Visiting the Clos Apalta Winery near Santa Cruz, Chile was an adventure from the beginning on. My host at the hotel decided that my last name was much too complicated and registered me at the wineries I intended to visit simply as “Mr. Stefan“. Arriving at the Clos Apalta Winery I saw that the whole place was protected by high walls and fences and at the massive and closed gate a solid security officer was standing.
I drove towards the gate, opened my window and greeted him was an obviously too informal “¡Hola!“. His reaction was to stay standing there and watching me through his huge black sunglasses. After some seconds of silence which felt like minutes he asked me: “Señor Stefan?“. I nodded. He pointed to the mountains: “En la montaña: a la derecha, a la derecha, a la izquierda.” I continued fastly before a paroxysm of laughter came over me.
The winery itself is very modern and built into the rocks. An architectural masterpiece. The concept is that the grapes are brought to the top, cleaned there and are then continuously transformed to wine while going down into the mountain. Therefore no pumps are necessary, the system simply works with gravity.
At the end of the tour you are standing in a cave where the owners of the vineyard store some of the best bottles for their own use. It is also the place where you can try some variations. As I was driving on my own here, I was a bit reserved in this question. Our guide tried to calm me: “No problem Stefan, we’ve got an agreement with the local police.“. I better didn’t rely on this. 😉
Viña Lapostolle – Clos Apalta Winery
Ruta I-50 Camino San Fernando a Pichilemu km 36.
Santa Cruz, Chile.
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