-
- Wine country
-
- Hotel Vina la Playa
-
- Enjoying our complimentary bottle of wine
-
- We made a friend
-
- Horse back riding and mt biking thru the vineyards
-
- Our favorite winery
-
- Jennifer and Garret
-
- Shannon and Dimitri
-
- Jamie and I enjoying the ambiance
-
- twin sisters photo op
-
- stairs leading to winery
-
- The rich arriving in their helicopter
Driving thru the main town Santa Cruz we were disappointed and worried the vineyards were going to be nothing like Napa, CA with beautiful rolling hills and quaint places to eat, sleep and shop. There is nothing to write home about the town it was small, not quaint and definitely no shopping. However, once we drove out of Santa Cruz several vineyards started to appear and we went exploring! We had no place to stay that night and several places we called were booked, so we were hoping one of the vineyards had vacancy and drove around in search of a place to stay. Driving around really paid off we discovered and perfect, beautiful hotel on a vineyard that had vacancy and they even gave us a deal since it was a last min booking!
The hotel was called Vina La Playa. We received a nice bottle of Cabernet upon check in from their vineyard. The rooms quaint and comfortable with their own out door seating. The front desk kindly gave us a map of all the wineries and recommened her favorite. The hotel included free horse back riding and mt bikes- which we thoroughly enjoyed doing thru the vineyard. The hotel’s restaurant was excellent- great steak and crembrûlée
Wine tasting in Chile is much different than the United States. We were expecting to be able to just try the different wines, but in Chile you have to take 1-2 hour tour of the winery before you can tast the different wines, they do not allow you to just try the wines. And the tours are not cheap $40-80 (US currency) per person. We really wanted to see several wineries and only had one day to do so therefore doing long tours was not an option (wineries were only open 11-4). We decided since there were six of us to order a bottle or 2 at each winery and drink it there instead of doing a tasting. Saved us money and time. We were able to see 4 different vineyards.
– Vina Montes. Our favorite wine and vineyard. Absoultey beautiful with The green rolling hills, great red wine, great patio for tasting.
http://www.monteswines.com/en/
– Lapostolle. More of an expensive selection. No patio or place to enjoy a bottle of wine. There is a private hotel for $1200 a night- we saw guests landing in an a helicopter
-Viu Manet. Not great views but nice patio seating and does have a restaurant. We were not fond of their wines.
– Bisquert Family Vineyard. This vineyard produced La Joya another one of our favorite Cabernets
http://www.rutadelvino.cl/English/winetours.html
The above website will help with planning your trip to the Colchagua Valley
livelaughtravelblog 