International Film Stars!

Every day is a new adventure - we were up early for a 7:00 departure and the coffee machine at the hotel was broken! We made a quick trip to Starbucks in Providencia for much needed caffeine before a three hour drive to the Apalta region, south of Santiago. The roadside is packed with fruit and vegetable stands and the fields are filled with grape vines, corn and apple, cherry and peach trees. It's a beautiful drive.

 

There was a heavy fog, but as we approached the Colchogua valley the fog began to lift and we arrived mid morning for a hike at Montes Winery. When we started our trek at 10:30 the weather was cool and the sky hazy. It didn't take long for us to get warm climbing straight up a very steep hill. Our group was followed by Daniel, a photographer from a TV station in Santa Cruz. He interviewed Kitty and Sarah about the hike and the winery. The reports were positive as the haze burned off and we reached the top of the hill as the sun came out. Roxana, our delightful guide, played bird songs on her iPhone and pointed out plants and fungi along the way. After our three and a half hour hike, we were thirsty and hungry. They set up lunch at the Alfredo Café while we did a tasting of four Montes wines. We started our tour of the winery in the barrel room and were delighted to hear and learn that they play Gregorian chants to soothe the wine as it sits in the barrels. It's a beautiful facility in a lovely setting.

 

Our next stop was Lapostolle's premium facility where they make only one wine, Clos Apalta. The winery, built one story above ground and three below, is exquisitely designed and practical. They use gravity to move the wine down from the fermentation area to the first barrel room and then to the blending and second barrel room.  Fernando, our guide led us through the production process of their biodynamic wine making and took us to the tasting room. We sampled three of their wines, including the Clos Apalta.  We had a perfect view of the owner's 7000 bottle private cellar located below the barrel room.  We tried to get the key, but they wouldn't let us in!

Fortunately our driver, Christian, was prepared to navigate the three hour journey back to Santiago while we read, chatted, and dozed. Showers were top of everyone's list after that dusty trek at Montes, but next on the schedule was one more private wine tasting! Yes, we bought a bottle of Lapostolle's Clos Apalta and drank it before dinner while sitting in the hotel's garden. We were felling very cosmopolitan with a 10:00 dinner at Sur Patagonia just around the corner on Lastarria. The activity on the street showed no sign of slowing down as we walked back to the hotel-we still have a little way to go on this cosmopolitan business.