Colchagua Valley

Colchagua runs west from San Fernando towards the coastal range and is the valley that made Chilean red wine internationally serious - cabernet sauvignon and above all carmenere, the Bordeaux variety that was thought extinct after phylloxera until it was identified in 1994 growing in Chile, having been imported in the nineteenth century and mistaken for merlot ever since. The estates around Santa Cruz are large and set up for visitors, with a steam wine train running along the valley in season and a harvest festival in March. The Colchagua Museum in Santa Cruz holds an enormous private collection whose provenance has been publicly questioned.

What you actually see

• Carmenere country - a variety thought extinct until identified here in 1994.
• Large estates set up for visitors - tours, tastings and restaurants.
• A steam wine train - running the valley in season.
• A museum with a contested collection - the Colchagua, in Santa Cruz.

When to go

Year round; March for the harvest festival. A full day.

Honest expectations

Wineries need booking and the valley is spread out - a driver or a tour is effectively necessary. It is the most commercialised wine region in Chile. The museum's collection has been the subject of legal and ethical disputes about how items were acquired.

Nearby

Santa Cruz is the base; Pichilemu and the coast are west.