Wine. Grapes. Vineyard Tours. Casablanca Valley. Chile.

Interested in purchasing a vineyard in Chile? Please visit Chile Investments and we will be happy to assist.

At the beginning of February, Michael, a fellow Englishman, from Wine Tours Valparaiso called and asked if he knew anyone who spoke English and who wanted to spend a few days taking tour groups out to the vineyards in the Casablanca Valley, between Valpo and Santiago. I'd met Michael when my Dad came out to visit and had taken a very well received tour with him. I've been at a bit of a loose end since January with work being slow (it's picking up again, thankfully) and waiting on a couple of things so I said I'd help out. I'm glad I did as I had a really fun time. What I was waiting on was to get my website for my consultancy for foreign investors in real estate in Chile (vineyards, fruit farms, residential and commercial property).

I took one group of 10 out to Veramonte and Viña Mar. Both vineyards gave interesting tours and tastings, the latter probably more so than the former. But Veramonte was extremely accomodating when I arrived 45 minutes early after a minor mix up so hats off to them.

I then took two private tours out in my car. First off was a couple that I took to William Cole and then to Emiliana. I really liked both vineyards, especially Emiliana. This is an organic vineyard owned by the Concha y Toro empire. I'm really impressed that they've allowed this organic offshoot to flourish. They now have over 600 hectares in various parts of the country given over to purely organic farming. The tour explains how the land is farmed, organic techniques and finishes, obviously, with the tasting. From the Casablanca Valley, we went on a quick trip to La Moneda and then up Cerro San Cristobal in Santiago and then to the airport. A pretty great way to spend a last day in Chile.

Next, I took a couple of Emiliana and then to Indomita. I was slightly unimpressed by Indomita. They've got a stunning location but the tour was not that great and a friend has had several bad experiences with them. I think they're trying to up their game but out of the vineyards I've visited in Casablanca and down in Colchagua on a personal trip, Indomita offers the worst tour.

*EDIT: I've been back to Indomita a few times now and they've really improved the tour. It's now well worth the trip, although I still really hate the building and the security check point as you drive in is not a great first impression.

I'm generally pretty down on the way tourism is managed here in Chile. It's usually pretty awful. However, the vineyards have really got their acts together and I've been very impressed with them both in Casablanca and down in Colchagua. They're some of the best run operations I've come across in Chile.

Then, a couple of weeks ago, a friend was visiting with her daughter so I offered to give them a lift to Santiago and a quick vineyard tour. So we went back to Emiliana. Kellye was kind enough to buy me a bottle of Emiliana's signature wine, Ge, a wine that is way beyond my maximum wine budget. I drank it with friends overlooking the sea and eating chocolate truffles. It was a thoroughly enjoyable drop.

Wine. Vineyards. Tours. Chile. Casablanca. Wine tours Chile. Valparaiso. Wine tours Casablanca Valley Chile. All nice words.

If you're interested in investing in a vineyard in Chile in Casablanca or Colchagua Valley, then please visit Chile Investments.

Alpacas and hungry geese at Emiliana Organico



Tastings at William Cole


Grapes.




The over-budget, very tasty wine...


...enjoyed particularly by a snooty looking Kitty.


...and friends.


Some photos from Michael's last giant 45 person tour group.

Music

One of the good things about going back to England is that it gives me the chance to thieve all the music my brother spends good money purchasing. Chile is a musical backwater so I tend to lose track of what's going on in the world.

To this end, I am now listening to:

Fleet Foxes-Fleet Foxes

MGMT-Oracular Spectacular (the singles are way better than the rest of the tracks)

Stereolab-Chemical Chords (I actually thought Stereolab had disbanded after the untimely death of Mary Hanson a few years ago)

TV On The Radio-Dear Science

Hot Chip-Made in the Dark

Herman Dune-his last 3 albums.

I've also recently got around to purchasing:

Vivian Girls-Vivian Girls

Bon Iver-For Emma, Forever Ago

El Guincho-Alegranza

All of the above is pretty good to be honest. I'm particularly enjoy Vivian Girls and TV On The Radio.

Now go check them out.

England: Characters

Sometimes, after being away from England for a long time, I start to wonder if I'll still like my friends and vice-versa when we see each other again. I usually get to see everyone at least once a year but this time it's been over 19 months for most of them...and up to 5 years (!) for some others. I'm happy to report that we still all get on...I've had such a good time catching up with everyone... These people are the reason that, no matter how long I live abroad, England will always be home.

Some of the stars of the ever-exciting 'The Matt Show':

The brother, the mother, the sister in law


The Me, the brother, the mother.

Nick (you don't want to know what he's trying not to look at on his computer...)


Nick, Ollie, Prune


Bertie, Prune


Andrea


Former porteño, Jay


Helen

Anne

Andrea and Jen (happy)


Andrea and Jen (bored of my incessant photo taking)

The father, the father's wife



Georgie


Percy, Leo


Otis

England: Crap Weather

So I've been back almost 2 weeks now. It's been really good, with one glaring exception...the weather. For the second year in a row, England has failed to have a summer. In 13 days, I've had one day of sunshine (made up of one half day, one quarter day and two eighths of a day). At all other times it has been raining or threatening to rain.

I'm currently back up in London at my brother's house and there's a hail, thunder and lightening storm that has left the garden underwater and the cat terrified.

Last week I went to Bathampton, just outside Bath, for lunch and on the way back there was what resembled a tropical downpour, forcing cars to drive along at about 15 miles an hour.

In short, it's completely pissed it down. Chilean winter is looking quite appealing right about now.

Sherborne (where I'm lucky enough to call home in England) just before the rain...


The stunningly beautiful Chesil Beach obscured by cloud and impending rainfall...


3pm driving home from Bathampton...

London...hail...

If I Speak Nothing, I'll Sound More Cleverer

There was an article in The Grauniad a few weeks ago that talked about a study into regional accents and dialects in England. I didn't come off very well.

I grew up in the Midlands. Born in Sutton Coldfield and raised 'til I was 14 in Lichfield. Both horrible holes but at least Lichfield has a beautiful cathedral to improve the place. Anyway, I used to have a really strong Birmingham accent. When I was packed off to boarding school at the age of 8 (I loved it, best time of my life), I was fairly mercilessly teased because of it, not in a particularly bullying way, but because everyone else had a generic Posh Public School Accent (Public School in England means private school, by the way).

After 5 years, the Brummie in me had pretty much disappeared and I now have that generic Posh Public School Accent (PPSA). The Brummie comes back when I go back up there and particularly when I go to watch The Greatest Football Team On Earth, West Brom (boing boing). It's difficult to be taken seriously shouting abuse at the referee and the other team when doing so in a PPSA :)

The problem with the Brummie accent and its many variations is that people who have one sound, well, thick. Stupid. Dense. Personally, I think Scally Scousers from Liverpool sound much more stupid, if you can understand what the hell they're talking about in the first place whilst they steal your wallet, hubcaps and anything else not nailed down, but perhaps I'm a bit biased. After all, the study came to the following conclusion:

"The study into dialect and perceived intelligence found that people who said nothing at all were regarded as more intelligent than those with a Brummie accent."

Oh dear.

More Cute Kitty-Kats

You may have realised by now that I quite like cats. I've had cats all my life. I've got two here in Valparaiso that I brought over with me from Buenos Aires. My sister-in-law is even more of a cat-freak than me though and after about 10 years of not being able to have a cat she finally got one at the weekend.

Otis (first photo) is quite cute, but he's not a patch on Tonto and Polly.

Almost famous...

I've copied a few ideas from Robert's Line of Sight since the conception of this blog back in March (although Robert actually does some proper research and usually refrains from referring to architecturally stunning buildings as 'nice' and 'pretty')... a few weeks ago, he was featured in The Guardian's Blog By Blog series. Now the Guardian is my favourite newpaper, actually the only one in the world that i bother to read every day but i hadn't noticed this series until Robert posted his feature a short while ago.

Anyway, i thought it a fantastic idea-seeing a travel destination through the eyes of someone who lives in the place and is not just passing through can give you a much better idea of what you can expect. So i wrote to Benji Lanyado and suggested my own little blog and mentioned that Valparaiso is one of the most underrated cities in South America. He agreed. So, i've been featured in The Grauniad Blog by Blog Guide to Valparaiso. Yeah!

This has had a two-fold effect:

1. It has helped spread the word about how cool Valparaiso is.

2. It has helped massage my massively inflated ego.

It's not the first time i've been featured in a big British newspaper since my arrival for work and play in Chile, but it's the most satisfying...

I have to head back to Buenos Aires for a few days tomorrow so no more blogging 'til late next week...

I'm back

Anyone who's been reading this blog for a while will probably know i've got a bit of a back problem. Just a few weeks ago i was laid up in bed completely immobile. Not much fun, if i have to be honest...

I've got a long term problem-i was born with an extra vertebrae in my back. I like to call it evolution. Others (mainly my family) like to call it devolution. Anyway, part of the problem is this:. If i don't do physical exercise and stretch out afterwards my back hurts. But when it's really aching i can't exercise so it hurts more. As it hurts more, i do even less exercise. This goes round in circles until i completely get out of the habit of doing any exercise at all. Which is what's happened over the last 12-18 months.

I used to be really active. During my last year at university in 2001 i was playing football, going to the gym 5 times a week and practicing karate. I carried on with this level of exercise for the next few years but i then slowly stopped until i realised i wasn't doing anything at all and my back was killing me. The bed-ridden episode of a few weeks ago really made me think as well.

Another side-effect of not exercising is that any beer that i drink goes straight to my belly. I don't put on weight anywhere on my body except around my waist and the only things that make me put on weight are beer and cheese. The extra weight in this area then pulls on my lower back, causing more pain. The problem is that there are some really good beers in Chile and, having just arrived back here permanently, i had to try them all. Anyway, this is how i've been feeling lately:

So i've been on kind of a diet the last few weeks. It's not really that much of a diet, more just cutting out the beer and eating less cheese. I've also started running again. I don't really enjoy living in this flat in Reñaca but it does have the advantage of being next to a beautiful beach. The beach is just about 1km long. I've started out running just for 20 minutes and seeing how far i get in that time. Running on sand is really hard, much more difficult than on solid ground. But it's good because the impact is much less.

On my first run i managed about 1.5km in 20 minutes. Pathetic but it's been a long time. The second i managed about 1.8km. The next i went 2km and last time i managed about 2.6km. Still not amazing but improving rapidly and remember: running on sand is really difficult.

I've lost most of the beer gut now and i'm feeling a lot better in general as well. I'd almost forgotten how much i enjoy exercise. I find it really hard to motivate myself to leave the flat in the first place but once i'm actually running i love it.

We'll be moving back to Valpo next week where i don't have a decent beach to run along. I'll have to make do with the cross-trainer machine. Maybe i'll put it on the terrace and look out to sea while i'm exercising.

Fascinating images from my old photo albums

I found some old photo disks at the bottom of a box yesterday and uploaded them to my computer today. There are quite a few photos that i thought i'd lost when my cat destroyed the hard drive on my computer two hours before moving from buenos aires to valparaiso. i almost left him behind. anyway, although most of these photos will interest no one but myself, i thought i'd post a few of them. at some point i might get around to posting some more info about Valpo and history and stuff which was the original idea of the blog. in the meantime, bore yourselves stupid with photos (not in chronological order in case you're wondering) of my life from the past 3 years or so...

Georgie, my kittycat back in England. About to have one of his ears chopped off for some sort of polyp or something.



Tonto, one of my 2 cats from Argentina (now in chile where they can't understand a word of chilean spanish, cachai?) after he fell (or was pushed by the girlf, it's all still a mystery) from the 3rd floor window of our old flat in BA. 5 days in hospital on a drip.



These photos are from when we went to Salvador, Bahia (Brazil) for a couple of weeks almost 2 years ago now. I'd forgotten that it bears a vague resemblance to Valparaiso in that the port area and the lift are similar. Food's better in Salvador, of course and it's steamier...Valparaiso's lifts are all funiculars but there's one vertical lift, the Polanco, shown below (not my photo, i nicked it from someone else's blog)

Valpo



Salvador



Valpo



Salvador


These photos are from the 30th anniversary (last year) of the last coup in Argentina that lead to the deaths of up to 30,000 people. I remember viewing the 2nd photo and thinking how similar the guy looking towards me is to the guy on the poster.








This could be pretty much anywhere on the Chilean coast...but it's Cornwall the day after my cousin's wedding last year...






But this is a photo from a couple of months ago that i took on Chiloe in the south of Chile. That's just Cornwall from 50 years ago isn't it? Weird, eh?



These are from a weekend trip we made to La Feliz (Mar del Plata) last winter. Winter at the seaside is brilliant. I'm almost looking forward to the cold and driving rain that's coming Valpo's way very shortly...





London on a cold winter's afternoon





Madrid on a cold winter's afternoon






Santiago on a cold winter's afternoon



Paris on a cold winter's afternoon




Reñaca, Chile on a cold winter's afternoon



Sturminster Newton on freezing cold night in a warm pub. With everyone completely sober



Montevideo





Baggie Bird, at the Shrine. boing boing, stand up if you hate the wolves...



Hallowe'en in Mendoza (that's not me in the Devil suit. Feasting on beef 5 days a week in Argentina did make me a bit porky but not quite that much)





The old home town




Where i was packed off to boarding school when my parents realised they didn't love me anymore...guaaaaa...







And finally...only in Buenos Aires