Thursday 25 February 2016

At 6.30 pm yesterday we arrived at Vina Tarapaca, Isla de Maipo, (just an hour or so from Santiago) to stay for three nights.  Due to an accident on the freeway which held us up we were an hour late arriving.    The mansion is in the middle of vineyards and is absolutely beautiful. We are the only guests as just 19 rooms available.  Ours is huge - could fit about six double beds and still have room to move around. ( And we need plenty of room after all the food on this trip!) We met for drinks on the terrace at 7.30 then dinner followed, again on the terrace.  Was a perfect night, lovely food and wine from the vineyard.  

Today we drove to the new San Antonio valley, an hour or so from where we are staying.  The winery was Casa Marin, located in the Lo Abarca region.  We were welcomed by Maria's son, Fillipe, who is the winemaker (and dishy!) and were lucky enough to see the bottling procedure.  A tasting, as usual, followed, and we tasted savignon blanc, pinot noir, riesling and syrah. Lunch was sooooo delicious - they always serve three courses plus an appetiser and it is difficult not to try everything.  

Back to Vina Tarapaca at 4.30 to find tea and coffee set up on the lawn by the pool.  It is all done so well, white tablecloths, lovely china etc.  Drinks will again be on the terrace at 7.30 followed by dinner and complimented by wines from this estate.  

No excursions tomorrow, however there is plenty to do here.  Some are going horseriding, others will play the 3 hole golf course and then in the afternoon there are carriage rides.  And of course there is a beautiful swimming pool and a wine museum here.  

Someone asked me about the people on the tour.  That could be a long blog as I am still trying to work some of them out!  For the first couple of days I thought one lady was perhaps mute.  We spoke to her in the lift, no reply, just looked blankly at us.  Then the next day I heard a squeak and realised it was her.  I've now realised she does have a voice but only becomes animated and uses it if I talk about horses!  Well, you know how much I know about horses but luckily they have some thoroughbreds so I can relate to betting and colours!!!!!!

Elizabeth (I am NOT Liz, I am Elizabeth) has been on previous RACV tours with her friend Vicky (an authority on most things) and mainly likes to talk with the others who've also been on those tours.  (Elizabeth is from Kew & we vaguely know her from the Lib Party).  They particularly dislike Kerry and John and warned us about them at the meet & greet night before we left. According to them Kerry and John are pains in the butt because they ask questions that have already been answered.  Well!!!!  So, we had dinner with Kerry and John one night in Santiago and they are really nice people, gentle souls, but she does go on and on and if you say 'I like the colour of that dress' she will have a 20 minute story about another dress in the same colour!!!  So, I now choose very carefully about what I say to her because once she starts you can't shut her up!!! 

Then there are Ron and Helen.  They are also in the 'have been before' bracket but are very nice although I do think there are eyes rolled occasionally.  Ron was my hero in Santa Cruz when our aircon didn't work - he came up to the room and removed the filters (which were filthy) and threw them under the bed.  It worked like a charm then.  We did replace the filters before we checked out.  That will do for one day!!!!!

Wednesday 24 February 2016

Well, if it's Wednesday then it must be another winery!  Before I continue, I must point out that it is not obligatory to drink all the wines placed in front of us for tasting or for the further wines served with lunch.  But such a shame not to get our money's worth so most of us just drink and enjoy!

Today we packed our bags again and left Santa Cruz at 9.30 am and drove to Cono Sur, a winery in the Colchague Valley.  This winery is owned by the Chilean giant Concho y Tory (similar to Treasury Wines at home) but is run as a separate enterprise which focuses on organic methods of management.  

This winery was like an oasis -a long tree lined driveway led to a beautiful old mansion with extensive lawns and beautiful trees and with peacocks strutting around and chooks in the background.  We were welcomed by Rebecca, a lovely American girl from Chicago who is working in their promotional and sales area.  She showed us through the mansion and then later on a tour either by bus or bike (I chose the former) of the estate.  

Back at the house a table was set up for the tasting and lunch.  The wines we tasted were Pinot Sparkling Brut, Savignon Blanc, Viognier, Pinot Noir and a delicious Carmenere.  These were introduced by the winemaker, Kiro, a young Chilean lady.  

Appetisers were served and included empanadas and a delicious avocado mousse.    Lunch, again, was a typical BBQ of fillet of beef, pork ribs and grilled chicken with amazing salads.  Hard to be disappointed with such fare!  Fresh fruit and coffee finished off a wonderful afternoon.

I'm writing this on the bus enroute to our next destination, Vina Tarapaca, but we've been stationary for about an hour! 

Tuesday 23 February 2016

Apologies if this is all starting to sound boring - but we are on a wine tour and being very well looked after,  food wise!!  The problem will be the waistline!!!!

Today was no exception and the bus collected us after breakfast for a 45 minute ride to Vina Montes, a beautiful winery in the Apalta region.  This winery has been designed according to Feng Shui principles and has an angel as it's symbol! 

After a tour of the operational area and amazing display of barrels we all sat down to taste 9 wines - Savignon Blanc, Pinot Noir, Merlot, Cab Sav, Syrah and Carmenere.  All were good but some were extra good.  

Following the tasting we were taken way up the hill in two trucks (seats on the back) to lunch!  This was an open air arrangement, table beautifully laid out with flowers etc and we were offered a glass of bubbly. Then red wines were served with the most delicious BBQ - rump steak, pork ribs, sausage, grilled carrot & eggplant and several salads.  Dessert was fresh fruit and a sweet slice.  

The funny thing is, nobody feels like dinner after all that food!  It is really hot so we sat at the pool for a couple of hours then walked up the street for an icecream!  

Santa Cruz is a nice little town, would probably be better in the spring or autumn though.  There are lots of stray dogs around, mostly all in the park as we walked through earlier.  They appear to have rites - cars stop for them as they use the pedestrian crossing & we watched one dog check out every plastic rubbish bag looking for something tasty!  I also went for a walk as soon as we got back to the hotel as I needed to buy a sun hat - found one at a small shop and another customer could see I was struggling with my Spanish so she interpreted for me and asked where I was from.  When I said Melbourne she said she had lived there for 2 years when she was 5-7 and went to school at Ruyton Girls!  She is Swedish. 

We move on to another area tomorrow and will be there for 4 days.  

Monday 22 February 2016

Last night's  dinner was amazing.  The Restaurant was called Kilometer 0 and was at basement level but there was a glass wall of (I think) 10,000 bottles of wine!  Not sure how it would fare in an earthquake!  Food and wines were excellent but on arrival we were again served the best pisco I've ever had.  A good night to set the pace for the next couple of weeks. 

On the bus this morning and away by 9.30 am.  There are just 20 of us so plenty of room to spread out. We are accompanied by Christian, the head sommelier from the RACV and his wife Alison and Faye, a member of the tour company (Arblaster & Clarke) from The UK. The winery today was VIna Aquatania in the Maipo Valley, on the outskirts of Santiago so we were there just after 10 am.  Met by the owner, Eduardo and the winemaker Angela we had a terrific tour of the winery, which at the moment is very quiet due to harvest being late March.  After the tour we were served a sparkling wine with delicious canapes. Following that we tasted SoldeSol savignon blanc and a chardonney.  Lunch was then set up under umbrellas on the lawn and we were served cold salmon with salsa verde, cold beef and salads.  Dessert was a berry crepe then bowls of fresh fruit and petite fours.  Absolutely divine!  By now we had also tasted a Pinot Noir, a Cabernet Savignon and a Syrrah.  All excellent and made by Angela who was sitting on our table.  

En route to Santa Cruz there was a bit of shut eye for most!!!!  Arrived here around  5 pm - the hotel is very Spanish, quite comfortable after we got the aircon to work!  Apparently the hotel was built by drug lords years ago! Will be here 2 nights - tomorrow we go to Montes for tastings and a BBQ lunch.  

Changing of the Guard at the Palace

Sunday 21 February 2016

A nice quiet day for me yesterday - after breakfast George went to a museum featuring the Pinochet atrocities so, that not being my scene, I opted for a few hours alone at the shopping mall!  The mall is not unlike being at Chadstone, Marion or Carindale - all the same or similar stores but there are 6 levels so I circumnavigated all 6 just to make sure I hadn't missed anything!!! On the top level there must have been 25-30 fast food outlets - I wasn't tempted but did enjoy a baguette, fresh mango juice and capuccino in a cafe.  Saw the cutest outfit for Chloe, thought long and hard, then decided to leave it in the store - it was a three piece ladybird suit, complete with a black skivvy, tights and a heavily padded top with hood.  Chloe would be too young to protest but I'm sure would only wear it to a fancy dress party where she wouldn't have a choice!!
Met up with Kerry and John from our group and enjoyed a local red wine in our room before dinner here at the hotel.  Was lovely out on the terrace with the Andes in the background.  The mornings and nights are beautiful but really warm during the day.
After breakfast today we took the train to the Presidential Palace to watch the changing of the guard.  Was a most impressive ceremony with wonderful music and ceremonial pomp.  Took my new hairdryer back to the store to exchange for one with multi voltage (that is another story) and then got the train to a park which George had promised would have music and food stalls and was a thing not to be missed.  Well, after leaving the train (perspired all the way!!) we walked the equivalent of about 6 blocks to find a skateboarding area and a huge park but nothing more happening! So a taxi back to the hotel  for lunch and a pisco sour at 2.30.
Tonight the group assembles at 7pm for dinner in a local restaurant.  It's early days but already I can sense a few strong personalities in this small group of 19 - could be an interesting tour!