South America: Chile and Argentina

Cleaveland Miller, one of the owners of Calvert, recently returned from a trip to Chile and Argentina in April and May of this year. He filed the following report with us.

My wife and I returned from a truly memorable trip to South America earlier this year. We were gone for 15 days, visited 5 towns and cities, toured 11 wineries and drove over the Andes. Fine food, excellent wines, bargain shopping and beautiful scenery combined to produce a unique experience.

The first stop was the bustling metropolis of Santiago, a city of six million people and enjoying a wave of prosperity due to rising commodity prices. Our first winery visit was to Almaviva, a handsome property in the Maipo Valley, not far from Santiago. Almaviva is a joint venture of Concho y Toro and Rothschild, and they have spared no expense to produce an exceptional wine in the Bordeaux style. Only one wine is made each year, a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Carmenere and Cabernet Franc. The wine, while expensive, was exceptional.

The following days in Chile were filled with more visits to more wineries, often accompanied by delicious lunches and always with delicious wines. Particularly noteworthy were the Sauvignon Blancs that we tasted, and we heartily recommend these wines from Chile. They are uniformly delicious and well priced. For example, Casa Lapostelle produces a fine Sauvignon Blanc as well as an attractive line of other wines. The winery had just completed, for example, the Clos Apaltas facility, designed to produce only their top wine, a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Carmenere and Merlot. The facility is designed to move the juice and wine vertically, only by gravity, and without the use of any pumps. The location is gorgeous, on a hillside overlooking the Colchagua Valley.

After a week in Chile, our bus (and very capable driver) took us over the Andes. What a drive. The road on the Chilean side contained twenty-eight switchbacks as we wound our way up and up 9,000 feet to the ski resort of Portillo. Not yet open, it provided an overnight stop and time for more wine tastings.

The next morning, we descended into Argentina and passed by the highest mountain in the Americas, Mount Aconcagua, partially shrouded in fog. The descent was much more gradual as we paralleled the route of the Mendoza River. Our first stop was the City of Mendoza, the center of Argentinian wine production and home to a million persons. The Mendoza Valley is hot and dry, ideal for red wines, particularly Malbec.

The most interesting wineries we visited were Achaval Ferrer and Ruca Malen. Both concentrate their efforts on the Malbec grape and both are locally available. Mendoza is particularly known for its production of Malbec, and we were very impressed both by the quality and the prices of these wines. They are good value and go excellently with beef, the traditional Argentinian specialty.

Our final stop was Buenos Aires, a large and beautiful city with a very European feel. With a population of over 16 million, the city offered us many exciting vistas, green parks, good restaurants and fun walks. We found it a vibrant and exciting experience. Buenos Aires is the birthplace of the tango, and we enjoyed one evening at a tango show. Nor did we lack shopping opportunities. The U.S. dollar is still strong in Argentina, particularly for such locally produced items as leather and wool goods. Both Mendoza and Buenos Aires were full of bargains, and leather coats, pocketbooks, shoes and cashmere sweaters all made their way back to Baltimore.

Our trip was truly delightful. Both Chile and Argentina are fascinating countries - Chile with a culinary emphasis on seafood and white wines and Argentina with beef, beef and more beef, ably paired with such red wines as Malbec.