Wine tasting in South America: Where to Go and What to Try

Outside of the well-known wine-producing countries of France, Italy and Spain, a quiet wine revolution is taking place in the southern cone. Down in South America, winemakers have been using European stock since the Jesuits arrived in the new world, to produce wines that are uncorked, poured, swirled, tasted, drunk, exported and lauded all over the planet.

Geography and climate dictate much of where good wine grapes will grow. Between the grape vines themselves, daily and yearly temperature fluctuations, the amount of rain and sunlight the grapes get, and even the amount of trace minerals in the soil, many factors determine the quality of the grape which vintners begin with, and the quality of the wine they can press and ferment from it. As a rule, grapes grow well at about 20-50 degrees north and south latitude. The climate that yields the best wine grapes is described as “Mediterranean,” with defined seasons.

In South America, Argentina and Chile lead the pack in production, and awards, with a few other countries, such as Uruguay, producing consistently well-reviewed wines for export, while Brazil’s sparkling wines win accolades.

Wine Tourism in South America

Wine tourism is taking hold in South America, and those from the northern hemisphere who are planning a trip should keep in mind that the seasons are reversed down in the southern cone, with the height of summer in January and February and wine harvests generally taking place in March and April.

Below you’ll find the main wine-producing, and thereby prime wine-tasting areas in South America, with a heavy focus on the big two, Argentina and Chile, a warning not to forget Uruguay, and information about wine in Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia, and even Venezuela each of which are working to carve out a space for themselves in this growing industry.

Argentina

Argentina produced 2,900,000 metric tons of wine in 2007, which places it ahead of Chile in terms of production, though Argentina’s neighbor across the Andes actually exports more wine to other countries.

Visitors to Argentina will find that most wine tasting takes place in and around the city of Mendoza, which enjoys an extremely long spring and summer, and contributes to the health of the vines and the quality of the wines produced.

Argentina’s signature wine is Malbec, a red wine originally from the Bordeaux region of France. Argentina has been growing grapes for Malbec for over 150 years, but only in the last 20 has this wine truly taken off, and Argentina now produces more than 70% of the world’s Malbec. It is a dark red, and some people describe hints of blackberries and coffee beans but unless you’re a sommelier or have trained your nose with the Nez du Vin aroma set, you’ll probably just taste it and know if you like it or not, without identifying the underlying notes.

Entrepreneurial travelers and visitors to Mendoza can rent a car and fill it up with friends and strangers to visit the wineries on their own, (with a designated driver, please!), but more commonly, visitors to the area book day trips with travel agencies to take them amid the rolling hills of the wine region.

Booked-from-your home-country wine tours in Argentina generally consist of 4-and 5-star hotels and often pick up in Buenos Aires and include top-end everything, accommodations, wines and restaurants included. These tend to last from five to eight days and include the flight to Mendoza.

Wine lovers visiting the region Argentina may also like to visit areas other than Mendoza which produce excellent wines, such as Salta, to get a full picture of what Argentina has to offer. In addition to Malbec, Argentina also produces Chardonnay, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and also varieties such as Tempranillo, Bonarda, Barbera and Torrontés. Information on Argentine wines can be found on the Wines of Argentina website.

Chile

Just over the Andes from Argentina lies Chile, a diminutive strip of land sandwiched between the ocean and the cordillera, and which is exploiting its wine-growing regions to great advantage in recent years.

Chilean wines are popular exports, and its most fabled variety is Carménère, which has made a particularly big impact after the source vines Bordeaux suffered a blight and all but disappeared in their native France. In Chile the variety continues to be strong, and great efforts are made by the Chilean government to protect Chilean agriculture, including the wine industry.

Wine in Chile is not limited to Carménère, and the nation also produces prize-winning Cabernet Sauvingon, Merlot, Syrah and other varieties. As of this year, Chilean wine represents 40% of the wine imported to the United States, due both to its reputation and price-quality ratio. Chile is mainly known for its red wines, but it also produces quality white wines including Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Riesling, and even a small quantity of Gewürtztraminer. Blends and sparkling wines are also taking hold in Chile.

Chilean wine tourism, or enoturismo has taken off in recent years, with multi-day trips offered by various outfitters, which mainly focus on the Colchagua, Maule and Maipo valleys, which are not far from Santiago, though valleys north and south of the capital city also receive visitors.

A “wine train” takes wine tourists to Santa Cruz wineries, and includes tastings on the train as well as folkloric dance and talks on Chilean history, if visitors wish. Multi-day trips can be arranged in groups or privately, on train, by vehicle, or even by bicycle through the various valleys, and several wineries are easy to get to by public transportation, including the mass market Concha y Toro, which is just a few minutes from the end of the Santiago metro line.

For a complete listing the nation’s wine-producing regions, see the Wines of Chile website.

Uruguay

Uruguay, like Chile and Argentina, has a history of wine-production tracing back to its European ancestors. The country is well situated (if a bit humid in places) to produce good wines, and its shining star is Tannat, for which this small, Atlantic nation is known.

Most wine production takes place in the Canelones region, near the capital city of Montevideo. While many amateur wine-lovers would not come to Uruguay for wine tasting on its own, it is not uncommon to take a day or two here after touring some of the more selective wineries in Chile and Argentina.

Visit Uruguay’s wine website for more information about Uruguayan wines, including where to find distributors closer to home.

Brazil

Brazil is perhaps better-known for cachaça, the grain-alcohol that forms the base of the minty-lemony caipirinha, but several states in this vast country produce wines, including Rio Grande do Sul, Paraná, Santa Catarina, Mato Grosso, Minas Gerais, Bahia, Pernambuco and São Paulo, though the Serra Gaucha, north of Porto Alegre is one of the most commonly-visited.

Recently, Brazilian vintners have brought wines to tastings in Germany and California’s Sonoma. At a recent tasting held in Brazil, whites and sparkling wines were the best received, as the reds suffered from poor climatic conditions (excessive rain) that are typical of much of Brazil.

Wine tourism is doing well in Brazil, with multi-day tours and one-vineyard trips as the budget allows.

Peru

Just to the north of Chile and Argentina, where the Andes mountains grow even more soaring as they reach up into Peru, there are also several wine-producing areas where visitors can go wine-tasting.

Wine tourism in Peru is in its infancy, but that doesn’t mean you can’t take advantage of a day tour, or organize your own to one of the wineries in the principal grape-growing regions near Lima, Ica and Arequipa.

And if it turns out you don’t love Peruvian wines, near Ica is also the famous region of Pisco, for which the main ingredient in Pisco Sour (Peru’s signature drink) is named.

Bolivia

Bolivia is not exactly world- renowned for its wine, but serious purveyors of the hard-to-find won’t want to miss wines produced in this nation, which dares to grow the fruit at 5,600 to 9,200 feet above sea level, when grapes in South America are normally grown between 2,000 and 3,000 feet.

Information on this wine high-altitude wine production is available on the vinosenlatura website, the name of which means “wines at altitude” in English. Near the municipality of Tarija, you can find wines produced by Campos de Solana, for example, whose offerings include Cabernet Sauvingon and Riesling.

As in Peru, much of the wine crop is destined to the national spirit, which in this case is Singani.

Ecuador

Ecuador actually imports quite a bit of wine from Chile, but it does produce its own as well, with grapes grown at 8,000 feet above sea level, where daytime temperatures are spring-like, and nighttime temperatures drop, which increases the grape’s sugar content, and makes for good wine.

At Estancia Chaupi, they produce Chardonnay, Palomino, Palomino Fino and Meritage wines. The vineyard is located about 6 miles south of the Equatorial line and in the foothills of the Andes in the Yaruqui valley. Ecuador also produces a sparkling wine and several fruit “wines” which are not technically wines since they are not made from grapes.

Colombia

Colombia may also surprise you with the presence of Ain Karim, a vineyard that produces wines under the brand name Marqués de Villa de Leyva, which started production in the 1980s, in the foothills near Sutamarchán. In a country which is largely tropical, and in a zone which is clearly outside of the prime grape-growing here the solution was also to grow grapes at an altitude, to fulfill the need for daily temperature fluctuation. This vineyard’s website proclaims that the vineyard was formed through a combination of inspiration and insanity. It produces Riesling, a German variety and Pinot Noir, originally from France.

Another Colombian wine agglomeration brings together 70 families from 16 communities in the Consorcio del sol de Oro, which together has more than 250,000 plantings, where European specifications are followed to produce Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvingon and Sauvingon Blanc wines, exported to Bogotá (the undisputed gastronomical capital of Colombia), as well as Europe.

Venezuela

A trip through all the wine-producers of South American would be remiss in not mentioning, Venezuela, which the uninformed might also assume is too close to the equator to be able to grow wine grapes. Again, altitude is the answer, and the favorable conditions include a grater-than-30 degree daily fluctuation in temperature and good soil drainage.

The area produces two harvests per year, in September and March. Bodegas Pomar, a subsidiary of the conglomerate Polar, which produces beer and other foodstuffs in Venezuela, has spent $20 million to help develop the Venezuelan wine industry in the last ten years, and represents a hefty chunk of the Venezuelan wine market.

Bodegas Pomar grows six varieties of red grapes and five of white grapes, with hopes to expand the market, to which tourism is essential, because though wine-drinking is increasing in Venezuela, hard alcohol is more commonly drunk.

Plan your own trip

South America has wine tasting for every budget, and in many nations. If a multi-day trip to the vineyards is not in the cards, consider a day trip. Or check out events surrounding the vendimia (wine harvest) or other wine tasting events held in cities and near vineyards.

Another option is to contact local wine and liquor stores or restaurants to see if they can host a wine tasting, and if all else fails, pack a corkscrew among your (packed) baggage, and be sure to (carefully) pack some wine for the way back home. Add some cheese, crackers, fruit or a nice meal and you can find the perfect maridaje (pairing) for your libations.

Read about author Eileen Smith and check out her other BootsnAll articles.

Photo credits:
Wine glass by Alan Heitz on Flickr, Argentina by Altos Las Hormigas, Chile by Santa Ema, Winery on horseback from San Pedro in Chile, Brazil by wines at Peterlongo, Tasting menu by bearshapedsphere on Flickr

One has to see to believe the beauty and mystery of this amazing 160 room
Victorian mansion known as “Winchester Mystery House”. For some it is a Bizarre,
strange, haunted and mysterious house whereas some believe that it is a
masterpiece, beautiful, massive and that it is impossible to find another piece
of architecture like the Winchester Mansion. It got its name from the strange
and unexplained oddities that are throughout the Winchester mansion. Unlike most
homes of the 1880’s, the Winchester Mystery House had been built according to
the modern era, it had modern heating, push button gas lights, 3 hydraulic
elevators and 47 fireplaces. Everything right from the red roofs to
Tiffany art glass windows and chandeliers made of gold and silver
will leave you wondering about the creativity and expense with which each and
every part has been made up of. 

The
Winchester Mystery House was built by widow named Sarah Winchester, the
only heiress to the Winchester Rifle Fortune. Sarah Winchester had a lot of
wealth but was a very lonely lady after the death of her infant daughter and
then her husband. It is a popular belief that grieved by the death of her
beloved, she went to a psychic who told her that her family had been cursed
because the Winchester Rifles had taken too many lives. She was also told by the
psychic that the only way to get rid of the curse was to leave her home in
Connecticut and to move westward towards the setting sun. The Psychic also told
her to build a massive mansion to appease the spirits of the dead, the
construction of witch must go on as long as she lived, else she would die.
As a result Sarah Winchester moved to California and bought a farm house and
started a construction in 1884 that went on round the clock, 24 hours a
day and 7 days a week for 38 years till she died on September 5, 1922. She
built, rebuilt, altered, changed, constructed and demolished one section after
another. It is believed that Mrs. Winchester got instructions from the spirits
about the design and layout of the building which she followed.

Winchester Mystery House is truly mysterious with doors opening into walls,
staircases that reach the ceiling with no outlet, cupboards that are only
half an inch deep, floor with a window in it, a chimney that rises four floors,
upside down posts and many more weird layouts. In the courtyard there is a hedge
shaped like a crescent moon, mysteriously, the hedge points to the bedroom where
Mrs. Winchester died. Mrs. Winchester also seems to have been obsessed with
number 13 and her obsession is visible throughout the mansion. There are windows
with 13 panes, walls with 13 panels and even drains with 13 holes in them. In
the 13th bathroom there are thirteen windows and the grand staircase has 13
steps. She also seemed to have a obsession towards numbers 7 and 11. There is a
staircase that has 7 steps downwards and 11 steps upwards. There’s another
staircase that turns 7 times and has 44 steps but moves up only by 9 feet.
Winchester Mystery House will leave you wondering was Mrs. Winchester weird?
compulsive? possessed? or simply crazy? Whatever she was but she left behind a
masterpiece that is today a very popular tourist attraction in San Jose.

Winchester Mystery House Tours:
Guided tours of Winchester Mystery House are available that will take you
through more than 100 rooms with Bizarre and unusual architecture. You can also
go for “Behind The Scenes Tour” that explains the Victorian architectural
principles that guided construction and describes how the Winchester Mystery
House once functioned. It also takes you to the areas which remained unexplored
for several years. Children under 9 are not allowed to this tour for safety
purposes. Also “The Garden Tour” will take u around the beautiful Victorian
Gardens that surround the Winchester Mystery House. You can book your tickets
online or get them at the spot.

Winchester Museums:
You must visit the Winchester Firearms Museum and the Winchester Products
Antique Museum on the grounds. Winchester Firearms Museum consists of a large
collection of the Winchester Rifles with “Gun that Won the West” being the main
attraction of this museum. Winchester Products Antique Museum consists of a rare
collection of antique products that were manufactured by the Winchester Products
company. It displays a collection of Winchester flashlights, cutlery, lawn
mowers, roller skates, choppers, electric irons and much more.

Winchester Cafe:
The Winchester Cafe is open daily and has a nice relaxed atmosphere to enjoy
quick snacks, deserts and beverages.

Winchester Gift Shop:
The Gift Shop has many unusual objects for purchase and great souvenirs to
take back home for family and friends.

Address:
525 South Winchester Boulevard
San Jose, CA 95128

Hours:
9am-5pm Sun-Thu; 9am-7pm Fri-Sat
 

Hitchhiking in Japan: It’s Almost Too Easy

I’ve never seen anyone hitchhiking in Japan. Maybe it’s because most people own a car or motorbike, and those that don’t rely instead on the fantastically efficient train and bus services.

I was curious though. Curious to see if it would work. And I soon discovered that the country is something of a hitchhiker’s paradise – especially if you hail from outside of Japan.

On the road.

Despite the Japanese not having a tradition of hitchhiking, most people know basically what it entails and, judging by a recent trip I made around the south-western island of Kyushu, they’re more than happy to stop for you. Of the nine lifts my friend Paddy and I took on our week-long trip, the longest our thumbs were exposed to the elements for was a mere ten minutes.

Somehow it seemed too easy here, like fishing at a trout farm. Weren’t we meant to be standing by the roadside for at least an hour? Weren’t we supposed to give up and take a bus?

We began our journey in Oita, a city on the eastern side of Kyushu. We walked out toward the edge of the city, put our bags down and our thumbs up. Within just a few minutes we were picking up our bags again after a young guy pulled over in a little Nissan Micra. Hardly believing our luck, we jumped in.

It quickly became apparent that our Japanese language ability was as ropey as Hiroshi’s English, but with our maps, smiles, and enthusiastic gesticulations, we seemed to reach a certain level of understanding. Or so we thought.

You see, we soon realized that he hadn’t quite got the hang of this hitchhiking malarkey, as it  was clear he was deviating from his original route. We tried to explain that the idea of hitchhiking was for the driver to take the hitchers as close to their destination as possible without the driver going out of his way. He was, however, determined to head away from wherever he was going in order to get us to wherever we were going. Such generous gestures were to be repeated throughout the week.

After exchanging small talk along the way and singing some Beatles songs together, we arrived safely at our destination and bade Hiroshi farewell. Off he drove into the sunset – back the way he came.

Each lift we got during that week was like a little adventure in itself. The Japanese are a discreet people – they notice Westerners but rarely stare, even in the deepest countryside where we’re about as common as California roll. But judging by the speed at which they stop and offer lifts, they’re certainly curious.

Some beautiful Kyushu countryside.

We saw one man in a clapped-out van give us a long look as he drove by. A minute later my attention was drawn by the sound of a vehicle careering along at high speed in reverse gear. I turned around to see the same guy pulling up beside us, winding the window down.

A few miles down the road, Yuji got on the phone to his wife. His driving was scary enough with both hands on the wheel, but now that he only had one, I was beginning to sweat a little. Then, with no eyes on the road, he turned to speak to us. “You stay. Hello family. My house.” We hadn’t booked any place to stay that night so Paddy and I agreed to take up the friendly offer, allowing Yuji to get back to the important job of looking where he was going.

“My house. Falling down,” Yuji said several times as we drove deeper and deeper into the Kyushu countryside. I put his words down to typical Japanese modesty but when we pulled up outside, I could see that it’d been nothing of the sort. It really was falling down. There was more than one hole in the roof together with some sizable cracks in the outside walls.

Yuji’s wife and their three young children dashed out to greet us before hustling us into their
falling-down house. While the mother busied herself in the kitchen, Yuji produced a bottle of sake and poured us both a large cup. The sake was as tasty as the food the mother brought us, and before long our bellies were bursting and we more than a little sozzled.

It was at this point that I was distracted by something unpleasant. There was a rather challenging odour wafting through the house, the source of which I managed to ascertain on my visit to the toilet. Japan is famous for toilets decked out with space-age control panels offering a variety of fancy functions – seat warmers; jet sprays; bottom cleaners; bottom dryers. This toilet was about as far from technology as you could get. There wasn’t any. It was a squat toilet with a hole in the usual place, but everything emptied into a giant tank. To flush everything away, you had to use the bucket of water resting in the corner. It was hard to believe I was in a country known the world over for its hi-tech gadgetry.

Two bottles of sake later, Yuji picked up the phone and said, “You phone home.” Despite my protestations, on the basis of the cost and the fact that my mother might start worrying if I was to tell her that I was staying the night in the house of a stranger that’d picked me up just two hours before, Yuji insisted. Thinking I might cause offense if I continued to refuse, I took the phone and made the call.

After speaking to my mother and telling her how I’d ended up where I was, she became, as I’d expected, worried. Her anxiety levels were ratcheted up by Yuji who, excited by the chance to speak to another Westerner, wrestled the phone from me and began bellowing down the line, “Trevy. Mummy. Happy.” It seemed that in a flash his English vocabulary of 25 words had plummeted spectacularly to just three.

Sleeping at Yuji’s house wasn’t as straightforward as I’d hoped. As the moonlight shone in through one of the holes in the roof, I could hear the unmistakable sound of mosquitoes buzzing about my ears. This wasn’t altogether a surprise as just before I’d turned the light out, I’d noticed that the mosquito screens on the windows had, just like the roof, a number of holes in them. Needless to say, I didn’t sleep well. It’s not easy when insects are eating your face.

The next day, after a bleary-eyed breakfast, Paddy and I packed our things and got ready to leave. Yuji wanted to drive us to the next town 50 miles away, but we felt it’d be taking advantage and so politely declined his offer. Instead he drove us to a nearby main road and within five minutes we were in another car.

This time a middle-aged woman picked us up. I pondered for a moment and marveled at her trusting attitude, as well as the relative safety of Japanese society. Back home, I couldn’t imagine a woman driving by herself stopping for two male travelers.

As with previous drivers, Kumiko deviated from her intended path in order to get us closer to our destination, but after a little while, she became lost. We stopped at one of the ubiquitous convenience stores where she asked a passer-by for directions. The passer-by wasn’t sure and called over another person. Within a few minutes there were six people gathered around the car discussing the best way to get to where we wanted to go. In true Japanese style, a consensus was reached, Kumiko bowed in gratitude at her advisers and we were soon on our way again.

Two days and several lifts later, on a ferry from Kumamoto to Nagasaki, Paddy and I walked about the passengers’ lounge with a notice written in Japanese (by an earlier driver) requesting a lift to the center of Nagasaki. Again, in only a few minutes, one of the passengers raised a hand, gave us a warm smile and offered us a lift.

On second thoughts, maybe the reason I’ve never seen anyone hitchhiking in Japan is because people get picked up so quickly.

If you’re ever in the country and feel like an adventure, consider giving it a go. You never know, you might even get invited to stay in a falling-down house.

Tony Wheeler in Afghanistan, at Christ-e-Sharif

Tony in Iraq

Walking to the Soyuz bus, just before launch

Cycling past Jupiter in Melbourne