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It was time to put our pallets to test and get down to wine tasting business. Wondering if we would be able to start drinking this early, we were greeted by Fernando at Lapostolle for our 10:30am appointment. Impressed by the entire operation, from the organic wines, views, symbolism, cellars and informative tour, we figured this would be one of our favorites.
Fun fact: Chile has the oldest vines as they are one of only three countries that have not been affected by the disease Phylloxera. The ocean on the west, Andes on the east, Glaciers in the south and Atacama desert in the north are natural barriers to this disease and many others.
Viu Manent, a larger volume wine producer is right down the street from Lapostolle. They have a lovely restaurant called Rayuela that over looks their vineyard, horse stables and riding area. MamaLu was tempted to show them a thing or two.
After lunch, we met our quirky tour guide who started by explaining the history of the family owned winery and more importantly, "El Incidente". Before our trip to Chile, we had high hopes of taking a hot air balloon ride over the wine country. Viu Manent had this advertised but sadly, when contacted told us these were no longer running. Turns out, the owner and a few friends crashed a balloon right in the middle of the Santa Cruz town! It'll have to be on the next adventure...
The highlight of Viu Manent's tour was the horse drawn carriage ride through the vineyard. During the tasting we noted that the Carmenere and Malbec varietals are our favorites.
With no further appointments for the day, we blasted down Apalta road to attempt a tasting at Neyen Winery. Due to the low season, they are closed to walk-ins but we enjoyed the geese and alpaca sightings along the way anyhow.
There is an Argentinian restaurant that we wanted to try but they seemed to be closed again for the night so we headed back to the tried and true Etiqueta Negra.
Good, clean, cut-throat competition playing "Dick" is how we wrapped up the day.
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