Vitacura Wine Festival 2009

Do you like wine festivals?

Well an event that I have been waiting for is the Vitacura Fiesta de la Vendimia 2009.
Why have I been waiting for it? Not because I’m alcoholic, but because it’s only recently they have given the information of where it will be held and the reason is that they have changed the venue and the name of the event (a tiff between the city council and the previous organizers??)

Over the last years the event was on the exclusive Alonso de Córdova Street and called the DeCopas festival. Now it is called the Fiesta de Vendimia de Vitacura.

Place: Parque Bicentenario (Av. Bicentenario 3800 next to the civic centre)
When: Saturday 18th April 2009 3pm to Midnight and
Sunday 19th April 2009 Noon to 8pm.
Price: Free activities all day though those that want to do some wine tasting will have to buy a special tasting glass. I haven’t found the price of that yet.

Remember it is THIS WEEKEND!!!!

More information here: Vitacura Wine Festival

Pirque Wine Festival this weekend

Remember that this weekend has one of the last Wine festivals in Chile for this year.

The Pirque Wine Festival 2009

This Celebration reinforces the vision of Pirque as "the Capital of Wine" and Cradle of Traditions and Wine Culture. The event will take place on the 3rd, 4th and 5th of April (2009), in Vicente Huidobro Park in Pirque, where the Rodeo 'Half Moon' is located along side 18 hectares of park.

It started last night with the main activities happening this Saturday and Sunday.

General Entrance: $2.500
Entrance with Tasting Glass: $5.000

More Information and the original site at www.fiestadelvinodepirque.cl (in Spanish).

Anthony Bourdain in Chile

Yes Anthony Bourdain, the same guy that appears eating anything that crosses his path on the No Reservations (Sin Reservas) programme on the Travel & Living channel was recently in Chile.

The chef was filming a new episode for the season which took him to Valparaiso, Santiago, Rancagua, Puerto Varas, Puerto Montt and Chiloé (amongst other places).

The highlight of his trip was the iconic ‘El Hoyo’ down near Estación Central (it’s been around since 1912). This ‘restaurant’ is a classic ‘picada’ (a place where all the locals go and recommend for being good and cheap). I last visited it about 7 years ago though I doubt much will have changed in this truly Chilean experience.

His favourite Chilean dishes were Lomitos, Prietas (Blood Sausages - I can’t stand them) and he also loved the Arrollado (he loves Pork which is probably why).
Whereas having tried Piures, (a seafood dish) he didn’t know whether they were “delicious or a crime.”
If you are wondering what exactly these are… check out our page about Typical Chilean Food.

And his opinion about Chilean wine… "I drank so much and without knowing exactly what it was, but it was very good".

Saludos

Upcoming Wine Festivals in Chile 2009

It's just about time for the Wine Festival season in Chile to hit us and it looks like another great year to do some serious damage to the liver. The season kicks off in March and goes through to April with a wine festival or party (or two) happening every weekend.

The wine festivals that have confirmed with us so far for 2009 are:

Fiesta del Vino y el Queso (Wine and Cheese Party)
20 - 22 March 2009 (Friday, Saturday, Sunday)
12.30pm - 10pm
Centro de Eventos Munich
Camino Melipilla Km.31 Malloco (not far from Santiago)
Fiesta del Vino y el Queso

Fiesta del Vino Pirque (Pirque Wine Party)
3, 4 and 5 April 2009 (Friday, Saturday, Sunday)
Horario por confirmar
Parque Vicente Huidobro
Pirque (not far from Santiago)
Fiesta del Vino de Pirque

More information at: Chilean Wine Festivals

If you know of any wine festivals that are coming up leave a comment below and we will add it to our festival list.

Wine, Glorious Wine

Wine, glorious Wine!

Chilean wine is simply superb. You can get a decent bottle of wine at prices that are A LOT cheaper than back home (whereever that may be). At a supermarket you can buy cheap wine for $2.000 pesos (US$3.50) that isn't so bad (wine connoisseurs might cringe though) and some very good wines for only a couple of dollars more.

But coming all the way to Chile and buying your wine at a local supermarket is cheating. You need to experience the wine at its origins; learn about how it came into existence from its first days on the sun-drenched vines to when it had it was stored in old oak casks to gently enhance its noble flavours. Sound corny? Well it's better than saying it was ripped off the vines and mercilessly crushed to make a great party drink.

Whichever way you look at it, the best place to try Chilean wine is at its vineyard. There are numerous vineyards in Chile though not all can be visited. We have compiled a list of Chilean vineyards that we have visited and included comments on them with the occasional tip of what else can be done nearby. More info at: Chilean Vineyards.

An interesting fact from our Chilean Drinks page about Carmenere wine:

The Carmenere grape variety was once heavily planted in the Bordeaux region of France. It was THE grape for wine a couple of hundred years ago. Nowadays, it is almost impossible to find Carmenere in Bordeaux as the Phylloxera plague in 1867 nearly destroyed all the vineyards of Europe. Fortunately, this grape variety was imported into Chile in 1850, so it wasn't wiped out when the plague attacked. Until recent times, wine lovers had forgotten that Carmenere had survived in Chile. It was often mistaken for and sold as Merlot before its true identity was rediscovered.

Try Carmenere while you are in Chile!

Indulge and enjoy!

Wine Cheese Festival Malloco

Just so you know...

There is a wine and cheese festival in Malloco this weekend.
Live shows, wine tastings and even a mini zoo for the young ones.
A great way to spend a lazy day.

You can find more information at http://www.fiestadelavendimia.cl/
(in Spanish).