Undurraga vineyard and tasting

In Chile wine tasting is a bit different to the Australian cellar door, one of the main things are that the vineyards require a reservation or that you are part of a wine tour, where they tell you a bit about the grapes, show you their massive vats for fermentation, tell you how special your wine is before getting you drink and trying to sell you as many bottles as possible. The tour usually comes with an associated cost.

As i have mentioned getting by in Chile with a smattering of rusty Spanish is tricky so we booked a tour to Undurraga (founded in 1883, one of the oldest wineries in Chile) with a local company Turistik, who also run the sightseeing buses. this was mainly because they were the only tour company whose sales people we could understand, and who understood us (and also promised us a tour in English)

For our 29,000 pesos each (45 GBP) we got an afternoon of being driven to a winery on a bus, a tour, a tasting and a free glass to take home. Our guide on the bus gave us an interesting introduction to Chilean wine and its history and told us about a drink they call an Earthquake, this is a mix of pineapple ice-cream and pipeno, which, after you have drunk enough, apparently makes the ground feel like it is shaking. Something I will have to try at some point.

The tour itself was interesting, especially learning about the Carmenes which the Chilean's imported in the 1880's from France, but then forgot about (mistaking it for merlot). During the following century it disappeared from French vineyards and from Chilean recollection until someone noticed the merlot they were picking was in fact not merlot! It has now become one of Chile's signature wines.

As well as being a beautiful setting in the maipo valley (pictured) the wines themselves were also good. If your not interesting in the tasting notes skip to the next blog but here are some thoughts on the Undurraga wines we tried (I even made proper notes this time as usually after a few glasses I forget everything I have drunk)

Sibanis Reserva Especial
Cabernet Sauvignon 2011
This was still a bit young despite being aged for 12 months in American oak. It was certainly strong weighing in with a handy 14% it had some impressive legs.

The wine itself was a bright deep ruby colour with hints of Oak and vanilla on the nose surrounded by ripe reds fruits. Strawberry and cherry came to the fore when drinking and although it was not too acidic on the tongue there was some acidity during the peppery finish.

Collera (pictured) sold as Founders Collection in UK
2007 Cabernet Sauvignon
Aged for 16 months in French oak this was quite a deep red with a hint of violet, it had a bouquet of blueberries and ripe red fruits. These were also noticeable on the palette with a long smooth, slightly smoky finish, definitely a good wine for a joint of beef on Sunday lunchtime.

Healthy eating on the road

We picked a number of our destinations for this trip based on the food and drink available there. Chile and Argentina were especially selected for their interesting wines and Argentina for its complimentary steak.

Our first stop though was Santiago de Chile. Chile is not overly tourist friendly for English speaking people, very few people there spoke any English and even for Spanish speakers the Spanish spoken there was incredibly hard to understand. I am no Spanish expert but even our Chilean tour guide for one of the wine tastings has led me to agree with various guide books that the Spanish they speak is equivalent, and as untranslatable, as to listening to a drunk Glaswegian after a couple of pints, in a noisy bar.

This itinerary, following a prolonged spell in Australia with my fiancées mother and her Italian heritage of never stopping feeding her guests and my heritage of never saying no to good food, looks like leaving me a few kilos heavier than I wanted with a wedding looming in 3 months, so in order to get into my wedding dress drastic measures are being taken. I ran everyday in Australia, and in chile we walked miles every day, this included climbing the big hill with the Virgin Mary statue (pictured), this was also worthwhile because of the spectacular view, we also made full use of the apartments gym. Argentina will be all about bikes, although we will be using these to travel between vineyards so I am not entirely sure that will be enough.

Eating healthily is also tricky when you don't fully understand the menu, In chile they love to feed you hunks of meat, usually in large quantities, disguised as a platter or some other traditional dish. Sometimes this comes with with bread, but as often as not with chips, always doused in salt.

I have included a picture of 1 platter, which as well as empanadas had a selection of deep fried stuff, some of which such as the sopillianos (sliced, fried plantain) was really tasty but definitely not good for you.

If it is not with chips is it often baked in pastry empanadas style, which is again like having a Cornish pasty (or two) this would be ok but it is usually served as a starter. I think the biggest surprised was that the best meal we had in Santiago was probably at a vegetarian restaurant called Naturallist (definitely a shock find) near the plaza de armas, this also constituted the healthiest.

Other than the rabbit food the only solution we have found to eating healthy was to order a meal and share it, while studiously not drinking (we only had the 4 glasses at the Chilean wine tasting in our time in the country!). This may have made us look like poor student backpacking types but at least I stand a chance of getting into my trousers for the wedding!