Sitting on the plush claret coloured seats of the only working steam train in
the country, wine aficionado Ian Sugarboard describes his first experience
of Chilean wine.
"It was a £3 bottle of Santa Elena back in the 70's. No-one else knew
much about Chilean wine, it was always well under a fiver a bottle and then
it started to become popular. Last year we went to Peru and looking at the
menu, in one of Lima's best restaurants it was Chilean wine throughout, with
bottles worth up to £200."
His experience is a typical one, which reflects the country's new strategy to
wine production. In 2005 they sold, nearly £500m worth of wine, 20 per cent
of which went to the UK, which means we're spending around £100m on Chilean
wine alone.
But, the country's winemakers aren't ones for becoming complacent.
They've cornered the mass market, and now they want to take on the Big Boys
and sell more premium wines, which means wine worth over £5 a bottle.
And that's where trips like the Wine Train come in. Here tourists have a
chance to taste some of Chile's finest Premium and Reserve wine and to visit
the best wine growing area in the country, the Colchagua Valley. As the tour
guides were fond of reminding me, in 2005 this region was chosen as the best
place in the world to make wine by Wine Enthusiast Magazine,
putting Napa Valley and Bordeaux in the shade.
The secret is the climate. Chile doesn't suffer from frosts or early rainfall
like other parts of the world, which means the grapes can take their time to
mature. Cold nights and warms days also slow down the vine's growth allowing
the flavour to mature.
After a non descript two hour coach journey to San Fernandez, we finally
arrived at the local train station. The train is made up of sleek looking
black, first class carriages, aptly called, Cabernet Sauvignon, Carmenere,
and Merlot. Cristian Gonzales Flores, who runs the tour, explained that it
was built in Germany in 1923 and imported to Chile in 1929. Each carriage
has been meticulously restored with polished wooden fittings and velvet
upholstery. And it now runs the 42 kilometre route to Santa Cruz, as it did
all those years ago.
Once the drivers had loaded more coal into the engine we started our journey
into the Colchagua Valley. Looking out of the window on a bright spring
morning, sipping my glass of merlot, I could think of worst ways to spend
the weekend. The valley is locked in by the 2,000 metre high snowy peaked
coastal mountains. Stretching out ahead of me were hundreds of vines neatly
laid out in orderly lines with the grapes just coming into bud. Each village
had fat squawking brown hens, running around the gardens, of the white
colonial houses, with their terracotta tiled roofs.
After a rather sleepy start the other tourists were getting in the swing of
it. Brazilians, Europeans and Chileans were all enjoying the first wine
tasting of the day and it was only 10.30am. The train has a team of
sommeliers who, were handing out generously filled glasses of wine, while
the prettiest, local girls plied tourists, with cheese, nuts and organic
apples.
If you want a more personalised experience you can opt for the premium
service, where you get upgraded to the dinning car, and can try out Premium
and Reserve Wines. These wines are made by growing less vines per hectare
and the wine is matured in oak barrels, rather than a stainless, steel ones,
for over a year.
The trick is to manipulate the vines as little as possible and not to crush
the seeds. Contrary to what you might think, the worst condition the soil is
in, the better the wine, because the vines have to dig down deep to get the
water and nutrients they need, which means the harvest takes longer to
mature and gives the grapes an intense flavour ideal for wine production.
In the Dining Car, I met fellow Brit Ian Sugarboard and his French Canadian
wife, Dominique. They live in California and wine is their hobby. After
countless wine tours all over the world, they were pretty tough to impress.
But, they said that the steam train was a great idea, and not something they
had come across before.
Their only complaint was that, Chilean wine makers should get their act
together when it comes to shipping wine home. Boutique vineyards don't
supply wine to supermarkets and these days, due to ever more stringent rules
on aeroplane luggage, it is hard to take cases of wine back yourself.
The carmenere, was slipping down nicely. This is a rich chocolaty wine unique
to Chile. It was wiped out in the rest of the world by phylloxera. But, with
the Andes to the east, the ocean to the west, the driest desert in the
world, up north and glaciers down south, Chile is difficult to penetrate and
so the carmenere vines survived. The irony is, the Chileans weren't even
aware of it, and it took the French to put them right.
The Chileans thought they had a very special merlot, while the French were
insistent that is was a blend. It turns out that both the vines were growing
together, and the carmenere hadn't been identified. When the wine growers
took a closer look at the grapes, they saw the merlot was ripening earlier
in the season that the carmenere.
After an enjoyable morning of chugging through the valley, we arrived at Santa
Cruz station, a brightly yellow painted wooden, building complete with local
Huasos. This is the Chilean equivalent of the Argentinean Gaucho, or cowboy.
Luckily, I had my Chilean husband with me to explain what was going on,
because the Chilean National dance, the Cueca isn't the easiest one to
follow. Basically, and you'll have to trust me on this one, it is based on
cockerels flirting with their hens.
First the man, or in this case small boy, decked out in a tight fitting black
suit and broad rimmed hat, leads his mate, a young girl dressed in a
flouncy, brightly coloured dress, off for a paseo, or a promenade around the
square, and then he whips out his handkerchief and they start to dance. To
my untrained eye it looked suspiciously like Morris dancing, without the
bells. The Brazilians were certainly enjoying it, and were quietly copying
the moves on the side line.
You know you are in the heart of Chile's wine country, when the local litter
bins are made of old wine barrels. We were whisked through Santa Cruz, to
the Sutil Estate, to learn about wine making and of course to taste some
more of the local produce. One Chilean tourist, Carlos Perez told me he had
decided to come on the trip because, "The Chileans think they know
about wine, but they don't". In fact they drink far more beer and soft
drinks than wine. They are the third biggest consumers of fizzy drinks after
the United States and Mexico.
The most interesting thing we learnt on the estate is how to taste wine
properly. Swilling it around to let more oxygen in, improves the flavour and
the more apparent the tear tracks of the wine that slide down the glass, is
supposed to denote the quality.
It was getting on for 3pm by the time we finally stopped to have lunch at the
Santa Cruz Plaza Hotel and we fell upon the buffet of local Chilean food
with relief. Empanadas are very popular here, they are very similar to
Cornish Pasties, and are either made with mincemeat or sea food. Bean stew
is another traditional dish as is the ubiquitous asado, or barbeque. This is
usually lots of beef and salt, accompanied by pebre, a sauce made of
tomatoes, onions, garlic, chilli, olive oil and coriander.
Many of tourists just come for the day. But, I am glad that we decided to
spend the night in Santa Cruz. The hotel, which is right on the main square,
is the ideal spot for getting to know the rest of the region. The staff, are
very friendly and have their own mini tourist office, where they have lots
of ideas on other things you can do apart from wine tasting.
In the grounds of the hotel, its owner Carlos Cardoean has built the Santa
Cruz Museum, to house his impressive collection of pre Colombian, Colonial
and modern day's artefacts. This is the largest private collection in South
America. It includes Chile's Act of Independence, and a piano once played by
Bernardo O'Higgins the leader of Chile's war against the Spanish.
Apart from local treasures it also houses a collection of weaponry, including
somewhat surprisingly, a gold-plated dagger which belonged to Hermann
Goering. I am normally a bit non plussed by museums, but this one was really
fascinating, very well laid out, with some stunning pre Colombian textiles
which I converted.
The next day we set off to a local artisan liquor factory, which was a short
walk from our hotel. There, a charismatic aging hippy led us around his
intriguing collection of home made liquors, made from grappa and different
types of fruits and herbs. He claims they have magical properties, ideal for
preventing ill health. The whole factory is set in a beautiful colonial
house, typified by its wide terraces which surround, the garden, or patio as
it is known, which is set in the heart of the house. Tourists are invited to
sniff the wild mint, rosemary and lavender as they try out the different
liquors. I tried the raspberry one which was delicious.
There's also a very good local wine shop a couple of doors down from our
hotel, where knowlegible staff can advise you on what to stock up on. The
area specialises in red wines, cabernet sauvignon, merlot, syrah and
carmenere. Their top recommendations were the Clos Apaltha from Casa
Lapostelle, Montes Alpha M and Casa Silva.
All this talk of wine had made us thirsty, so we headed off to Vina Santa
Cruz. This is a good place to visit, if you have a family as there is a lot
more to do than just wine tasting. You can take part in cookery classes of
local dishes, visit museums representing Chilean's three main indigenous
populations, the Mapuche, the Aymara and the people of Rapa Nui. They even
have some very powerful telescopes for star gazing, which is particularly
good in Chile due to the purity of the air. In October they are opening up a
three hour trek which will take you all over the vine yard, and there are
plans to eventually have a wine spa and horse and carriages to ferry guests
around.
A trip to the heart of Chile's wine growing country, is a good introduction to
the new varieties which arrive in the UK all the time. So next time you are
in the supermarket dithering over what to buy, take the plunge and go for
something a little different.
NEED TO KNOW
Journey Latin America offers tailor-made holidays and small group tours to
Chile. A 15-night tailor-made trip taking in Santiago, the Santa Cruz wine
tour, the Atacama, the Lake District, Chiloé and Torres del Paine starts
from £2,769 per person. This price includes international flights,
accommodation based on two people sharing, transfers and some excursions.
The wines we tasted came from Vina Santa Cruz, Mont Gras, Vina Bisquett, Vina
Viu Mannet, Vina Estampa, Vina Voe and Vina Sutil.
The price for the Santa Cruz wine tour, plus a night either side in Santiago
and flights with transfers (eg. three nights in total in Chile) would be
from £1,030 per person - bookable through Journey Latin America.
Independent Travel
The train journey to Santa Cruz costs £20. In the town, a double room at the
Santa Cruz Plaza costs £70 per person for a double, and £90 for a single
room.
Recommended restaurants in town include Caviahue/Nicolas Palacios 295, three
blocks from the hotel, Club Social (opposite Plaza de Armas) and Don
Celedonio/Av. Errázuriz Nº 1102. All are typical Chilean restuarants, expect
to see steak, and good local fish, trout and salmon. Prices range from
£20-£50 for a three course meal including wine.
