Pissed (?)
Irrigation
Central Valley
Next on our Chilean itinerary was Central Valley (Maule) and its extensive vineyards. At 11am we headed to Vina Balduzzi, a small winery. We were given a quick tour of the storage facilities and then brought back to the tasting room. Six wine bottles were produced and we tasted each, making a note of favourites for purchasing later on. After the tasting we were all a little bit merry and with the heat outside we on our way to being pissed. Luckily we had the truck in the car park and once we left the building a quick cooked batch of hotdogs was produced which provided some much needed soakage.
Vina San Pedro was the next winery on our to-do list. This was a much more organised tour. We were taken around their vineyards in a minibus and got a detailed description of the different types of irrigation used for each wine. Our guide spent much time explaining the production process. Next up was a tour of their bottling plant, followed by a sneak peek at their cellar, and private collection of wines not for sale but for VIPs. Sadly Duncan failed in his attempt to suggest to our guide that perhaps we were such VIPs. Finally we got to the best bit - tasting the wines. However we still had a bit to go before the liquid could pass our lips. We had to properly test and compare the wines, checking colour, clarity, aroma, watching water droplets after swirling, checking more intense aroma after swirling, and only after all these checks were complete were we finally allowed to taste the wines. I shall be quite the wine connoisseur by the end of this trip!
This looks like a fine experience! Just look at all those wine barrels and bottles! I can’t imagine having so much wine. I would love to take a tour in its bottling factory to see how they do that too.
ReplyDeleteRob Feckler