine...interesting. The winery only produced about 170,000 cases of wine in 2008 and exports the majority of what they produce. My favorite was their cab sauvignon. I met some folks from Chile who were traveling with a co-worker from South Africa. They gave me a ride back to Santa Cruz. I loved the wine tasting experience in Chile. I could have easily stayed and done more, but there were other parts of Chile that I wanted to see so, I picked up my bags and headed to the bus station where I hopped on an overnight, comfy semi-cama bus to go further south to Pucón.