After a day in bed suffering from a bug, I was happy to feel up to joining everyone on a wine tour – the plan: head north west to the Casablanca valley. Wine tour/tasting at Veramonte winery, gourmet lunch at a restaurant run by Dave the South African, then on to a small, family-owned winery, Catrala, in the colder area of the valley for a tour and tasting of cold-climate wines.
Veramonte Vineyard, Casablanca Valley
The tour was run by Kylie, an expatriate Melbournian who came to Chile and set herself up in business as Chile Wine Tours. She seems to be doing a good job of it.
Chile is the 5th largest exporter of wine globally, and 9th largest producer. The wine growing regions span a huge range from around 500 km south of Santiago, up to the Atacama region 800 km north of Santiago. The wines were very interesting – somewhat different to the usual Australian wines. It was fascinating to savour a few in their native habitat, and to learn a little about the viticulture industry in this region.
Wine tasting #1, Veramonte, a large winery.
Winetasting #2, Catrala, a small, family run winery.
More photos: https://goo.gl/photos/YUMjMvdDmFPdkmGK7