Wine Tour In Chile? Adventure In The World’s Longest Country!

Chile is the perfect gateway to explore the rich diversity and value of South American wines! From vibrant Cabernet Sauvignon to velvety Carménère, the wines produced in Chile mirror its extraordinary geography—cool Pacific breezes and the towering Andes mountains. Add to that the warmth of welcoming locals, breathtaking landscapes, and delectable cuisine, and you’ve crafted the perfect recipe for an unforgettable wine adventure. Explore the breathtaking country of Chile on this episode of V is for Vino!

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DESCRIPTION: Get ready to explore Chile, one of the largest and most geographically diverse countries in the world when it comes to wine! In the last few decades, Chile has begun transitioning its wine industry from bulk wine to high-quality stunners, including remarkable Cabernet Sauvignon and fresh, rich Carménère. We’ll start by exploring the largest city in Chile, Santiago, and learning about Chile’s long history of winemaking dating back to Spanish colonists. Next, I’ll go on a food crawl in the Barrio Italia neighborhood of Santiago with my friend Phillippe to try some classic Chilean dishes and drinks, including the country’s famous cocktail, a Pisco Sour. Next, we’ll visit San Pedro (one of the country’s oldest wineries) before heading to VIK, a luxurious modern winery and hotel unlike anything I’ve ever seen. We’ll also learn about Chilean wine grapes (which are mostly red), including the country’s famous Carménère. I’ll then take my first-ever horse ride up and down the Andes mountains – how fun! While our first two wineries of the trip were in the Cachapoal Valley, we’ll next go to the Colchagua Valley to visit Montes in the Apata region. Montes is a family-owned winery, and winemaker Aurelio Montes talks me through how his father helped pioneer high-quality upscale wines in Chile before we drink a few of their famous wines, including “Purple Angel” and then have lunch at Francis Mallmann’s restaurant Fuegos de Apalta. We then say goodbye to our guest house, Casa Ishi, before going to our last winery of the trip, Leyda. Since these wines are made near the coast and influenced by the Pacific Ocean, we take a boat (rented from my friend Tomas and Sail & Wines Chile) to experience the terroir and taste Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir with winemaker Viviana Navarrete. Last but not least, we go back to Santiago, where I meet my friend Luis for an Asado, or barbeque, at Infiltrados restaurant, paired with Forajidos wines. At the end of the episode, I look out into the ocean and reflect on just how far Chilean wines have come in the last few decades and how excited I am for the future of this beautiful wine country.

WINES FEATURED:
San Pedro “Sideral”
San Pedro “Altair”
San Pedro “Cabo de Hornos”
VIK “Milla Calla”
VIK
VIK “La Piu Belle”
Montes “Alpha M”
Montes “Folly”
Montes “Purple Angel”
Leyda “Garuma” Sauvignon Blanc
Leyda “Las Brisas” Pinot Noir
Leyda “Lot 21” Pinot Noir
Forajidos “Patagonia Blend”
Forajidos “#1”

CHAPTERS:
00:00 Introduction
00:58 Santiago + History
06:11 Barrio Italia Food Crawl
11:07 San Pedro Winery
17:30 Vino VIP
18:56 Empanadas
19:45 Chilean Grapes
24:32 VIK Winery and Hotel
31:12 Horseback Riding
33:43 Montes Winery
41:15 Website
41:37 Leyda Winery
48:09 Casa Ishi
49:29 Infiltrados Restaurant + Forajidos Winery
55:03 Outro
56:41 Credits
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– Welcome to Chile! Chile is the country that first kicked open the door and put South American wines on the world stage. What used to be known as a hub for cheap, value-driven, sub-$10 bargains has now become a destination for high-quality premium wines that can stand toe to toe with the best

From Napa and Bordeaux while maintaining their killer value status. What defines Chile’s wine industry is its geography. From the crashing coastlines of the Pacific to the sunny inland valleys to the soaring Andes Mountains, we’re gonna learn why Chile is a wine lover’s paradise full of welcoming people who are proud and excited

About the future of the country. Welcome to Chile, and welcome to “V is for Vino.” This is Santiago, smack dab in the center of Chile. With over six million people, no other Chilean city even comes close in terms of size or influence. Founded in 1541 by Spanish colonists, Santiago has had its share of ups and downs, but since its move to democracy in 1990,

Santiago has thrived as an economic and cultural hub. It’s become bright, busy, and fast with parks and museums galore. There’s street art, musicians, a great nightlife, a restaurant scene, and all in all tons of neighborhoods worth exploring with both traditional and modern architecture. We’re in Santiago Central, and behind me is the largest

Building in all of South America, the Gran Torre Santiago standing at almost a thousand feet high. So yeah, a lot’s changed in Chile since the 1990s, but the city isn’t the only thing that’s drastically changed. Just like the city of Santiago, the Chilean wine scene can also be traced back to Spanish colonists.

Who brought grapevines here from Spain in the 1500s. For the 300 years that followed, these wines were produced and consumed primarily by locals. Then in the mid to late 1800s, when the vine-killing root louse phylloxera was ravaging Europe, European immigrants were looking for a safer place to plant their vines

Somewhere that wasn’t affected by phylloxera. – Hmm. – [Vince] And they found this safe haven in Chile. Chile is naturally protected on all sides by the desert to the north, ocean to the west, Andes to the east, and Patagonia to the south. So European immigrants brought over their grapevines And began to safely grow grapes. – Whoo-hoo! – This is why so many of Chile’s wines today are made from Bordeaux grapes like Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, and Chile is now one of the only places on the planet with original European root stock for many of its vines

Since winemakers here never had to graft their vines onto phylloxera-resistant American root stock. Does this make better wines? Chilean winemakers sure seem to think so. But all the wine being produced was then consumed within Chile’s borders, that is, until the 1990s when the country began exporting to the rest of the world. After all, Chile had a ton of wine, so why not start selling some of it for cheap? The country quickly gained a reputation

Of making high-quality bulk wine, sub-$10, albeit way better than a $10 wine from any other country. But in the early 2000s, Chilean winemakers started asking themselves, “Can we be something more? Can we take the capital and the know-how that we’ve built and apply it to producing premium wines

By pushing ourselves and our terroir to the limits?” And within the last 15 years or so, Chile has become a hub for unbelievable mid-level and fine wines at a price that still often beats out their competition. But what may be even more unbelievable is Chile’s remarkable geography

That allows these wines to be made in the first place. In case you didn’t know this, Chile is huge and also tiny. It’s the world’s narrowest country at around 115 miles wide. You can drive that from east to west in an afternoon. From north to south, though, it’s over 2,600 miles long.

That’s farther than New York to L.A. And those natural geological features I mentioned earlier, the mountains and water, make growing vines here a breeze. You see, much of the country has a Mediterranean climate similar to California, fairly dry with lots of cloudless sunshine. This is because the Pacific Ocean breeze

From the Humboldt Current to the west meets the dry, cool air from the Andes Mountains to the east. They combine in the middle and produce a nice fog that cools the vines at night. And when the sun comes out and the fog burns off, you’re left with a warm, dry wine-growing day.

You couldn’t really ask for better conditions to grow grapes. Chile makes around 350 million gallons of wine per year, which is usually sixth or seventh in the world, about as much as Argentina or Australia. Bulk of Chilean wineries, almost 90%, are in an area called the Central Valley,

Which is all within a few hours of the city. This means you can fly into Santiago and explore wine country fairly easily. These ideal growing conditions and use of easily recognizable grapes like Cabernet and Merlot quickly helped propel Chile from an unknown wine country to an international winemaking powerhouse. You’d be hard pressed to find another region in the world growing its wine industry at a faster rate than Chile.

It’s a hub for experimentation, diversity, and rapid growth. There’s over 400 wineries here, and we’ll only be able to scratch the surface of Chilean wines on this trip. So in order to keep focus for this episode, we’re gonna explore the classic grapes and styles that put this country on the map. Before heading off to my wineries, I wanted to get to know Santiago and Chilean culture a bit more, and you know me, I also wanted to eat. So I asked my friend Philippe to meet me at the trendy Barrio Bellavista neighborhood to show me around, and he immediately told me,

“Absolutely not, we’re going to the bohemian and much less touristy area, Barrio Italia.” This is why it helps to always ask a local. It seems a global trend that the Italian neighborhood in every city is the best food hub, something my Italian crew made sure to point out.

Where’s your spot, close by? Where do you live? – Yeah, three blocks away. – Oh, nice. – Yeah. – So you live in this neighborhood. Philippe was a friend of a friend, and I’d never met him in person, but I could immediately tell I was in good company.

– So you have Indian here. – [Vince] This is the guy in the neighborhood who quietly knew everybody and exactly where to go. – Garage, like a little bit inside. – He took me to an unassuming side street and into a family-owned spot

I would’ve never found on my own, Chiloe en tu Mesa. It feels like a very local neighborhood. – Very local and very mixed. – I saw a lot of different ethnicities of food here, too. That was the other thing. There’s Italian place. There’s obviously Chilean places. There’s German places. – Chilean food culture,

We don’t have like very extensive, so we pull from everywhere in the world. Smoked pork ribs, this is very similar to like a German dish. – So juicy, I mean, you got the fat, right? – This is very common too in Chilean, sopaipillas. – All right. – It is like a-

– [Vince] It’s like a chewy, thick tortilla. – Chewy tortilla with pumpkin. – Oh, with pumpkin, oh, is it? – And this is pebre. This is like the most typical thing you have in every restaurant, so you- – Okay, this is delicious. I gotta be honest, this is one of my favorite things

I’ve ever, ’cause I love tortillas in general, but I love this like thicker, chewy texture. – Yeah, yeah. – And you get from the, I guess the pumpkin. – Chilean food is not very spicy, never. – [Vince] Yeah, usually not. – I mean, usually no. – So curanto is basically a dish, you dig a hole on the ground, you put some really hot stones, and then you put layers of food in leaves of nalca. And when you have- – Oh, my god! – is basically this. – Look at the size of this mussel!

– This is, this mussel is called malton. – That’s unbelievable! – Which is the medium size. – Malton. This is the medium? They get bigger? – This is the medium size, yeah. Here you have everything that goes inside the curanto, so potato, sausage, seafood, then you have chicken.

– I love this, and all the flavors kind of marry together. – And all the flavors marry together. If you’re almost dead, you try this, and you’re ready. – And you’ll come back to life. Whether it’s a cold, hangover, whatever it is- – I was gonna say hangover. My producer, Jack, still swears

That the broth of that dish was the best thing he’s ever had on one of our shoots. Next stop was Marina Mar de Tapas for some raw half-shell specialties. – We have two types of oysters in Chile, basically the Japanese one and the Chilean one. So this is the Chilean one,

Choro malton, which is our medium-size mussel, and this is our clam. They’re gotta move when you put lemon. – Really? – Yeah. – Do it, what do you mean? Like, when you put the lemon, they’re gonna change? – This is what they- – Oh, yeah, they do! First are raw clams.

Cheers. – Cheers. Oh, my god, is that good. That is amazing. It’s creamy. It’s got some firmness, ’cause some people think oysters have a weird texture, right? I’m gonna have one more. – [Philippe] Go for it. – [Vince] The raw mussels. – Go for it. – Liquid, too, right? – Yeah. – Yeah.

That’s where the magic is, all right. And that is- – They’re fresh. – That is a different experience. They have some chewiness from the outside from that mussel. – Yep. – And then everything else kind of melts in your mouth. Inky, like there’s a little bit of bitter in there. – Yep.

– That you don’t get from some of the other stuff. That’s interesting. Not gonna lie, raw mussels, not my favorite, but a palate cleanser was right around the corner with a hotly debated cocktail that’s found everywhere in Chile, Pisco Sour. All right, so why did we come

To a Peruvian place for a Pisco Sour? Explain to me. – Pisco is a distillation from grapes. There are two countries that make it, Peru and us, but we have to be honest, the Pisco Sour, I don’t know why, it’s always better in the Peruvian restaurants. Baby limes, Pisco. – Pisco,

– [Philippe] White of the egg. – [Vince] Egg white. – And sweetener. And at the end Amargo, which is like a bitter. – [Vince] Salud. – Salud. – Oh, that is so good. The egg white toning back the citrus, giving it that texture. That’s really good pisco, too.

– It’s good pisco. It’s good pisco. – We ended our restaurant crawl with a craft beer that bled into an evening of revelry in the streets of Barrio Italia. Not a bad start to the trip, not bad at all. We start our Central Valley Chilean wine adventure in the Rapel Valley, which can be further divided into two sub-regions, the Colchagua Valley and the Cachapoal Valley. The Cachapoal is home to one of the oldest wineries in Chile, Vina San Pedro, founded in 1865 by two Spanish brothers who were some of the first

To bring Old World grape varieties to Chile. Over the years, San Pedro has produced all sorts of wines, but like much of the rest of Chile, their latest project is focused on showcasing the absolute best of their terroir, specifically the magical Andes Mountains. Gabriel! Winemaker Gabriel tells me more.

Good to meet you. This is great. – Oh, yeah. – It’s a little foggy, but I kinda like it. – Here we are just in the foothill of the Andes. So this a winery that is focused to make wines that we represent the influence from the Andes.

– Yeah, and do you put the word Andes on the label? – Yes, Cachapoal Andes. – Yeah. Which is kind of an interesting thing because you have the regions, right? But then within the regions it’s important to specify if you’re near the coast or you’re near the Andes or you’re in the middle,

Because it’s very different, right, very different wines. – It’s completely different. So you can move it in Chile to north to south, but the main difference in between west and east. – Is there anything special about why this area was chosen for this winery?

– Yes, because mainly when you’re very close to the Andes, you get a lot of good influence for get wines with a lot of complexity and the ability for age especially in the reds, it is beautiful. The temperature between day and night is huge, diurnal ripeness and you have the natural geography

With different kind of soils, expositions. You have a lot of diversity, complexity and just show wine from the Andes in the most honest way. So San Pedro one of the oldest winery here in Chile, starting in 1865 and always thinking in innovation and exploration. And with that experience and searching

All the different places that San Pedro have, this one have the best abilities to produce this kind of wine. – So they took that winemaking experience they had from, you know, 150 years, and they said, “Well, let’s try and apply this to premium wines.”

– We are going like to really represent the quality. that Chile have, because Chile have a huge potential in that terms. – [Vince] Gabriel made clear there’s nothing cookie-cutter or routine here. They’re innovating with 150 different parcels of land within their valley, trying different techniques and blends each year.

Super impressive was the sheer amount of fermentation and aging vehicles, classic amphora, egg amphora, inverted egg concrete, Italian clay, round concrete, Austrian oak, French oak. I can’t imagine the amount of work it takes to get to a final product, speaking of- – This is Sideral, and if you see,

Sideral means everything that is from the cosmos. Imagine looking from the sky our vineyard. This is the wine that blend the whole place of all of our diversity. Imagine from this side, we get wines that are more thin in the mid-palate but very strong in the back of the palate,

And in another places that we have different soil, we get a very round in the mid-palate that maybe not too long, so those different stars- – So you can blend them together to balance. – We blend to, exactly. – At first you’re like, “Oh, it’s a Cabernet-based blend.

It must be a Bordeaux blend.” But then you have these other grapes in there that you wouldn’t find other places. – Exactly, so very well like the freshness, the balance, the fruity. Here’s a place that is very, we have a lot of perfume,

Yeah, in the wines, and we try to keep that in our wines. – Well, this wine, as you mentioned, it’s very fresh, red fruit and black fruit kind of playing together. But then there’s a lot of complexity because you know, I can taste the Syrah, right?

I can taste a little bit of that spice and that meatiness, a bit of that Carménère freshness and then obviously the backbone of the Cab. – So this wine is Altair. This is the representation of the Altair star that is the brightest star of the Eagle constellation, also is our bright star of our vineyard that represent the best of the best of our place. Mainly it’s coming from one side that is granitic soil here

And get a lot of expression in the wine stem of the texture. We have a lot of perfume, but in term of the texture, it’s very elegant in the beginning and mid-palate and very like deep in the back of the palate. – [Vince] Now, when you blend into the wine Carménère,

What does that add to the blend? – Mainly it’s in term of the mouthfeel. – Okay. – Carménère is very soft. – Wow, this is a completely different wine. You know, I was like, oh, this is in like cherry-land. And then on the palate, you get this rich, concentrated fruit character,

Like just really, really rich in the mouth. – We have kind of a iron or kind a bloody character, herbs character too, and the mouthfeel is the most important in term of the texture. You feel our wine is very gentle, but it’s very deep and very rich.

It’s a wine that keeping in your palate, but these are really elegant sensations, so it’s something very special. So now we have the Cabo de Hornos, and this is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, and the idea is to represent like the best Cabernet Sauvignon from Cachapoal Andes. Here, the texture is more focused in the mid-palate. – You are 100% right. That is a much more explosive wine. Still not 15.5% Northern California huge,

But just a richer style of wine. Still that floral note, right, kind of violets-meets-roses thing going, again, contributes to that fresh elegance that you love. Such different wines out of such a small area, really, really something special. Thank you so much for sharing it with me. – No, thank you for coming.

– I don’t think I’ve ever met a winemaker who is more obsessive about the mouthfeel of his wine. Notice how many times he mentioned where the wine hits on the palate. This is my first introduction into Chile’s X factor, the thing it does better than anywhere else, and it’s that concentration of flavor

That still retains its freshness and elegance. I know it’s a bit wine nerdy, but it’s a hard thing to achieve, and San Pedro had perfected it. Hey, everybody, I hope you’re enjoying the episode. I wanted to talk to you briefly about Vino VIP, which is our members-only club. You see, we’re a small team, and we’re completely independently produced, which means we can only keep making episodes with your support.

So if the show has helped you or helped you pass a wine exam or if you’re just enjoying it, please consider supporting the small business that provided it and join Vino VIP, which is full of a ton of benefits anyway. You get full episodes ad free. And you also get early access to all our episodes, including our YouTube videos. Plus you get members-only videos like behind the scenes and commentaries and full-length interviews in our Members section on our website. Once a quarter we do a Zoom session where we get to hang out and taste together and talk.

We do raffles once a month for our members, and we do a big yearly raffle. Plus, if you’re a Gold or Platinum member, you get your name in the credits of an episode, and all our members get access to our members-only Facebook group, which is a great community.

Membership starts at just $5 a month, which is less than the price of a Starbucks coffee. Everybody thinks somebody else will step up and support and their support won’t matter, but I promise you, it does. So please consider joining if you have the means,

And thank you so much to our existing Vino VIP members. Now, back to the episode. Do you know which ones are which? Or is this just an adventure? You know what? We’ll find out together, how about that? Oh, meat and cheese, meat and cheese. Oh, yeah, the crust, the breading is literally perfect. Number two, chicken, corn, look at that. Look at the pull!

And they all look different so you can tell ’em apart. Like, look, like, this guy versus guy, very different. Oh, egg, egg. Oh, shrimp! This is what I want all my lunches to be while we’re here. Next time you’re in Chile and you see a roadside stand

And you’re like, “Should I get empanadas from the roadside stand?” The answer is yes, you should. Unlike European wines, most Chilean wines have their grapes listed right on the label. When the grape is listed on the label, that means the bottle legally has to contain 75% or more of that varietal. But in practice, it usually makes up at least 85% in order to comply with European distribution laws. So knowing what grape is in the bottle, that’s easy.

What’s harder is learning the map. The six main wine regions are the Atacama, Coquimbo, Aconcagua, Central Valley, South, and Austral. But what you’ll usually see on a Chilean wine label is one of the 18 sub-regions, and amazingly, every single one is a valley. Valleys produce great microclimates for wine growing, And while the sub-regions are mapped from north to south, the real story here is east to west, because no matter which sub-region you’re in, the vines will find themselves in one of three climate zones, Costa, near the coast, Entre Cordilleras, in the middle, or Andes, near the mountains.

On the coast, the wines are cool-climate grapes like Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, and Pinot Noir, influenced by the breezy ocean. In the middle, it’s the warmest, and you have the easiest time ripening grapes. This is where many of the Chilean wineries began their operations, and some of the oldest vineyards

Of the country live here, mainly Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Carménère. Near the Andes, you’ll see more and more wineries taking on the challenge of planting at the foot of the mountains and enduring the risk of frost because it’s here where some of the most dynamic wines are being made, especially high-quality Carménère.

Crisp Sauvignon Blanc and fresh styles of Chardonnay are the most-planted white grapes in Chile. But generally, when talking Chilean wines, red is king. The Spanish grape Pais was the most-planted red grape until the 1990s, but today, Cabernet Sauvignon has taken the throne and leads in both bulk and fine wine production.

Cabernet Sauvignon can be bottled alone or blended, sometimes with other Bordeaux grapes, Syrah, or Carménère. And when it comes to the specific sub-regions in Chile, each tends to have its own specialty grape. There are a few places worth calling out when we talk about classic Chilean wine,

Starting with the Central Valley and its four sub-regions. The Maipo Valley is the most historic, and it’s Chile’s equivalent to California’s Napa Valley, heavy-hitter wineries known for their Cabernet Sauvignon. Curico plants a bit of everything, including lots of white wine, and the Maule is the gateway to the more experimental south

With significant plantings of Pais still remaining. But it’s the Rapel Valley that I find is the perfect blend of classic meets innovation. It can be split into two zones, the Cachapoal Valley and the Colchagua Valley, and while they make plenty of Cabernet, this is also where much of the country’s

High-end Carménère comes from. And if there’s an area that feels more established, even though it’s technically younger, it’s both the 30-year-old Casablanca and San Antonio Valleys, part of the Aconcagua region that have cemented themselves as hubs for cool-climate grapes, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, and Pinot Noir. While we all know the rich, tannic,

Black fruit-prominent Cabernet Sauvignon and its plummy softer cousin Merlot, Carménère is the closest thing Chile has to a country-defining grape, albeit completely by accident. When French immigrants brought grapes here in the 1800s, they planted a lot of what they thought was Merlot. But in 1994, after enough people noticed

That these wines didn’t actually taste like Merlot, viticultural science stepped in and revealed that most of what had been planted was actually the secret, obscure sixth grape of Bordeaux, Carménère. Carménère shares a lot of the same qualities we tend to like about Merlot, medium plush body,

Soft but present tannins, just the right amount of acidity. It’s got plummy, dark raspberry, and cherry flavors and takes on oak and baking spice notes very well. But for a long time, Carménère here was being harvested way too early because they thought it was Merlot.

And so it gained a reputation of having a green streak, green bell pepper, eucalyptus, tomato leaf, and green peppercorn. Today most producers harvest Carménère later and try and tone those notes back and turn ’em into smoky, herbaceous undertones while leading the way with black fruit, red fruit like sour cherry and raspberry,

And dark chocolate, leather, and tobacco. The pièce de résistance is perfectly integrated, velvety soft tannins that winemakers will tell you is a hallmark of the grape done right. Like San Pedro, Vina VIK is also in the Cachapoal Valley, but that’s about where the similarities end. Founded in 2006 by a Norwegian couple, Alex and Carrie Vik, this is a luxe modern winery and resort with a focus on sustainability and clean energy and a design that, well, see for yourself. You win! Whatever the contest was that you entered, you have won it. This is one of the most marvelous estates I’ve ever seen. – Everything started back in 2004. Alex Vik and his wife, Carrie Vik, they wanted to start it with a winery in South America. They founded this place in Cachapoal

To start with this project. – The catalyst was wine. He said, “I’m not looking for a place for a hotel. I’m looking for a place to make wine.” – Exactly, there was nothing in here, so we started from scratch. It was two or three years of planting

Because while we were building the winery, we decided that we needed to have a place in which to host our guest. It turned out to be a hotel, a fantastic hotel, maybe one of the best from Chile. I’m from South America. – [Vince] I think so.

– I said, “Well, I’m going to Chile.” They said, “Are you gonna go to VIK?” – Oh, that’s great. – They were very excited about me seeing the hotel- – That’s great. – because it’s really unique. – Each room was designed and developed by a different artist,

And also there’s places in the wineries where we also have artists coming to make some intervention. – And what is this space here? – The idea of this design in terms was basically to emulate a water river running from the Andes, and then from the architectural point of view,

We need less energy to cool down the winery, to keep the temperature and the humidity. – But that wasn’t where the sustainability measures stopped. The roof was made of material that allowed natural sunlight, so there was no artificial lighting. It’s incredible how light it is in here.

They harvest at night so the grapes don’t need to be cooled on arrival. The tanks are all fed with gravity on multiple levels, so no electric pumps are necessary. They have their own garden and orchard to help feed their three restaurants on site, their own chickens for the hotel breakfast.

And that was one of the best eggs I have had in a long time. And the most impressive, get this, they have their own cooperage on site. Oh, you have a cooperage in here? – Yeah, we are the only ones in- – Oh, my god! – We’re the only ones in South America.

– That’s amazing! I’ve never seen this. They build their own oak barrels so they have total control over the final product and can import raw materials much more efficient than transporting whole barrels. Once I got over my shock and awe of this place, I sat down to taste with winemaker Cristián Vallejo.

– I’ll open the first one. That will be Milla Cala. Milla means gold. Cala is the translation of big to the Spanish. Milla, it’s because this area, this D.O. is Millahue, the golden place, milla, gold, way, place. It’s a new region of wine for Cachapoal Valley, for Chile, too.

But what I want is here is to have this beautiful wine, very soft tannins, very juicy, finally, easy to understand, easy to read. – Juicy is very key for that. The fruit flavor is like bursts in your mouth, you know, not tart, not over-ripe, like right in the middle, right where, you know,

Think of like a perfectly ripe strawberry or perfectly ripe black cherry, like, that’s what I get. – Yeah, you’re totally right. The idea of this wine is to have that fruity aspect, that beautiful soft tannins. What I love the best for my wines is when people finish the bottle

That they don’t know, you know? – Yeah. – They find, “Oh!” And it’s empty. It’s a wine that really makes a connection with you, you know? – [Vince] This is the flagship. – Yeah, this is our main wine. Everything was set for this wine at the beginning as Milla Cala, five varieties.

But now, this wine is Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc only. We realized that the Cabernet Sauvignon and the Cabernet Franc from this area was so special. There wasn’t another Cabernet like this in Chile. So now it’s considered the new style of Cabernet Sauvignon from Cachapoal Valley, which is different from Maipo.

The idea is to have here a very kind of linear aspect, full of layers, complex, but this complexity means not a difficult wine. It’s totally the opposite. Means that in every glass you have different flavors. In every glass you will discover something. This is the type of wine that really talks to you.

– The finish is noticeable, so rich, so long in palate. Darker than the first wine, I would say, but really, really concentrated. There’s a lot of the flavors we might find from other places, but the structure of the wine in Chile is different than anywhere else in the world.

That’s what I’m really, really finding the more I taste here. – This label, originally it’s a piece of art from Chilean artist Gonzalo Cienfuegos, very well known, very recognized The wine, it’s about Carménère. – Carménère is my favorite Chilean grape. And I know it’s technically not a Chilean grape, but I am gonna call it that because it’s yours.

– Yes. – I think even France would concede it’s yours at this point. – [Cristián] Yes, yes, yes. – The freshness of this grape is unmatched. A lot of when I say freshness, I’m really talking about maybe the acidity. That’s not what I’m talking about here.

I’m talking about the freshness of the fruit character. It is so great, and the integration of tannin is really amazing, and a little bit of spice, you know, that grape just naturally bringing that. – You can feel the volume but without the heaviness. – Also, I’m one of those guys

Who does not mind green Carménère, but I don’t get any green here. – Wow, thank you very much. I love that part. It’s the way how we worked in the fields and in the winery, very low yields per vine. We harvest early, but with the tannins ripe and without pyrazine.

So that’s why you don’t feel that green aspect. – Well, you’re only about 10 vintages in for release, and I can’t wait for the next 10 and onwards. So thank you so much. I always say wine is the sum of its environment, and at VIK, with the facilities, the gastronomy,

The grounds, the hotel, and the wine all coming together, you really get an experience that transcends the wine itself. So I’ve explored wine regions by foot, car, plane, train, boat, and bike. What’s left to add? Horse, obviously. So I head to our friends at Cascada de Las Ánimas for a horseback riding adventure in the Andes to do something that felt very quintessential Chilean.

– So we are gonna go up, oh, we don’t see that… – [Vince] One problem, I’ve never actually been on a horse. I mean, I probably rode a pony in a circle at a town fair as a kid, but I don’t think that counts. But our guides were awesome,

And made sure I didn’t do anything, well, stupid. We’re always gonna get up and down through the left side of the horse. So these are our floor on the horse. – Here, we use three different signs to- – Grab your guideline, and you turn the way-

– I’m kidding, it really wasn’t that bad. Left foot in. – Yeah, and the- – One smooth motion. Yeah? – Yes. Whoa, perfect. – Oh, heyo! Plus my horse, Apache, was pretty amicable. Apache, you’re pretty, – We choose all the nicest horses for you guys.

– Except for him. Give him a mean one. I didn’t learn this until we regrouped later, but apparently all of us had wildly different experiences going up and down this mountain. Alice did fine enough, but our type-A cameraman Francisco did not enjoy not being in control.

My producer, Jack, on the other hand, grew up riding horses. I mean, look at this guy, right at home. As for me, once I got my bearings, the reason I didn’t notice everybody else’s experiences is because I was too busy enjoying the hell out of mine.

In terms of things I’ve done in my life, this was top 10. I could’ve stayed out there for days. Each corner we turned, the valleys and peaks were more gorgeous than the last. Apache and I were simply hanging out, two companions in the wilderness.

Gimme a poncho and a hat, a guitar and a campfire, and let’s get lost. I’ll take care of my horse, maybe get a nice pup, and see ya in a few months. If only life were so simple. Chile is spoiled rotten with nature and landscape,

And from everyone I talk to there, they know it. In an age where we’re all a little too glued to our screen, it’s a reminder that your screen saver is always better in real life. Still in the Rapel Valley, we’re going to the Colchagua Valley, specifically the Apalta region. Even though VIK and our next winery, Montes, are only six miles apart, we had to drive 75 miles the long way around because I don’t have fly over the mountain in a private helicopter status quite yet.

But you know who actually can fly helicopters is the renaissance man/winemaker for his family winery- – Good to meet you. – Aurelio Montes Jr. – How are you? How are you? Apalta, it’s a very small valley. It’s like a horseshoe that start in that mountain

And finish at the very end. – At the tip. – And when you start going up to the mountain like here, it’s beautiful. – Okay, and is that more due to the soil or the drainage or both? – Both, it’s the soil- – It’s one and the same.

– It’s less rich, and the drainage, it’s perfect. Once you put the water here, in a few minutes, it’s down there, so- – Okay, there you go. So it drains really well. – Really well. – Makes the vines work deeper. – Hard, to go hard. So all the vines are always smaller.

The cluster are smaller. We’re facing the south, the cooler side of the mountain. – Okay. – That allow the grapes to ripe slowly. – Tell me about your family. – My father, he was working for a big winery. At that time in the ’80s, everyone was talking about volume.

No one was talking about quality. And so he said, “We need to change. We need to change.” He was so convinced that he start his own project. My father invite three other partners. All of them were expert in different areas in the wine industry. No money. No money at all.

– But they all had in common they had no money. – No money, today when you look back and you say, “Look what they built” being no one, young guys, two hands working very tough to build this, and they were able to show the world how good was Chile wines.

– The angels that are everywhere, what’s the story? – One of the partners of my father, he believed in the guard angel. – [Vince] Guardian angel. – The guardian angel. – Yeah. – So he used to carry always small angel in the pocket, and he had three huge car accidents,

And one of them he was driving, he fall asleep, and he flew into a river. He didn’t have any problem, not even one scratch. Once he get outta the car, he says, “Okay, you are-” – “You’re with me for, you’re staying with me.” – Always, so he change all the labels.

So today we have our own angels that take care of Montes, – And seems to be working, ’cause the winery seems to be doing all right. – Yeah, exactly. – He was on to something. – We can’t complain. – Yeah, yeah. – We can’t complain. – We went off-roading back down the mountain,

And Aurelio showed me the barrel room where they use Gregorian chants to help stimulate fermentation. Aurelio said he also felt it had a calming effect for the staff as well. Then it was time to head up and taste. – The first wine that we’re gonna try today is a very special wine, one of the first premium wines produced in Chile,

But here for me, Montes M, it is the most feminine, the most elegant wine that we produce in all Montes. – Really, even though it’s a Cabernet Sauvignon-based blend. – Cabernet Sauvignon will be like the pillar of the blend. Then we put it a silk cover with the Cabernet Franc

To make it more gentle. Then we put some flowers with the Merlot, and then the Petit Verdot will be the concrete that you use to hold the pillar. So it’s like the base that makes the wine to last longer in the mouth. – Very elegant, very fresh. – Touch of silkiness around tannins,

Some vanilla and tobacco coming from the aging in oak. We have the Ocean Pacific everywhere in Chile, and Chile is so narrow that wherever you’re located, you get the influence of the ocean, take down the temperature of the day and allows the grapes to grow slowly.

And that’s why always we get some spiciness outta the wine that’s quite specific from Chile. You look this angel compare with any other angel, for example, with the Montes M, it’s the same angel, but after two bottle of wine. At the beginning, we try to follow a little bit the Rhône concept. We realized that was a mistake. At the end of the day, we tried to make our own style, remember that we have the effect and influence from the ocean. – This type of freshness, again, with the Syrah,

It’d probably be more in like blue fruit land. But now, we’re, you said, this is pretty dark fruit. – Yeah, yeah. – So which I would, okay, that’s like Barossa Valley, right? – Yeah, yeah. – But Barossa Valley doesn’t have this lift. So it really is kind of this unique thing

That I don’t think I’ve had anywhere else in the world. – Here, we’re going for more volume, for bigger tannins, intensity of nose, deep, deep in color, nice aromas, mixed fruit, leather, you know, meat flavors. – I will say if people know a premium wine from Chile,

I think this might be the one they know. – Carménère is harvest middle of May. Merlot, when you harvest Merlot, normally it’s in first week of March, maximum second week of March, – Almost two months later. – Than the Merlot. – So when people got these Carménères back in the day,

And they’re like, “Oh, they’re super green,” they were picking ’em too early. – But when you wait and you harvest in the correct timing, the wine, it’s wonderful. It’s ripe, it’s spicy, it’s soft. The only problem when you wait too long, you lose a little bit of the tannins, you lose the acidity.

And so when you harvest, you add 8% of Petit Verdot, and you make the wine longer. Here, we go again to the black type of fruit, blueberries, the ripe strawberries also together with the black, even the pink pepper. – I’ve had a lot of wines on this show.

This is one of my favorite wines I’ve ever had on the show. This is- – Oh, thank you. – I had goosebumps on my first sip. It is Chile in a glass. Like, it really embodies so much of what I love of Chilean wines and Chilean culture, spice, the blend of fruits.

If I said there was like some green in undertones, does that offend you? – Touch of greenness, it’s perfect. – That’s what I get. – It just makes it unique. Touch green pepper, then with a touch of rosemary. That’s the reason from my point of view why Purple Angel has been so successful.

It makes you feel like cooking in your grandmother kitchen with a lot of aromas and- Speaking of cooking, onsite is world-renowned chef Francis Mallmann’s restaurant, Fuegos de Apalta. Sometimes one of the hardest parts of my job is putting into words the experiences I have so you at home can live them with me,

And this is one of those times. So I’m gonna let the images do the speaking for me. Have you ever seen a restaurant like this? The open flame, the pineapple dripping juices over the fire pit, the plancha, the oven, the meticulous technique, the presentation,

And the crew and I sitting in the crisp fall air of the vineyard surrounded by mountains and beginning to realize that these Chileans really know how to live. Did you know that on our website, each episode has a page where you can find listed all the wines we had as well as the places we visited. And while you’re there, you can join Vino VIP and visit our members-only section with a ton of behind-the-scenes videos and bonus content.

Just thought I’d let you know. After three wineries focusing on richer-style reds, it was time to lighten it up a bit. Near the coast in the Aconcagua region lies the San Antonio Valley sub-region and the Leyda Valley. You’ll find no Cabernet nor Carménère, but instead lighter wines and ocean breezes. Vina Leyda pioneered this valley 20 years ago

And helped prove that Chile can make Pinots and Sauvignon Blancs just as well as Bordeaux grapes. Much of it was thanks to winemaker Viviana Navarrete, whose mission was to get me up close and personal with the valley’s terroir, mainly the ocean which defines the climate there.

We chartered a boat with my new friend Tomas, who runs Sail & Wines Chile, and head out for a day of sailing and tasting. What I saw of the views and nature was great, all sorts of birds, starfish, otters, pelicans, and get this, penguins, just hanging out. But nature’s unpredictable.

The gray skies rolled in, and even in the coves, we were being batted around like a cork in the ocean, no pun intended. Not only could we not keep the cameras still, but I started to get seasick, and baby Vinny needed to get back to shore. Ah, much better.

Anchored in port, we are finally ready to conduct our tasting. All right, well, I’m really feeling the terroir, both emotionally and physically. So now that we’re back, we can try this tasting again. – We’re starting with the Sauvignon Blanc, Coastal Vineyard Garuma. It’s the selection of three blocks,

And one of them has limestone in the profile. – [Vince] Okay. – So I think it brings a little bit of minerality into it. We work with the low yields per vine to ensure the concentration of the grape and so the concentration of the final wine.

What we’re trying to do here is to show our place, as you say, our terroir, cool climate, but also try to work a little bit with the lees, you know, creaminess together with the bright acidity that is typical of this cool climate. – Because my first sniff of this,

I got so excited because like to me, I should be able to pick out Sauv Blanc like that, and I can, a little bit of that gooseberry that we like. I get a little bit that jalapeno. I get great, great minerality and some salinity to it,

And then I get this concentration of fruit that is indicative of everything I’ve had in Chile. So let’s talk a little bit about the vineyards and where they’re located. – It’s a 40-kilometers driving from here facing directly to the ocean. And because we are in the west side of the coastal mountain range,

We have this beautiful topography of rolling hills with different orientations, lots of clones because we’re crazy about clonal selection. It’s a place that is really modulated and influenced by the Pacific Ocean. So it’s cold, low temperatures during the whole year, strong winds that comes from the ocean,

And this fog that we are feeling right now is the reality that we have in our valley. It’s bad when you want to go to holidays because- – Yeah, it’s bad when we wanna go sail, yeah. (laughs) – But it’s a paradise for growing vines. – Pinot Noir Coastal Vineyard Las Brisas is our flagship grape variety, and you know, Pinot Noir is, it can be a nightmare for winemakers. – I hear it all the time. – But also it can be your baby. – Low yields and the clusters are tight.

It can mold and run and all that. But do you have any protection from like the breezes and the coast? – Yeah, that’s why we call it Las Brisas, actually. – Oh, is that called, is that, that means breezes? – Yeah. – Oh, I didn’t even know that.

– It’s like wind, and in this wine, we only use plots that has granitic soil. The granito is mixed with iron. The iron as a mineral enhances the vibrance in the palate. We were looking for finesse, elegance, and vibrancy. – On the nose, I get a little bit

Of that candied cherry cola thing. It fools you because the ripeness on the nose doesn’t match the freshness on the palate. When I smelled it, I was like, “Oh, this is gonna maybe be a bit of a richer style of Pinot,” and then you taste it, and it drinks light.

It drinks much fresher than the fruit character. – Do you get something like small herbs? That is also characteristic of the Leyda Valley. You will always find that herbal character in all of the varieties. – I love this. I mean, Leyda is kind of a newer area. – Exactly. – What’s it like having to learn everything and basically be the pioneers there? – As good Chilean, we planted Cabernet Franc and Merlot in this region, and we had awful results because the grapes never ripe,

So we had to take it out and be confident that we have to work with the grapes that do well in this cold climate, you know? – Pinot in particular versus any of the other grapes, it just shows off terroir really well. basically like bing cherry wrapped in time,

And like that’s a really unique thing you said about that property, that green herbal character is unique to this place, and you want that to come through. – And now I’m obsessed that they have to be fresher alcohol. – Sure. – 13 maximum, 13.5. If not, I will kill myself. Well, this is the Lot 21. It comes from a specific polygon that has limestone underneath. So here we’re looking more for elegance and for texture. 25% of whole whole-cluster, and is wild yeast. – Again, elegance is the word. Little less of that herbal, less of that hit-you-in-the-face cherry

And more that floral, fresh, really, really perfumy wine. And then on the palate, there’s great length on it. – It’s not just juiciness going, but there is a texture. – Like a little more tannin structure, you’re saying? – Yeah, that. – Yeah. – I always, when I make this Pinot Noir,

I think of a ballet dancer, elegance and tension. Sometimes people say, “It’s your most expensive Pinot Noir. Why don’t you use more barrels?” I don’t want, I want to show the expression of the place and the beautiful pureness. – But it seems like all of the Chilean winemakers

I talked to were up to the challenge of understanding their terroir so they can take it to the next level. – Exactly. – The old guard of Chilean winemakers planted what grew well, but the new guard is planting what grows best. Showcasing terroir is what makes wine magic,

And I was so happy to see Chile doing just that. There was one last thing we needed to do before heading to our next stop, check out of our guest house and say goodbye to our wonderful hosts. We stayed at Casa Ishi, right outside Santiago, run by ex-pats Michelle and her husband Teiji. The property is a little oasis,

Still close to the wineries and city but far enough away to escape the crowds. The grounds are full of lush gardens overlooking the Maipo River, and the house was the perfect size for the crew and I. We decided to spend our last night there enjoying some Chilean hospitality.

Teiji and Michelle cooked lamb and all the fixins, and Teiji had fun showing off some of his favorite Chilean wines. It seemed everywhere we went on this trip, the Chilean people wanted us to have a special experience while we were with them. I signed a barrel in VIK on the condition

That I would return one day to check its progress. We were offered a stunning guest house in Montes, had a lavish impromptu lunch with San Pedro and a picnic with Leyda and Tomas. I say all this to tell you, you should visit here yes, because there’s wine, yes, because there’s food,

But more importantly because there’s people here that cannot wait for you to come. It wouldn’t be a trip to Chile without an asado, which is kinda like a barbecue. It refers to both the cooking technique and the event. So I traveled back to Santiago to meet with my friend Luis. First we stopped at the Blue Jar restaurant for more empanadas and snacks, because why not,

Before heading to Infiltrados, a temple to all things charred and grilled. – Let’s try some good wines. Luis, along with his winemaker, Ignacio, started Forajidos, a modern lifestyle winery that sources grapes from all over Chile on a mission to prove that wine can be just as cool and accessible as craft beer. Who says Carménère can’t pair with rock concerts or after a long day of mountain biking?

– Forajidos means from outside of the industry. – Okay. – When we were working for another winery, he was the winemaker. I was in charge of sales. The wineries were saying the same thing, approaching the consumer in the same way for the last 20, 25 years.

The problem is that the consumer now is 60, 65. – Yeah, sure, our generation started going away from wine. – Everybody’s eating, pairing food with beer. We decided to get away off the corporate BS and start our own project, you know? Chile’s with this crazy geography,

You can surf, you can go to the ski, you can snowboard, mountain biking. It’s a very active lifestyle. So we wanted to take advantage of all that and from that show our wines to the world, you know, and what is Chile is about.

– I think the amazing thing that I’ve learned on this trip is as much as there’s the different regions, what really defines Chile is ocean, mountain, the geography, and the natural geological forces that kind of made this place, and so your wines reflect that, right?

Like, you have a different wine for each kind of terroir. – Yeah. – Sense of place. – Course one, beef tartar, always a favorite, and the wine? Forajidos Patagonia Blend, which is from the cooler southern region of the Itata Valley. Tell me a little bit about Cinsault in general.

What kind of flavor profile is it? – Well, it’s strawberry and red fruit. – So almost like a balsamic strawberry, balsamic thing going on? – Yeah, a little bit floral. – Yeah, a little bit of flowers. – Yep. – You know, I like this. This is also fairly peppery,

Kinda has some of that Syrah meaty, peppery thing going on meets the red fruit, which is really fun. – And keep the freshness. – Yeah. – We were looking for that – Really delicious, yeah. I basically crushed this whole glass. ‘Cause one other thing about these kind of wines,

Like they’re not huge in tannin. They just go down easy. They’re great with food, but they don’t necessarily need food. Again, going back to that lifestyle brand, right? – Exactly that, for us, it’s the wine to start. – Seriously, I’m gonna pour myself a little more, if that’s okay.

It’s delicious. – Go ahead, you have- – [Vince] High-acid lighter wines go great with so many dishes because of the acidity. In this case, the acid in the wine cut through the fat of the meat, pairs with the salty capers, and matches the acidic lemon juice.

Plus the weight of the wine matched the weight of the dish. This is our first wine from Maipo of the trip. – [Luis] Maipo’s the birthplace. – This is the birthplace of Chilean wine. – Wildly different wine than the first wine, and that’s, I mean, those are completely different regions there.

– Yes. – Like you said, several hours away, which is cool, by the way, that you can do that rather than a winery that has their location, and then here’s all our vines right around the winery. You know, you can source ’em here, source them there.

– Beef jerky meatiness, that’s what I get. I get like beef jerky a little bit, you know? And that’s Syrah. That’s what it does. – Yeah. – Yeah. – I can drink it on its own, but this is a food wine. – Yeah. – This has that structure that’s got the tannin.

Oh, and speaking of- – [Luis] Oh, it’s coming, right on time. Here we have our flat iron. – Ah, and with the wine, (snaps fingers) like, forget about it. Look at the way they roast the meat over the charcoal for flavor but then finish on the grill for the char.

There is still acid in the wine to cut through the salty, fatty meat. But the real magic is the tannin in the wine blending with the fatty ribeye, which is also a classic pairing. And the pepper sauce matched the flavor of the peppery Syrah in the wine beautifully.

Finally, rich Chilean reds and asado is a grows together, goes together match made in heaven. Where do you see Chilean wine going from here? – Wines with a really sense of place, you know, from the different small appellations, the best expression of that terroir. Cabernet Sauvignon, Carménère, Merlot, we’re much more than that.

We can offer location. We can offer the place where the wines comes from. – I don’t just want Chilean Cabernet tonight. I want Maipo Valley from the Andes. – That will be be amazing. That will be amazing. – I want the specific place. I want that to be defined as something special.

– Fresh Sauvignon Blanc from Leyda or Syrah from Casablanca, you know, really have this relationship between the wine and the place and between the varieties. – I think the industry’s in good hands with you guys. – Thank you. – Thank you very much. – Cheers, guys. Luis and Ignacio wanna make wines

That represent a lifestyle. I hope they know they’ve succeeded. I sat with them and the crew taking in our final moments in Chile, enjoying each other’s company and reminiscing on the beauty of this country and our trip, and their wines were indeed part of an experience that represented

So much more than the liquid in the bottle. The wind, the breezes, the fog, the ocean spray, the cool mountain air, of all the elements in Chile, it’s the air, how it blows, where it blows, and what it carries with it that determines the course of a vine’s life here. From there, the soil takes over,

The Andes mountain rocks, granite near the coast, the valleys from years of erosion. And then it’s passed into the hands of the Chilean winemakers, people who’ve known this land for centuries but are still discovering it anew. They’ve changed over the years. They’ve gone from making wine for their own people

To making wine for the world, and today, creating wine for individuals who can appreciate just how extraordinary this land truly is. As a visitor, that’s not hard to do. The Chilean people have a warmth to counter even the coldest breezes, and every day they’re working to transform the perception of their country’s wines.

Gone are the days of growing for bulk and arrived are the days of growing for passion. The winds of change are blowing in Chile, my friend, and in this case, change is a very good thing. Hey, Vince here. Hope you enjoyed the episode. If you have a moment, follow us on Instagram. And if you really wanna support, please consider joining Vino VIP on visforvino.com. It’s our members-only club with a ton of benefits. Thanks for watching, and see you soon.