San Antonio (Santiago), Chile - part 3

Now, time for WINE!

The rest of our day was spent at a vineyard, Casa Marin, near San Antonio. It is only a few miles from the Pacific and therefore gets wind and some cold weather. For some reason the grapes here are mostly very hearty and good quality producing 140,000 bottles per year. Sadly, some years, like recently, less water has yielded less grapes (i.e., 2 vines are now producing one bottle). Started by Maria Luz Marin in 2000 and later including her entire family in the business, it is known worldwide for their Sauvignon Blanc and Gewurztraminer. 60% is sold worldwide in 20 countries.

We toured the winery and saw the process including the fermentation tanks and the storage barrels. Interestingly, mobile bottling trucks come to the winery to bottle their wine since their quantity does not dictate their own bottling. At our tasting, we had Riesling, Gewürztraminer, Pinot Noir, Syrah/Grenache blend; and a premium Syrah. Yes, we bought a case of wine. In the town of Lo Abarca we saw murals on the side of a church (by Maria Luz Marin’s sister).Read more