On March 25, we had another program outing to
Casas del Bosque, a winery (one of the thousands in Chile) to the west of Santiago about an hour. Our group was greeted by the smiling hostess and given a wooden box, clippers and a snazzy apron embroidered with the company logo. For what? To harvest grapes obviously. We piled into a tractor-pulled modern-day covered wagon of sorts. Fifteen minutes later, we pulled up next to some average looking wines and were told that we had to fill two of these boxes with WHITE grapes before we could get our lunch... After only a half hour on the premises, we were already taking orders and harvesting grapes with the best of them ("them" being other wide-eyed tourists or hungover youth).
Two boxes later, we headed to the sorting machine. This big, noisy and vibrating contraption would sort picked grapes (still on the stems) into just picked grapes of the perfect size to then be made into wine. Pretty cool (pictures below). Then, it was back in the covered wagon and off through the vines to taste some wine. It was a savignon blanc and touted as the best in Chile... I was skeptical given that 1. Chile is largely known for its red wines and, 2. it smelled of grapefruits... With very little color to the dubious tasting wine, it quickly turned out not to be my favorite. But because it was free, I had two. We gazed out across a pond, sampling bread sticks and shrimp ceviche and sipping the finest Chile has to offer of this varietal. Because that type of relaxation tends to bore a lot of people, we hopped back in the wagon to head to the tasting room for a final sample before out lunch. The cabernet they offered was much better and, in fact, delicious after the cat pee we just consumed. We were surprised with home made empanadas filled with chunks of beef and tomatoes to accompany the wine! Lunch followed. After several courses and two types of wine, we left Casas del Bosque fatted and slightly intoxicated for the hour ride back to Santiago. It was a good Sunday.
Photos courtesy of Jaime Gottleib
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| the harvest |
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| the sorting machine |
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| grapes ready to go |
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| tasting the savignon blanc |
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| lots of wine |
On March 25, we had another program outing to Casas del Bosque, a winery (one of the thousands in Chile) to the west of Santiago about an hour. Our group was greeted by the smiling hostess and given a wooden box, clippers and a snazzy apron embroidered with the company logo. For what? To harvest grapes obviously. We piled into a tractor-pulled modern-day covered wagon of sorts. Fifteen minutes later, we pulled up next to some average looking wines and were told that we had to fill two of these boxes with WHITE grapes before we could get our lunch... After only a half hour on the premises, we were already taking orders and harvesting grapes with the best of them ("them" being other wide-eyed tourists or hungover youth). 
Two boxes later, we headed to the sorting machine. This big, noisy and vibrating contraption would sort picked grapes (still on the stems) into just picked grapes of the perfect size to then be made into wine. Pretty cool (pictures below). Then, it was back in the covered wagon and off through the vines to taste some wine. It was a savignon blanc and touted as the best in Chile... I was skeptical given that 1. Chile is largely known for its red wines and, 2. it smelled of grapefruits... With very little color to the dubious tasting wine, it quickly turned out not to be my favorite. But because it was free, I had two. We gazed out across a pond, sampling bread sticks and shrimp ceviche and sipping the finest Chile has to offer of this varietal. Because that type of relaxation tends to bore a lot of people, we hopped back in the wagon to head to the tasting room for a final sample before out lunch. The cabernet they offered was much better and, in fact, delicious after the cat pee we just consumed. We were surprised with home made empanadas filled with chunks of beef and tomatoes to accompany the wine! Lunch followed. After several courses and two types of wine, we left Casas del Bosque fatted and slightly intoxicated for the hour ride back to Santiago. It was a good Sunday.
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