Day 2 - Colchagua Valley: The Colchagua Valley is emerging as the new king of Chilean reds and today’s winery visits will no doubt demonstrate the quality of new wines coming from Colchagua--particularly the Carmenere, Syrah and Malbec varieties.

Our day will start with a visit to Neyen Winery which focuses all its production on one Bordeaux-style blend from their 115 year-old Carmenere vines. The Neyen de Apalta winery is the perfect blend of tradition and modernity. It was founded by the Rojas family in 2002 on the site of one of the area’s pioneering wineries that dates back to the late 19th century.

Only twenty minutes away is our next visit, Viña Clos Apalta, created in 1994 by Alexandra Marnier-Lapostolle (of the Grand Marnier family) and produces some of the best QPR (quality/price ratio) wines in Chile. Since its outstanding debut 1997 vintage, Casa Lapostolle's Clos Apalta bottling has helped to establish Chile as a premier red wine region. Owner Marnier-Lapostolle and her team created a blend of Chile's distinctive Carmenère variety, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon sourced from the estate's oldest vines in Colchagua's Apalta sub-valley, then kept refining by fermenting in smaller lots, hand-de-stemming berries and constructing a gravity-flow winery. In 2008, they were awarded a 96 in Wine Spectator for their Clos Apalta wine which was also chosen as the top wine of the year.

After this delightful visit, you will be taken to lunch at Vino Bello Restaurant. After lunch you will ride by carriage to your next visit at Laura Hartwig Winery. Laura Bisquertt inherited the property of “Santa Laura” from her father in 1966. Later, her husband, Alejandro Hartwig and she moved to Canada, where they discovered their passion for excellent wine. Coming back to Chile they decided to open their winery as a retirement project and named it after their daughter.