We were lucky enough during our time in Chile to get to spend 2 days in different wine regions outside of Santiago. Our first tour was in the Aconcagua Valley and our second was in the Casablanca Valley. The tours were actually incredibly different, though in a similar format, and the wines we got to taste were all excellent and we greatly enjoyed each tour for several reasons. One thing to keep in mind, the Maipo Valley is one of the more well-known wine regions in Chile, but we didn’t tour here, so you may want to research that area as well when considering a tour. So let’s get into it!
We did both of our tours with a company called Bodega Wine Tours and we booked everything through Tom (the owner). Tom was VERY easy to communicate with and was very helpful and informative when we were in the tour planning process. He laid out all of the options for us and made it very clear and easy to choose which fit best for what we were looking for.
Aconcagua Valley Tour
Viña Sanchez de Loria
For our Aconcagua valley tour, we were picked up right at 8:30 AM by Chris, our guide. There was just one other person on our tour and, thankfully, he was a really great guy to be around as well. We started by heading to Viña Sanchez de Loria, which was one of the most picturesque spots we visited all throughout our time in Chile. This is the oldest Chilean winery that is still in production and it felt like going back in time touring the facility and seeing the home and grounds. The vineyards are absolutely stunning and seeing the mountains in the distance was incredible. We started off right away with a glass of sparkling wine and got to chatting with the owner about his wines, the vineyard, and the grounds. We went on to try multiple wines while sitting around a barrel with the incredible view and great company. Chris was an amazing guide, he asked a lot of questions, taught us so much, and helped keep the conversation from getting lost in translation between us and our Spanish speaking host.
El Escorial
The next stop was El Escorial Winery, and we got to do a tasting in their stunning wine cellar. We tasted 3 wines, as well as a port wine, here which came with a really nice meat and cheese pairing. They taught us which wines went well with the foods we got to sample, and a lot about wine production and life in general in Chile. We always love hearing the stories of peoples lives and how they feel about where they live when we’re traveling. This was also our first taste of Carmenere, which we can say with certainty is now one of our most favorite wines in the world. Thankfully Carmenere is not lost from the world!
Carmenere was grown in France for centuries until the mid-1800s when all of the vines in Europe were destroyed by an epidemic (you will learn about this on many-a-wine tour in Europe). Winegrowers had to start all over and many of them splice their vines with American rootstock to begin their vineyards again. Carmenere wasn’t really replanted in France and, eventually, was assumed to be entirely gone.
Years later, some winegrowers in Chile realized that the “Merlot” they had been producing didn’t quite taste like Merlot. They did some DNA testing and found out that it was in fact, Carmenere. Lucky for us, Chile began producing Carmenere on purpose and now it is made throughout the country. We loved this wine and can only hope that more US retailers will continue to pick up and sell Carmenere.
Flaherty Winery
The final winery we visited was Flaherty Winery, which was an establishment run by Ed Flaherty & Jen Hoover. They are Californians who came to Chile to work a harvest and ended up staying. They have extensive wine experience and have worked at top wineries in America & Chile. We found their wine to be incredible and wish we could get it in the states (maybe someday!). We enjoyed our tour of the property, some of the on-site vines, and garden. Jen took us all around and also served our wine and snacks, we even got to meet their son and the family pets! We were served a beautiful cheese board and tried three different wines here as well. It was an enjoyable intimate experience getting to meet the family and learn about their wine directly from them. The stops on this tour all felt very personal and boutique-like, and it was nice to meet and taste some of Chile’s smaller producers.
Viña Almendral
The tour ended with a stop at Viña Almendral, an artisanal producer of traditional Chilean sweet wines and pisco based fruit liquors. This was a very interesting stop as we popped into the hot little shop and just started trying a bunch of different liquors. They had QUITE a variety of flavors, everything from mint, to cherry, coconut, etc. We tried out a number of them and, honestly, they actually were quite tasty. We didn’t take any to go, because we were flying out to Patagonia the following day, but our tour companion brought a few to bring to the family he was visiting in Chile.
Throughout the whole tour, we had Chris by our sides. He drove us from location to location, and even attended some of the tastings with us. He spoke great English, so worked as a fantastic translator and taught us a lot, answering all of our questions throughout the day. It was a pleasure to take a tour with him and recommend that if you take a tour with Bodega, request him as your guide.
Casablanca Valley Tour
It’s amazing how diverse the different wine valleys can be, even when they are not that far from one another. The Cassablanca Valley reminded me more of what I think of a “traditional” type wine valley. We could have closed our eyes and felt like we were in Napa, California. The wineries were a little more built up and the wines were slightly different.
I had the genius idea, since we were staying in Valparasio and flying out at 11pm that evening, to have our wine tour on the way to the airport. To start the day, we were picked up from our accommodation in Valparasio (Hotel Winebox) in the morning, and got dropped off at the Santiago airport at the end of the tour. It was the perfect way to end our trip in Chile, and a very low stress way to spend a last day. We didn’t have to worry about anything as our bags were in the car with us all day, and we knew we had the ride arranged.
Villard Fine Wines
The first winery of the day was Villard Fine Wines, owned by a French-Chilean family. Our first impression was that it was absolutely gorgeous. When we arrived, there were already groups sitting out on the terrace enjoying some tasting flights. We knew this would be different from Aconcagua because there was already a slight crowd. In Aconcagua, we were the only people at every place we attended. We did a full tour here and then got to sit on the terrace ourselves and taste the wines. It was a perfect start to the day, we got to taste 4 wines and really enjoyed sitting out in the sunshine and learning about their product.
Bodegas RE
The second stop of the day may have been my favorite of both tours, mainly for its innovation and creativity! This stop was called Bodegas RE, and they are famous for mixing varieties that others may not normally combine. This winery is also special in that they use the traditional ceramic “tinajas” used historically in the south of Chile. They also make balsamic vinegar and Chilean liquors among other things. It was a really fun tour learning about the winery’s founder Pablo Morande and how creative he gets with the wines. We got to try 3 wines with some small bites of meat and cheese and, of course, some of their balsamic. This was a fantastic stop and I could have easily spent all day here.
Chateaux Viñamar
Our final stop was the Chateaux Viñamar, where we had lunch and a tasting. This was seemingly the most modern of all of the stops we made in Chile. The Chateaux was glorious and had the most incredible views from up on the balcony. Here we enjoyed a 4 course lunch with wine pairings and it was a lot of fun! It started with some small bites for each person, and I mean REALLY small bites. They were delicious, but I am not sure I’ve ever been served such a tiny carrot in all my life. We started with sparkling wine as well, which we really enjoyed. We both had a delicious salmon for our main course and found it delicious. The salmon was followed by steak, which was also fantastic, and much needed since we were somewhere around our 9th or 10th drink of the day. The meal ended with a fancy desert and overall we really enjoyed the entire experience. The only thing we would have changed is that we’d have liked to sit out on the terrace overlooking the vineyards, instead of being seated inside the main dining area.
After lunch, our guide escorted us to the airport and we were sadly on our way back to the USA. We had a different guide for this tour, and while he was VERY kind and friendly, he was not as knowledgeable as Chris. We felt more like we just had a driver for the day rather than a guide, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, just something to consider. It made the large price tag for this tour seem a little less reasonable as we could have just hired a driver and basically done this tour on our own.
Final Thoughts & Advice for Future Visits
If we were to visit again, there are a few things I would consider changing. Since you are reading this, you get to consider them BEFORE you go!
#1: The tours we took were in my opinion VERY expensive. It would be well worth seeing what the cost is to hire a driver for the day, and having that driver take you from place to place. Especially for Casablanca, as the wineries are all pretty straightforward and open.
#2: If you are able to do the tour with Bodega Wine Tours, make sure you check with Tom about payment. We had an issue with our debit card in Chile and he wanted us to pay in cash. It was HUGE undertaking to try to figure out a way to pay him. Eventually we sent a pay-pal to his brother, but it was quite a hassle. So either be prepared with cash or have another plan beforehand. (Note: It can be really expensive to take cash out of ATM machines in Chile so this is also something to be aware of and avoid if possible).
#3 If we had more time, I also would have stayed a night at a B&B or winery in the Casablanca Valley. It was just so beautiful that I think it would have been a really neat and relaxing experience to get to spend a night there.
#4 There are also tons of options on the major tour websites that offer larger group tours of these places. So if the Bodega tours are way outside your budget, you 100% have much more reasonably priced options you can go with. Our needs on this trip were just so much more specific that private tours made more sense for us.
#5 We missed the Maipo Valley on this trip, which is one of Chile’s major wine producing areas. If we return, we will definitely tour this region next. We wanted to get off the beaten path a little bit, but if main stream is more your thing, then the Maipo Valley also seems very accessible via group or private tours.
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