'We're not in Palisade anymore Todo' Part 2: Santa Cruz

Santa Cruz is a small town in the center of the Colchangua Valley wine industry and it's closer proximity to Santiago means it is slightly more developed in its wine tourism. But only slightly. On our first morning, we learned our pricey bed and breakfast's advertised bikes were broken so we rented a pair from Hostal Del Centro and biked about 18 km along stunningly quiet and beautiful roads, past vineyards and horses and farms and slow old men bicycle riders, to the beautiful estate of Viña Montgras.

Mark is the horse whisperer

Viña Montgras

Here we did the coolest wine-related activity ever: we blended our own personal wine concoction! First we started by tasting about 15 different wine grapes, right from the vine (sure, some tasted different but my non-expert palate couldn't really distinguish too many differences). 

Then we saw the huge cylinders where the grape juice would spend the next 20 or so days fermenting. And we got to sample the juice right from the spout!  We also learned that in Chile, the word 'Reserva' on the label just means it was kept in the barrels longer (up to 12 months) than the non-Reserva varietals so has more to do with the amount of oaky barrel flavors instead of being considered a premium wine (as it may be construed in the US). 

Just a few barrels! 

Lastly, we were led to the basement cave area where huge bottles of Merlot, Carmenere and Cabernet Sauvignon waited for us.

After donning our aprons, we first sipped each one separately and then blended the portions we desired in a tall glass cylinder (I knew chemistry class would come in handy one day!).

Things got a little messy in my mixing area.

When the final blend was just right, we calculated the portions per 750 ml bottle and poured those in to the big bottle. 

We even got to cork, lid and label our own bottles. Awesome! 

A little giddy from the wine, we leisurely biked back to town, stopping for a delicious patio lunch, before biking through the nearby vineyard to Laura Hartwick.

I didn't care for this vineyard mostly because the name was so non-Chilean (even though she is one) but the tasting host Cesar was very kind and let us stay late and enjoy a glass out front. They are one of only 10 vineyards (of 350) in Chile that make an exclusively Petit Verdot bottle. It was super dry but worth trying.

In the evening we swapped stories on the B&B patio over wine with Dan, a New Yorker with a sailboat and a love of wine. He was invited by a pourer earlier that day to meet up that night.  Apparently all the young winery staff get together periodically to relax (and probably compare stories about the crazy or funny tourists that visit their wineries!). So we ventured out and soon were chatting with the cashier Maria we met earlier at Montgras and Cesar at Laura Hartwick. They were all super nice and fun to hang out with (and even tried to not let us leave at midnight though I was wined out by that late hour).

The next day we took a break from wine to venture to the Pacific coast (which is never very far when your country is only 110 miles wide on average).  Pichilemu had dropped off our travel plans but it was perfect for a day trip.

Roadside mote.  Mote is an awesome Chilean dessert beverage that consists of a cooked dried peach, cinnamon, juices and husked wheat grains.

Mark braved the water to surf while I enjoyed watching the local fisherman catch fish right from the beach, dogs run in and out of the ocean and families nearby build sandcastles. 

Fisherman on the shore, surfers in the distance

 Beautiful Pacific coastline!

We were joined on the beach by a surprise guest.  This lil gal, Carolina, came up to us and said 'llama take a selfie' so we just had to join her.

Family photo!

On our last day in Santa Cruz wine country, we visited the local harvest fest in nearby tiny Peralillo. This was awesome! If you ever visit Chilean wine country, I highly recommend the fall time frame because each town does their own Vendimia (harvest fest) complete with wine tasting, musical entertainment, food (so much meat grilling) and sometimes even a rodeo!

Two lil boys looking over the backside of the rodeo stands.

We met up with Cristy from our B&B and enjoyed a bottle in the shade before returning to town. We passed tons of vineyards the entire 3 hours to Santiago at sunset. Beautiful!

(In regard to the title of this blog post: Palisade is a wine region in Colorado)

PS- I have Mark's permission to share this story. After our great wine blending tour with Gonzales at Montgras, he grabbed some pesos from our bag to tip him. He told me he tipped him 3,000 (about $6). After our long day, we returned to our B&B and the host confused Mark by saying someone from Montgras had called to get a hold of him. So she calls them back and Gonzales was still confusing Mark by apologizing for receiving such a big tip. Turns out Mark grabbed a 1,000 and 20,000 peso note (instead of a 2,000) so ended up tipping him about $35. Gonzales knew it must have been a mistake so felt really bad and wanted to return it! Of course that would have been crazy but it was sweet. We hope he splurged a little extra on his family that night :) From now on, we will be checking the peso notes a little closer!

'We're not in Napa anymore Todo' Part 1: Talca

We ventured off the backpacker trail to Santiago with a stop in Talca.  Located in the center of the Maule wine region, this town also is known for being the location in which Bernardo O'Higgins signed the declaration of independence from Spain back in the early 1800's (every town has streets and plazas named after O'Higgans).  Now it is a weathered town with lots of evidence of the massive destruction caused by the huge earthquake in 2010 (the epicenter was very close).

Lots of 1st semester university students were running around town covered in rags and paint to collect money for their tuition

But the neighboring Peruvian restaurant (getting excited for Peru!) and the Plaza de Armas were lovely, the ice cream was cold and of course, the wine!  This is definitely no Napa and doesn't seem like something tourists or locals seem to do but a few wineries offered tours and tastings.  We first ventured out of town to Corral Victoria via a cheap collectivo.  We had a lovely three-course lunch to accompany their famous Carmenere wine.  The grape was originally planted in Bordeaux, France.  It means 'crimson' in French which describes the beautiful color the leaves turn during harvest season.  Now it is solely produced right here in Chile.

 The tour was relatively informal, given to us by one of the two ladies who were hand-preparing the interesting bottle shapes that featured the local ancestry.  The vineyards, with their leaves a mix of fall colors, were fun to walk around too.

They are unique because they have special bottles that are dressed like the local men.  Kinda cute!

They use a hot glue gun and gluestick to dress and label each bottle.  They do this because they found out that supermarket customers steal the dresses!  Now they have to buy the bottle to get the dress!

We returned to town in time for ice cream and to rest for the late afternoon sun as the locals do: on a bench in the Plaza de Armas.  We noticed a high percentage of people at the plaza were teens making out, maybe because that is maybe not allowed in the households of this predominantly Catholic country (divorce was just legalized in 2004).

Mark thought it was a little creepy that I took their photo.

On our second day, we caught a collectivo the other direction to tour Viña Balduzzi which is one of the bigger operations in the area. The tour highlighted the damages sustained in the huge 2010 earthquake.  It actually destroyed the pretty white convent next door (which is used on their label) though it has since been rebuilt.

The old cylinder was crushed in the earthquake (left) so they now have cemented them to the ground (right).  

Their secret cellar holds one bottle of every vintage and year since they opened decades ago.  Unfortunately it looks like they'd all break if another quake hit!  The tastings were delicious and we took home a small bottle of their late harvest white wine.

One of the last big barrels that survived the earthquake

Caught sampling grapes in the vineyards!

 Then it was time to catch the train! Chile's train network is becoming significantly less utilized, especially since many of the tracks and stations sustain a lot of damages with each earthquake, but I love trains so it was fun to add 'train' to our increasing list of various methods of transportation we have taken on our travels!

Pucon: More than a volcano

Happy to return to Chile, we arrived in splendid Pucon on the banks of a beautiful lake.  The whole town offers amazing views of Volcan Villarica which erupted on March 3.  It now poofs throughout the day and the entire park at the base is closed off indefinitely.  The top is covered in black ash and lava which is an interesting contrast against the old snow beneath it.

So the decision (thankfully) to hike another volcano was already decided for us and instead, we opted to lounge on the black sand beach and relax the first day with some Brits from the hostel.

The second day, we went horseback riding since its different than any activity we've done prior.  Plus, we were hosted by a local Mapuche family (the indigenous population in this area) and were treated to snacks and a refreshing drink made from local grains afterwards.  It was very interesting.  

We found lovely berries atop the hill!

 

 On a particularly hot day, we kayaked out along the peninsula and napped along the rocks.  The view of the smoking volcano towering over the town was impressive.

The sunset from the dock in front of our hostel was amazing too!

I love the panorama of a cute couple on the end of the dock in the sunset... and then creepy Mark lol :)

Mark also went mountain biking while Suzy did more trip planning (my determination to see Chilean wine country cheaply is requiring a bit more planning effort than I intended so we will see how that turns out!).  He found a great white sand beach and beautiful waterfalls at the nearby park!

But since we extended our stay a day due to hot springs scheduling issues, we splurged on the hostel treehouse (because who doesn't have whimsical dreams of sleeping in a treehouse?!).  Chili Kiwi is by far the best hostel in town, located right on the lake. 

 It was actually nice that the typical bread and dulce de leche breakfast wasn't included because I could go crazy with the local fruits and cheap yogurt (yum!)

I may not be a good chef but mixing up a delicious breakfast like this is my forte!

 The day was followed by a cool evening dip at Los Pozones, the natural hot springs outside of town (volcanoes = lots of hot springs options)!  What a fabulous way to recover and wind down our time in nature!  Now on to wine country and cities!