My Visit to the Devil's Cellar

Those who know me well, know I have a limited palette when it comes to alcohol. Long gone are the days when I would add a blue-bols and vodka to a pint of snakebite (a 'Green B@&*$^' if you wanted to know!) And 'Drambuie handshakes' and the 'Flaming Finger' are both now things of the past. 

Cider. The sweeter the better. That's all I look for when I am out for a drink. Bitter and lager has always tasted horrible to me, and since being diagnosed coeliac, I couldn't drink them now even if I wanted to. No, it has to be cider and the searching for it has become rather a global quest as I have travelled. Sadly, I have frequently failed to find any and have had to resort to the very occasional Rum or Southern Comfort with diet coke instead!

Such is my fondness for cider that it is in my top three 'most missed things from home' list, behind brown sauce and bacon baps. As a result, I will be seeking out an ice cool Magners or Bulmers at my earliest opportunity when I return to the UK in Autumn. (Please feel free to buy me one of either, or both, if we catch up in person!)

But...stop the presses...I have news for all of you who pour scorn on my drinking choices. In Alaska I drank (and very nearly enjoyed whisky!) Laphroaig Quarter Cask to be precise - neat! In Canada I had numerous shots of Fire Ball (half medicine, half whisky.) With each shot I would take a taste to experience it fully and then down the remainder. Great in front of a campfire at Lake Horne.

Well today I decided to go further with my alcohol experimentation and 'take one for the team' so that I could report back afterwards. How can I spend four weeks in Chile and not visit a vineyard? Now you all know that I do not like wine. Red, white, rose - it all tastes the same to me and I just don't like it. It is not as if I haven't tried either, tasting wines whenever they are pressed upon me by well-meaning friends. I have even visited vineyards before, most notably in California and South Africa, but to no avail.

Well, a few hours ago, I was inside one of the finest (and biggest) vineyards in the world and certainly the biggest in Chile. Concha y Toro in the Maipo Valley - 90 minutes from Santiago. 

                                 

 

Now for those of you who find my blogs informative let me not disappoint you. Wine production is big business in Chile and is the fifth largest national industry after mining, timber, seafood and agriculture. Concha y Toro has vineyards in several countries and is the third largest wine producer on the planet making 30,000,000 litres per annum (though my Spanish speaking guide could have said 300,000,000 - so choose the amount you feel sounds most plausible!) Established in 1883, the Concha y Toro Vineyard was founded by Don Melchor de Santiago Concha y Toro and his wife, Emiliana Subercaseaux. 

To start the winery, he brought grape varieties from the Bordeaux region in France including Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon blanc, Semillon, Merlot and Carmenère. The vineyard began exporting wine in 1933 and in 1950 began to acquire more vineyards. In 1994, shares of Viña Concha started trading on the New York Stock Exchange. It is now one of the most important wine brands in the world, with a presence in more than 135 countries. Their premium wine, Casillero del Diablo, is renowned as Chile’s first global wine brand with sales topping 2 million cases. In 2010, Concha y Toro became the official wine partner of Manchester United Football Club and in 2012 their home vineyard received the Certificate of Excellence from TripAdvisor as a major visitor attraction.

                                  

       I'm sure the Red Devil on the United logo is why Concha y Toro wanted to become partners

         

     

                                                       The fabulous house and gardens

I must say that my visit was fascinating. The Maipo Valley is a beautiful contrast to the hugely urban, overly populated and extremely polluted Santiago. Snow capped mountains are visible and the vineyards stretch for miles (though the bit I saw was less than 1% of the land they own in Chile.) Whilst all the vines were bare (this being the middle of Chilean winter) we toured the grounds, saw Don Melchor and Emililiana's beautiful home and explored the cellars (old and new) before getting to our promised tasting session. 

I gritted my teeth and promised myself I would taste it all. 

Wine one was a young and rather fruity white - which I could drink. Not too overwhelming, rather sharp, slight hint of jaffa cakes and fresh morning dew (no - that last bit is bollocks, but it's what you are supposed to say when describing wine!) But anyway, I thought to myself 'well done Paul, one down and it wasn't too bad.' 

                  

Wine two was red, but not a really dark red. It smelled strongly... of wine. I swilled it around my custom  Concha y Toro wineglass, expertly admiring the legs and inhaling the bouquet and then I tried it. Eek :-(

                  

Wine three looked interesting. Very red. Very dark red. Retails at over $60.00 a bottle. Aged in casks made from french oak which cost $500 each when new and are only used four times. Produced from grapes which are cultivated by hand from vines pruned severely to limit their number, but increase their quality. I swirled, sniffed, looked, breathed and then drank. Yackity-yack! Our guide offered us all some more. "Come along," he said, "I am not paying for this and you need to finish it all." I went back for some more of the cheap white one I had tried first. That third wine was so dry and so rich in tannin that my mouth was immediately bone dry. I dreamed of cider. "You like?" asked our guide. "Yes thank you." I replied and then he topped up my glass with more of very red wine number three.

  

                               

We were all given our own Concha y Toro commemorative wine glass and box to take away, though with no room in my back-pack and several thousand miles yet to travel, I found a young couple who wanted another one and gave them mine.

             

As for the Devil's Cellar. That was most interesting. Apparently, not long after Don Melchor's first successful  harvest, thieves broke into his main cellars and stole several bottles of his wine. Incensed by the intrusion, he swore that vengeance would be his and started to put around that his cellars were also the home of the devil himself. Rumour spread, stories were embellished, noises were heard and when further attempts were made to steal more wine, those who tried returned empty handed and terrified from their night-time raids on the cellars. Today, only the very best wines are stored in the Devil's Cellar (as it has survived numerous earthquakes without damage unlike some of it's more contemporary counterparts.) A bottle of Don Melchor Cabernet Sauvignon will set you back over $130. 

  

I'm gonna stick to cider. Well tea actually, but cider when I am in a pub!

                                   

                                     How it would have looked if I had visited in the summer

                                

                                                             How it looked today