Chilean Wine

Today was great.  After a really great breakfast at our hotel, we headed into town to exchange our US dollars to Chilean pesos.  It turned out to be a little more difficult than I expected because I had to go upstairs and have a woman make up a contract stating the exchange rate they were going to give me before they handed out the bills.  Luckily, I managed to complete the transaction all by myself in Spanish!

After the bank, we went to the local museum with the private collection from an arms dealer who was exiled in Chile or stuck in Chile and who founded much of the wine business because he couldn't go back to Napa.  There were fossils, ceramics, portraits, swords, maps, and all kinds of things.  There were rooms devoted to old cars like the model-T, a 1960 Ford Taurus, and a replica of a Delorian.  Outside there were steam engines, wine presses, and hay bale machines.  It took over 2 hours for us to get through the whole thing and I was ready to be done by the end... everything was in Spanish!  I wish they had some translations for us.

From there we tried to locate a winery reccommended by Lonely Planet which was more difficult than expected (as travel tends to be in foreign countries) and we ended up at a different winery by accident that was also listed in the book, Monte Gras.  We took their wine tour, which was very similar to those in Napa, and our guide told us all about the different kinds of grapes and the wines that Chile is known for and those which are unique to this region.  At the end of our tour they let us sample 5 wines instead of 3, which got us all sufficiently hammered of course.  Our guide took a photo of us for their website too, which is neat.

We piled back in the car and pulled up to the winery we had been trying to find just before they were closing.  The guy suggested we buy a bottle of their Malbec, but I don't generally buy wine that I haven't heard of before so I asked if we could taste it before puchasing it and he obliged.  Very sweet of him!  We enjoyed it along with our pineapple, avocado, and tomato back in the hotel room.

For dinner, the family that owned the hotel suggested we try their friend's new restaurant for some Chilean food.  The woman did not speak English, but her daughter did.  They told us they would also be dining there for dinner and would be happy to help us translate the menu.  What they did not tell us, was how difficult this place was to find!  On our 4th attempt at circling the block Rich stopped at a gas station, we got directions, and pulled onto a gravel road next to a winery.  Voila!  And dinner was well worth the effort.  The English-speaking daughter, Virginia, and the chef himself helped us ordering the food, and it was the best meal I have had so far!

Us and the owner of the small restaurant we got to try

We started off with lamb chops and testicles... at the time we didn't know what the testicles were exactly so I only ate one and Sam ate 3.  They were incredibly tender, which is nothing like the previous experience I had with them at Dr. Lee's house.  For our main courses, Rich had rabbit, Sam and Sue both bad bacon wrapped beef filet- Sam with a fried egg on top, and I went out on a limb and ordered a typical Chilean dish that neither Virginia nor the chef knew how to translate- be proud, I am not usually this adventurous within my own country let alone abroad!  My dinner turned out to be beef soup, which was out of this world, and I am so grateful I ordered it.  Pear crepes followed for dessert, and at the end of the meal we took a photo with the chef, Patricio, and he signed a menu for me to take home.