Moquegua Pisco Bodegas

The Moquegua valley was planted with vines within decades of the conquest and became one of the main wine producers of colonial South America, shipping to Potosí and beyond; when Spain restricted colonial wine to protect its own exports, distillation into aguardiente became the way around it, and that is the ancestry of pisco. Bodegas in the valley - Biondi, Parra, El Mocho and others - still work, some using the colonial infrastructure: lagares, the stone treading floors, and tinajas, the enormous buried clay jars used for fermentation, which are increasingly rare elsewhere. Moquegua is one of the five regions legally entitled to make pisco, and its Italia and Quebranta bottlings have a following. There is also a strong tradition of dessert wine here. The valley is desert with irrigation, and the city has a well-preserved colonial centre with mud and cane roofs known as mojinete.

What you actually see

• The tinajas - buried clay fermentation jars, increasingly rare in Peru.
• The lagares - colonial stone treading floors still in place at some bodegas.
• The bottlings - Italia and Quebranta pisco alongside dessert wines.
• The history - a colonial wine valley that turned to distilling under Spanish restrictions.

When to go

Year-round; harvest around February and March is when the bodegas are working. Half a day for two or three visits, more with a tour.

Honest expectations

Bodegas are spread through the valley and need transport - most require calling ahead. Tastings involve spirit at around forty per cent. The desert valley is hot and glaring. Some bodegas are small family operations with irregular hours.

Nearby

Cerro Baúl is above the valley; Moquegua city and its colonial centre are nearby.