When we’d tell people we were traveling for 8 months, they would often respond with things like “Wow! you are living the dream. That’s a once in a lifetime opportunity.” This then created a funny kind of pressure. To be clear, this is not real pressure, but I did find myself consistently evaluating if I was actually making the most of this “once in a a lifetime” opportunity. Were we being adventurous enough? Were we making the most of each moment?
I found that the best way to feel like we were approaching our trip thoughtfully and making the most of our extra long lease on leisure was to go to the next place, the place that you couldn’t get to on a standard 1-2 week vacation, that extra flight, car ride, or ferry.
Chilean wine country encompassed this approach as we were able to get an extraordinary survey of how wine is made in Chile by having meaningful time to explore. Leaving Valpo we hopped in a rental car and drove 4 hrs to the Colchagua Valley, with a short stop for McFlurries (I guess the anti-McDonald’s sentiment of the mural didn’t have the intended impact.)
The Colchagua Valley is the iconic heart of wine production in Chile. Think Napa in California. Well traveled and set up for tourism, the Colchagua Valley is dotted with expansive wineries nestled between the sun kissed hills. We plotted a course that would give us a nice survey of the region and included a stop for lunch at mythical NARP-y (not a real person) chef Francis Mallman’s restaurant Fuegos de Apalta.
Our first winery was Neyen which boasted 132 year old Cabernet Sauvignon vines and 90 year old Carménère vines. This is rare! When you have super old vines, they have crazy long roots that can travel 7 meters below the ground to reach the aquifer that sits below the soil. The grass planted on the ground protects the roots and keeps insects away from the vines and buzzing at ground level.
What I love about wine, is that when you are drinking it, you are drinking a place, getting a sense of it (it’s land, it’s climate) in each sip, and Carménère has an intriguing backstory.
The Carménère grape originated in Bordeaux, France, but nearly went extinct due to a phylloxera plague in the late 1800s. It was misidentified as Merlot for many many years in Chile, but after a DNA test (Lizzo voice) in 1994, they discovered it was this ancient gem.
Carménère is “big boy” wine. Me and my friends sometimes call super full-bodied wines mega-purps or banker wines, but what I loved about Carménère is that it is much softer and less tannic than just drinking Cabernet Sauvignon. Think of dryness and astringency and you have a tannic wine. The wines at Neyen were elegant and controlled, but were still a little tricky to taste without food.
After Neyen, we had fresh and gorgeous lunch at Fuegos de Apalta. Although I’m not sure how much Francis is checking in on every one of his restaurants, they are doing some amazing stuff with fire & fresh produce at this restaurant. Showcases included pears cooked in salt, goat cheese, prosciutto, almonds and gremolata along with their perfectly grilled meats. It was surprising to me how analogous the meal felt to the best of California cuisine (think Chez Panisse).
Over the following three days, we continued our way around a series of wineries in the Colchagua Valley: Viña Maquis, Estampa, Francois Lurton, Viña Ventisquero, and Clos Apalta.
At Viña Maquis, we got to explore the permaculture. Permaculture is “conscious design and maintenance of agriculturally productive ecosystems which have the diversity, stability, and resilience of natural ecosystems.” (Source). Viña Maquis’ landscaping, made up of a robust range of plants, flowers, and water features, helps contribute to the landscape and encourages the health of their vines.
Winemaking in the age of climate change is a story of resilience and it was inspiring to see Viña Maquis’ approach.
At Francis Lurton, they took us through their biodynamic approach which is witchy af and along with organic farming practices, means following a planting calendar that depends upon astrological configurations, and treating the earth as "a living and receptive organism." They even go as far as burying cow horns filled with manure at the beginning of Fall and spraying quartz powder on leaves in the Spring.
After our tour, we enjoyed a sun-lit picnic joined by a cuddly cat who magically didn’t make me sneeze (biodynamic?).
Clos Apalta’s wine is the the only South American wine that has ever received “Wine of the Year” from Wine Spectator magazine. When its 2005 vintage was chosen #1, this helped put Chilean winemaking on the map. The winery looked like a Bond villain’s lair, which makes sense when you realize the owners are the founders of Grand Marnier. Joined by some plucky retirees and a Chilean couple, we toured the seven-level underground complex. The oddest thing about Clos Apalta is that they have this gorgeous expansive space, but hold their tasting in a conference room that could be in Milwaukee, ostensibly because they wanted to show us a short promo video.
The vibe was fairly similar across all the wineries. They were all pretty big and fancy, with tasting fees to match. While the wine was elegant and lovely to drink, I felt like I was missing a big piece of the Chilean winemaking puzzle.
Prior to starting our trip, I had been hearing about this area of Chile called Bío Bío. The winemakers there were meant to be smaller producers, not as scaled up, more rustic, less corporate.
In this effort to go beyond the first step of a typical vacation, I had to go see it for myself. What we found was an immersive & deeply unique experience. More on that in the next post!