Santiago Winery – Cousino Macul
Our last day in Santiago was supposed to be a road trip to the Valparaiso region. Once we experienced the traffic and road conditions in Chile, we decided instead on a local attraction in the Santiago area. One location that kept showing up in our searches was he Cousino Macul winery in the southeast part of Santiago. It was close to the metro and reasonably-priced, and was something that we had not experienced before. So, off we went to visit on a Monday around lunchtime.
We didn’t buy tickets in advance because we wanted to make sure that we got on an English-speaking tour and we had questions about discounting the tour. We aren’t wine drinkers, so we wanted to skip the tasting at the end and turn this into an educational visit only. Apparently that’s not something they get asked about often, but nevertheless we saved about $5 per person on our visit by asking. Ashley was free because they don’t charge anyone under drinking age. The picture above is part of their sales case, and below is their trophy case for previous vintage years.
We were greeted by our tour guide, Sara. We learned that she had lived in Peru for several years, and first came to the country from Colorado to teach English. After discovering she wasn’t cut out for the classroom, she acquired her Sommelier certificate and began to work for Cousino Macul. She now teaches through tours and takes part in events put on by the winery. We visited the vineyard first where we learned about how the grapes are harvested, what they look for, how they care for and prune the vines, and so forth. We also learned that Cousino Macul is the oldest family-run winery in all of Chile.
The tour took us through the old and new parts of the building where the casks and fermentation tanks from the original operation still stand today. They have since been replaced with the new stainless steel tanks shown below, but the character and essence of the original operation stands today. The design and addition of the new section merged beautifully with the old building, and if not for the different technology it would be hard to distinguish the two.
Off to the front of the building was the museum. In the museum area, there were artifacts from some of the early operations of the winery, as shown below.
Next, we had the privilege of visiting the cellar. We learned here that the head of the Macul family holds the key to the most prized sections of the wine cellar. This shot below is of some of the old bottles and shipping crates that are no longer in use.
Back in the lobby, we saw some of their award-winning wines along with the accolades received. I never knew there were so many certifications, competitions and appraisal activities that accompanied the winemaking industry. No wonder this is one of the top industries of Chile!
Though it was the first of October, to them it was early spring so there were no grapes ready for harvest at the time of our visit. As they were still coming out of winter, you can see the snow-capped Andean ridges in the background. These mountains are less than an hour away by car, but in the temperate valley that the winery is located in the grapevines survive year-round even if they don’t produce during winter.
Our tour ended up with a nice gift from the winery. Although we opted out of the tasting, Paul and I were still presented with a nice gift of a half-liter of wine and an inscribed wineglass each. We said our good-byes and hitched a ride with Uber back towards our train station. For us, it was an interesting and educational hour-plus spent learning about the wine-making industry in Chile.
