Very excited to be back in Chile – 17 years after my first visit in 1998. Back then, wine tourism was virtually non existent and Chile was just emerging onto the world wine scene. The cuisine, I recall, seemed to consist of meat and potatoes and the road infrastructure left you feeling happy if you hadn’t destroyed a tyre or feeling that your suspension need a check up. Fast forward to 2015 and an awful lot has changed.
The Chilean wine industry has fulfilled a lot of its promise. It is currently regarded as one of the most innovative and exciting wine producing regions in the world with much research into terroir and understanding the subtle differences from one valley to the next and not a month seems to go by without a new announcement or development.
There is a vibrant gastronomic scene in Santiago and the Pisco Sour deserves more attention – particularly if you thought there was only one type – more on this in later blogs.
The roads have improved out of all recognition! Investment is still required in signposts but overall, driving was a significantly safer experience.
On our tours we will be visiting a broad range of producers and really getting to grips with all these exciting changes so check in regularly to keep up with what we’ve tasted and who we’ve met.