Day 4: Monday, Vina del Mar

A look outside told me very little had improved with the weather. However, it makes you feel much better about sleeping until 1pm. We thought this would be the perfect day for venturing to Valpariso, the city just a couple miles south of Vina Del Mar. We asked our concierge to make a reservation for lunch at Brighton, a cute bed & breakfast over looking the sea, and asked how to get there and see the Cerro Conception: a place everyone talks about. Apparently it was right down the road. Equipped with a map and guide from Fodor’s and our hotel bellman’s assurance of ‘right down the road’ we ventured off. He was right, it was simple to find Valpariso. Unfortunately it was not so simple to find the point conception. Somehow the map had it in one place but when we got there, it seemed to be gone. We drove and drove, looking for the big bright yellow Victorian house where we were supposed to have lunch, or the large hill that was supposed to stand out, but only found the downtown district of Valpariso, teeming with people and small stores and grafitti. It was not the prettiest of towns, nor the cleanest or safest. We’d have been happy to ask for directions if we thought it would do anything, but alas, we know no Spanish and doubt we’d understand the answer. Nor did any of the bustling people look like they had any intention of stopping for anything. Kind of like New York. We drove up a few hills, as we know that the point conception was to be at the top of a hill, but only found small streets and alleys, many stray dogs and cats, and lots of poor homes. So, with our stomach’s growling, no idea where to eat and me about to throw Mr. Fodor out the window (they will be receiving a strongly worded letter from me), we ditched the idea and drove back. It was almost 4pm at this time, when most places close. So we headed to Enjoy del Mar to have a late lunch/appetizer. Despite our past experience there, we did hope to have a better meal. And indeed we did. But we also had our first corked bottle. We ordered a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc to start. Since the wines here are not overpriced or marked up (except in our hotel) very much, you can order a few. It’s like buying them retail, with many at $10 - $15. The Sauvignon Blanc came to our table, ice cold. Our waiter, who spoke no English (not a problem) sat the bottle down and disappeared. So we stared at this cold bottle of wine just sitting there. Our stomachs were growling, we were ready for food and/or wine. At length, he returned. With an ice bucket. He’d taken 10 minutes, with the already ice cold bottle sitting on our table unopened, to find an ice bucket. Kind of funny, I don’t know if it’s because of American’s liking things so cold or if it’s a Chilean thing, but everyone needs an ice bucket for wine. Our waiter had put our Pinot Noir in an ice bucket almost the whole time at dinner on Saturday, until we asked him to please take it out. While the Sauvignon Blanc was fine, Mike still decided to order a red: Carmenere from Errazuriz. It’s brought to our table, and alas, it’s corked. Since we’ve had trouble explaining this in English to waiters in San Francisco, I was dreading the explanation to a Spanish speaking server. We tried, and he brought over his slightly English speaking colleague. We tried to explain that the bottle was corked and also what a corked bottle was exactly, but she then explained how Carmenere was different and had a specific flavor. No, we said, we drink it in the US, we like it. This one is corked. So she just said it’s not a problem. She took the bottle away and left a little in the glass and then he brought a fresh bottle out. We tried to get him to smell both to see the difference, but I have no idea if it worked. I think he just thought we were crazy Americans. As did the other gal, although we did not finish the Carmenere and gave it to her - told her to taste it next to the other bottle for a difference. Towards the end of lunch it got nicer out and we ran to sit outside of our hotel. We relegated ourselves to the top level of the balcony as the bottom level, with the pool, was still half submerged under water.

We made dinner reservations for 10pm as we’d had such a late lunch and sat outside until 10. No pre-dinner cocktails this time, thankfully. We re-visited Savinya in the Hotel Del Mar. This time we ordered a Montes Alpha Syrah. The wine was much in the style of Australian Shiraz to Mike although I thought it had more of a central coast California feel. Either way, we did not liken it to a well-structured Syrah. It had fun notes of blueberry and jam, but lacked in the structured peppery notes and tannins that we enjoy. As Mike summed up, it was one-dimentional. Enjoyable, definitely, but just not showing the typicity that we so enjoy in Syrah.

Dinner was again delicious, I had some duck while Mike had wild boar papparedelle. Good service again and as we headed out, Mike decided he wanted to play craps. I was still nervous about playing in a casino with a different language, but in reality, I’m just nervous about gambling in general. I’ve never been to Vegas, but Mike says the rules here are much more relaxed. It was low betting, luckily, so I felt better about that. Language was not an issue, although we lost about $40.

Day 3: Sunday, Vina del Mar

By Gwendolyn

Another late morning - we slept till almost 1pm. We watched a bit of news and congratulated ourselves for not being stuck in New York City due to the crazy snow storms. About 2pm we got out of our room, and headed down to the hotel cafe where we enjoyed a large lunch and an overpriced bottle of wine: the Trio from Concha y Toro, which was a blend of Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio and Pinot Blanc. It was really quite lovely, but, as we were in a hotel, it was overpriced. On the good side, an overpriced menu at the hotel is equal to eating anywhere in San Francisco or New York. So it seemed normal there and when we’re outside of the hotel, everywhere else seems to be a deal. That afternoon we arrived back in our room where we looked out the window at the still gray and overcast skies. The pool was unusable. We watched the waves break over the side of the pool and drench the pavement as we ate lunch. Boredom can overtake you if you are at a beach for vacation and yet there is no beach. Or pool. Or sun. Most of our day was spent watching the waves as they hit the rocks and sides of the hotel. Apparently this is an unusual thing for the weather: chalk it up to bad timing on our part.

Later in the evening the weather did not improve. The overcast sky remained and our hotel did not even put out chairs for aperitifs outside. We had a glass of wine inside the bar and then we decided to try a restaurant we’d seen next to Felini’s called Pasta del Mar. We first stopped by the casino for a drink at the bar. There we found a waiter who spoke perfect English and two that spoke none. I had a very bad Sauvignon Blanc, but I was in a casino bar. At the restaurant, Pasta del Mar, Mike and I both had fish (sometimes it’s hard not to have seafood here). The waiter spoke English fairly well - enough to get by. Of course, most Spanish Mike and I have needed deals with food & wine. We paired our fish with a Casa Lapostalle Cuvee Alexandre Chardonnay, a common bottle even in the US. After dinner we headed to the casino, then to bed we went.

Day 2 Saturday, Vina del Mar

By Gwendolyn

Awaking at noon makes you feel pretty lazy, but it is after all vacation and it’s not like the weather was beckoning us in any way. As we fell asleep before a real dinner the previous night, once awake, we were both eager to eat, although much to Mike’s dismay, I insisted on a trip to the state-of-the-art gym first.

The day was not promising in the way of sun, so we ventured out for a walk similar to the one we’d taken the night before. We found a place for lunch, Fellini’s, which was empty at the time (2pm). At Fellini’s, we enjoyed a big salad as well as a main entrée, swordfish for me, lasagna for him. We also had a bottle of white wine and a half bottle of red (we did not drink it all!). The red was the Errazuriz Merlot, a very popular label in the area. The total at the end? Including tip - $60.00. Quite the deal we thought! By 4pm, as we were leaving, it was packed. We’ve realized that perhaps everyone sleeps in until noon in the city and eats at odd hours. Which seemed to fit our schedule perfectly. Full, we headed back to the hotel. It was finally sunny out and so we put on our bathing suits and headed down to the pool. From 5:30pm through 7pm the sun was the strongest it had been all day. And the pool was packed. During our sunning, we watched a most amazing air show- about 5 planes were flying in artistic circles and crossing over us oh-so-close. Watching that over the water and the rocks and the blue skies was such a treat.

Dinner was at Hotel Vina del Mar. This is a Saturday night, but at 9pm, the place was empty. Again, by the time we left at 11pm, it was packed. Like the Spanish, late eating and long siestas are commonplace. Getting a reservation at 8pm gives you the ‘early bird’ special. At Savinya, we had a wonderful meal and a good bottle of wine: De Martino Pinot Noir from the Leyda valley. Leyda is a bit south of Casablanca and has a winery of the same name with a Pinot Noir we’ve tasted before. Most of the Pinot Noirs we have tasted, from Veremonte to this, have shown great promise. The weather of the Casablanca valley seems adept at producing well-made Pinot Noir. So we’ll see what happens. The service at dinner (as it was at lunch) was excellent. All service here in Chile has so far been wonderful. The servers are attentive and kind and put up with our very limited grasp of the Spanish language and our constant blank stares and inquiries of “habla inglese?”

Day 1 - Friday, Arrive in Santiago, travel to Vina del Mar

By Gwendolyn

We learned some time before our trip that there is a reciprocity fee in Chile and Argentina of $100 dollars for Americans, which you pay when you arrive at the airport. Luckily, arriving on business class assures that you are off the plane early and in the front of the line for customs, hurrah! We watched the line grown longer behind us and gave a ‘whew, we’re glad that’s not us’smile as we approached the next customs agent. He inspected the passports and tells us in broken English that we must go back to the counter behind the line. Confused, we return to the indicated counter,  and line , to discover that you must pay the reciprocity payment BEFORE customs! Note to self: Read all signs when in foreign airport. Waiting there for some time, we finally pay, get our passport stamped in approval and move ourselves back to the customs line, now filled with passengers from the plane that arrived after us. One hour later and we are thankfully stamped through, although our momentum was somewhat dulled. At least the delay meant that our bags were ready and waiting for us at the baggage claim.

The rental car process moved quickly. We were given an old Nissan Sentra that was pretty beat up, but we were driving through the vineyards of Chile, beat up car is good! After exiting the airport, we accelerated the car up to 90km/hr. It was this point when the steering wheel began to shake violently and the vehicle became impossible to use. Alas, another setback in our momentum as we returned to the airport. But we received a second car speedily and were on our way to the beach, Vina del Mar.

Veramonte
On the way to the beach we made a stop at the Veramonte winery, right off Rt. 68 between the city of Santiago and Vina del Mar. Veramonte is a well-respected winery known in particular for its Sauvignon Blanc,  bottled in screw cap for the past two vintages and the first wine in Chile to do so. Running at about $9 or $10, this wine is a fantastic value. It’s crisp and grassy, easy-drinking and perfect for any hot day.

At the winery, we were given a small room to freshen up and rest - we’d gotten plenty of sleep on the plane, but our bodies were still somewhat out of sync,  14 hour flights can do that to you. An hour nap and a shower, we were ready for tasting and tours. The friendly and educational staff first took us on a tour of the vineyards. We rode along the bumpy vineyard roads and we were surprised by the similarity of Chilean vineyards to California vineyards. The hills, like many in California, were brown with patches of green and a valley floor covered in vines. Post vineyard tour, the winemaker took us through the cellars and sat with us for a tasting.

On Veramonte Wines: The winery will put their ‘05 vintage of Chardonnay in screw cap and are hoping to put the reds under the same closure, eventually. Most Veramonte vineyards lie in the cool Casablanca Valley, with lots of sunlight, but tempered by the pacific winds. Strong diurnal temperature shifts help the grapes to cool at night but gain ripeness through the day, allowing for a longer growing season. It has proved to be a great area for producing Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay. It is also demonstrating excellent potential for Pinot Noir. Veramonte’s plantings for this varietal are continually increasing. Tasting the Pinot Noir gave us hope that this grape would find a niche here in the Casablanca Valley,  the Veramonte version showed great promise. Right now, the production is too small to take it internationally. 90% of Veramonte’s production is exported, most of that to the US and much of that is the Sauvignon Blanc.

The tasting was followed by lunch, a delicious meal,  an appetizer of thin bread wafers with a goat cheese. The goat cheese here is different from the French and American versions. It was a crumbly texture that reminded me more of a sheep’s milk cheese than the soft, pungent type found here. Next course - salmon was served with three purees,  one of beet, one of carrot and one of green beans. The taste of each went so well with the salmon and so well with each other, it was delightful. We tasted through the wineries’ reserve wines during lunch and their Merlot, showing beautifully, turned out to be our favorite.

After lunch we continued our short drive to Vina del Mar. As expected, being in the Casablanca Valley meant that there were many mountain ranges around us. Directions in the country were better than we expected, and getting there caused no arguments or disagreements and we never got lost! In Vina del Mar, the signs stopped and I reached for the Fodor’s Chile book to continue our journey. The lack of street names and roads that did not exist cause a bit of frustration, but we just followed the water and found our grand hotel in good time.

Our hotel was the Sheraton Vina del Mar,  a recently renovated property sitting on a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The pool is the draw here although we were not prepared for the difficult weather that affected any potential pool time.

It was sunny upon arrival, but we took a quick nap to recharge. Little did we know that was the only sun to be seen for some time. At 5pm we decided to take a walk. We walked long the Avenue Marina and then the Avenue Saint Marten. Along this route are a few restaurants and the famous Hotel Vina del Mar ,  the casino being the draw here. Lots of grafiti adorned the columned walls by the ocean and cleanliness was not the strong point of the streets. We returned to the hotel as the temperature dropped and had a drink and some seafood rolls at a bar overlooking the water called ‘Enjoy del Mar’,  we should have known that it was a bit too touristy. They brought us paper placemats that had Spanish lessons written on them. Was it that obvious? Back at our room, Mike fell asleep and needed the rest due to his cold. I watched Law & Order with Spanish subtitles and fell asleep myself. And so while not an eventful first day, we enjoyed a great time at the winery and our bodies recovered well.

Gwendolyn's Trip to Chile

This is a story of my trip through Chile. My boyfriend, Mike, and I decided last Christmas to visit the beach and do a bit of wine touring in the country, we soon discovered that our miles could not take us to Australia or New Zealand. But our second choice turned out to be for the best. We decided to make our trip to just one specific area of Chile—a very long country. First, we’d spend 5 days in Vina del Mar, a beachside town near Santiago. Then, 2 city days in Santiago, with some day trips to wine country. And finally, a few nights near Santa Cruz, a small town in the Maipo/Colchagua Valley area surrounded by beautiful vineyards and many wineries. Mike, who works for wine.com, was able to help set up a few appointments for us enabling us to visit and view some of the top wineries. The vineyards and people were lovely. And while weather did not always agree, the trip overall was a success.