I just spent a week checking out the Wines of Chile in areas that are not far from Santiago. Part of the experience—which you can book yourself with a group or on the right wine tour—was a wine blending session at the Undurraga vineyard in Talagante, in the Maipo Valley.

After touring the facilities and learning a bit about Undurraga’s wines, its history, and social projects, we got down to business. First one of the winemakers presented one of their finished blends for us to taste. Then we set about tasting four varietals to figure out what we wanted in our own personal blend: Merlot, Cabernet Savignon, Syrah, and Chile’s own Carmenère. Sniffing, swirling, and taking notes, we each settled on a different combination.

We could test different combinations by using a sort of large plastic test tube that the winemakers use in their lab. If one is a little off, you can adjust the mix and try again.

Once you’re happy with the results, you then mix them for real in the proper proportions in a larger vessel and transfer the blend through a funnel into the bottle. For this exercise they had an old fashioned cork plugger on hand (after the more modern practice of putting in some elemental powder that would eliminate the oxygen in the top of the bottle).

I labeled mine “Sarah and Carmen Catch a Cab.” It’s 25% Syrah, 25% Carmenère, and 50% Cabernet. It’s a structured wine that should hold up to hearty food, but the blending grapes smooth out the tannins of the Cabernet.

I brought the bottle home and it’ll soon make it into some glasses. Will it impress my dinner guests? Time will tell.

See more here on visiting Viña Undurraga.

Shrimp gnocchi

This past week I’ve been touring some of Chile’s wine regions and had the pleasure of spending my first night at the lovely Hotel Aubrey in Santiago. This is a 20-room boutique hotel in a walkable nightlife district near the mountains and the gondola ride that will take you up for a good city view.

The restaurant at the Aubrey—Pasta E Vino—is a huge draw, to the point where you should make dinner reservations there when you make your hotel reservations. It’s that popular, especially on weekends. It’s a sister restaurant of one in Valparaíso, with the husband-chef managing one and the wife-chef managing the other.

The menu is modern Italian, with a dash of Chile and plenty of local seafood integrated into the gnocchi and ravioli selections. Naturally there is a terrific wine list with the cream of the crop from all over the country. Here are a few photos to give you a visual taste. For more see the restaurant page at the Aubrey’s website.

Scallop ravioli at Pasta E Vino

Wendy Perrin of Condé Nast Traveler has a good rundown on how the massive earthquake in Chile has affected various areas of the country. Figuring out the geography of a foreign land is always difficult, but with Chile being as long and skinny as it is, most of us have no clue which parts are a no-go zone and which aren’t. Here’s where it’s safe and not safe to travel there.

In a nutshell, these spots are off limits and will be in recovery mode for quite a while:

- Juan Fernández Islands
- Wine Region (Santa Cruz and surroundings)
- Concepción – the worst-hit area

The problem with many other areas not affected much at all, like the Patagonia Lake District to the south and the Atacama Desert up north, is that the Santiago airport is currently closed. So unless you’re coming and going overland from another country, you’ll have a tough time getting there or away. If you had a trip planned to Chile in the next couple weeks, do what you can to reschedule or adjust the itinerary and time frame to allow for diversions.

As reported by Mercopress, Chile’s Concha y Toro exported 26.6 million cases of wine in 2009, making the winemaker the eighth largest producer in the world.

The company exports to over 130 countries worldwide and hold 7,000 hectares of vines across Chile and Argentina.

The United Kingdom is the brand’s biggest market, consuming nearly 30% of global exports. The brand is also the most popular Chilean brand in Britain, with its products representing 31% of all the Chilean wine sold in that country. The United States is the second largest consumer of the company’s products, holding 18% of the market.

For me, this brand is a consistent everyday bargain, especially when it comes to Cabernet. Their lowest-priced offerings are often the best around in the sub-$10 range, with the only real quality competition in reds coming from neighboring Argentina. I’ve had the pleasure of trying some of their top-end wines too though–and most of those are a bargain too for what you get, especially if you buy them within Chile. The usual reaction is, “Wow, this wine tastes a lot more expensive than it really is.”

Salut!