Undurraga Winery

This quiet winery is a short drive from Santiago, on what is referred to as the Autopista del Sol, which heads straight west from Santiago, arriving at the seaside town of Cartagena. Undurraga has a long history in Chile dating back to the 19th century, when this area of the Maipo valley was first used for wine grapes. Basic tours of the winery in English and Spanish start with a description of the operations, and then past some traditional Mapuche (indigenous) carvings, and past a small grotto that visitors can enter to better understand the terroir, between alluvial soils, rocks and roots that comprise the land on which the grapes are grown. Groups can be large, though English tours are usually smaller, and private tours are available.
A walk past a test garden that shows a number of different varieties of grapes is educational at many times of year, and guides can show you the ways in which different varieties of grape leaves’ shaped differ. The area worked here is small, as Undurraga has terrain in the south and further out to the coast as well, but this location in the Maipo Valley is where all the wine is produced.
The wine production area is a sleek concrete structure, and in it, the fermentation process is underway in metal tanks, and newly, large concrete egg-shaped structures, before being either put in oak (reds) or bottled (whites). A walk through the barrel cellar room ends with a tasting, which may include wines just about to hit the market, or some which have already been selling. There is a shop that sells the wines visitors have tasted, as well about fifty other wines, and souvenirs including food products, such as jarred copihues (Chile’s edible national flower), flavored salts, and different kinds of merquén (a smoky chili spice mix). Tours include a souvenir glass.

Practical Info

Time your visit for spring to summer if you’d like to see the vineyards just flourishing, late summer for harvest time, and if you’re after the bright reds and yellows of fall foliage, try to hit this winery in late May.