Our bus from Santiago arrived in Santa Cruz, the heart of Chilean wine territory, in the late afternoon, and by the time we'd found our hostel and dropped off our bags it was past 7pm. Everything was closed. Tourist office, wine tour agencies, all had shut their doors, so we had to wait until morning to decide which wineries to visit, when, and how. Our search for a restaurant was not much more fruitful, so we decided to indulge and eat at the restaurant attached to the five star hotel. Prices were in fact quite reasonable, the steak was good, and the wine (Cabernet Sauvignon) was of course excellent.
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| The wine-barrel cross greeting visitors to Santa Cruz |
The next morning we arrived at the wine tour agency as its door opened at 9.30, but they were rather unhelpful. The fact that we didn't have our own transport completely stumped them. Unamused by their lack of interest, we went on to the next agency, Ruta del Vino, which was much more helpful. They recommended a vineyard that could be reached by bus, booked the tour for us, and explained where we could find the bus (avoiding the exorbitant cost of taking the agency minibus).
The tour was at 3pm, so we still had a while before catching the bus. One vineyard was reportedly within walking distance, so we decided to squeeze that in before lunch. After a slight detour (not having the benefit of a map), and taking a very brief taxi journey to find the exact location, we arrived at Laura Hartwig, a small but attractive vineyard just outside of town. We arrived at reception and asked about wine tastings, only to be told that they were preparing for a large group that would be arriving soon, and couldn't possibly take five minutes out of their hectic schedule to pour us a glass of wine. Resisting the temptation to give the gate a kick as we left, we wandered back into town (without the detour this time). Since it wasn't quite lunchtime but we were now very thirsty, we decided to stop for a glass of wine and an appetizer. We found a small restaurant on the Plaza (or rather a Social Club, apparently) that served us a very tasty ham and cheese platter to go with our bottle of red, over which we cursed Laura Hartwig.
Our spirits lifted, we found the bus out to our next, hopefully more successful, stop: Viu Manent. The bus took around 15 minutes, and we then had a 10 minute walk through the beautiful grounds before arriving at the central yard. Here we stopped for lunch, another slight indulgence. I accompanied my steak with a Malbec, Manent's speciality, while Clem went for a very fruity Pinot Noir from their Secreto line. With our appetite sated and thirst at least partially quenched, it was time for the tour.
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| Viu Manent, with the restaurant terrace off to the right |
We bounded aboard a horse-drawn carriage, joined by around ten very tipsy and loud women, who turned out to be expats living in Santiago. We drove through the vineyard to one of the buildings where they keep the barrels. After a brief explanation, we had the opportunity to taste a Sauvignon Blanc that was in the process of fermentation. It was near the end of the process, but it still tasted almost undrinkably acidic and, pre-filtration, was fairly cloudy. After a bit more talking, the horses pulled us back into the central yard, where we sat down to enjoy four more pours: a Sauvignon Blanc that had reached the end of the process; a very young Cabernet Sauvignon; a Malbec; and a rather better Cabernet Sauvignon. Although none of the wines we tasted was outstanding, we did ask about the cost of shipping some wine back to Europe, only to be told that it was significantly cheaper just to buy it at home.
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| Our carriage |
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| The central courtyard |
We started the walk back to the bus stop, but were very kindly offered a lift back into town by a young couple from Santiago who had been on another tour. We then relaxed in our hostel for an hour or so before catching the bus to San Fernando, back on the main highway between north and south. There wasn't much to do in San Fernando, but we managed to find a decent Italian place that had wifi where we dined and waited out a few hours before our 11.45pm bus to Pucon. The bus didn't arrive until after midnight, which made for an interesting 20 minutes or so at a dark bus stop that was deserted except for a caretaker, a couple of other passengers waiting for the same bus, and an old stray dog that the caretaker would occcasionally kick off the bench. The bus, once it finally arrived, was very comfortable and we both slept well, arriving in Pucon at around eight the next morning.
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