I tried reaching out to three or four tour operators to get me there. One got back to me, and said he could do a tour for $300 CDN. That seemed pretty steep for a visit to two or three wineries. So I talked to Kent, the owner of my hostel, and he said it was possible to visit the wineries using a bus or collectivo (shares taxi) to get to Casablanca and then taxis to jump from winery to winery.
I headed down in the direction of the bus station that Kent said most collectivos leave from. I poked around there but couldn't find one, so then I asked at the bus station information desk about buses to Casablanca and they said one was leaving in an hour. I had already spent 45 minutes on my search and the day was getting short, so I grabbed a cab for a relatively outrageous sum (40 times what the bus fare would cost).
My first stop was Casas del Bosque. It's a very pretty winery. There was a tractor-pulled wagon that does little tours around the grounds, although I didn't opt for that. It looked like a winery you could see in Canada, but with a Latin style to it. I went to the front desk and asked if they had a tasting available.
I should probably interject here that visiting wineries in Chile isn't like it is in Canada. You are expected to book a tour of the winery at least a week in advance and that tour would last two hours and include a tasting of a few wines. The tours begin according to a set schedule, which isn't really my thing.
Instead I showed up at Casas del Bosque and asked what they had available. They had a tasting starting in 40 minutes, so I did that.
They lead us into a very nice tasting room. It was me, two couples in their 30s and their wee babies and a couple of retirees. They were all American. Or at learnt I assume. They exuded a very "American" bearing.
Anyway, we tasted four wines. They were all pretty good, with my favorites being the Chardonnay and the Syrah. That being said, it wasn't mind blowing wine. But still good enough for me to buy two bottles of Chardonnay.
After the tasting I asked the front desk to call me a cab to take me to the next winery. They called around and... There weren't any. Somehow every cab in this tiny Chilean town was occupied. Not sure what to do at this point, the very nice lady at the counter talked to some of the tour bus drivers on my behalf and found one willing to drive me to Kingston Winery.
Kingston Winery is a much smaller winery than Casas del Bosque. It actually started out as a wheat farm. The owners (who were from Michigan) saw some potential in the late 90s for winery in part of their massive estate, and Kingston Winery was born. The Kingston facilities were less impressive than Casas del Bosque, but they really made up for it with a very friendly host, Francisco, and a beautiful view. While the Casas del Bosque experience had a very corporate feel to it, Kingston felt much more relaxed. Fransisco ambled around the grounds and wine making facilities with us and was not hesitant to top up our glasses if we found a wine we especially liked. Fransisco stuck around after the winery actually closed, chatting with me and the other guests; a couple of Montanans, a Brazillian sommelier and his girlfriend.
The Reds at Kingston were better than the Whites, so I nabbed a bottle of Syrah and grabbed a ride back to the main square of Casablanca with the Montanans from my tour. Soon after they dropped me off the elusive Casablanca bus popped up and I paid a ridiculously low fare to get back to Valparaiso.
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