Back in March our friends the Miranda Family came to Santiago. We were ecstatic to have our very good friends come and visit. We met them when were lived in Maputo, Mozambique.During our first post we had close knit group of friends and they were also experiencing their first taste of life abroad.We were all around the same age and by the time we left Mozambique we all had kids around the same age. Something happened during that post that our friends became our family...now these folks are posted all around the world, but we all keep in touch. Some of us have visited each other, but I know that we are still very "present" in each other's lives. Well, the Mirandas we part of our Maputo family and it was truly special to have them visit us in Santiago.
They were with us for 10 days and during that time we thought it was going to be hard to take 5 kids (all 7 and under) to a wine tasting. Come on...we have to be crazy! But low and behold we went and all of us had a great time.
About 1.5 hours from our house in Santiago is Concha y Toro and we signed up for the traditional tour. I think it was around $16 per person and kids were free. I believe that was after a discount from my cell hone carrier (you can always find a discount in Chile).
The kids are best buds. Even though it has been three years since they saw each other they didn't skip a beat and were inseparable.
My Sammy Whammy...ready to taste some wine or something.
Here we are ready to learn about some delicious wines.
First we had a tour of the grounds. They are spectacular and there is lots of room for the kids to run around while we try and hear some of the history of the magnificent estate.
Then it was off to a section of the vineyard where we were able to pick grapes and taste different varieties...did you know they have 26 varieties of grape! Sam loved this part.
Luka is wondering why this creepy hand is offering him some grapes.
After the vineyard we sampled three different wines. Yes, they gave each of the adults three different wines to taste (almost three full glasses). They answered questions and shared a little about the ones we tasted.
Then we were taken to the cellar and discussed how the wines were stored. Cue in scary music....from there we were taken to the Casillero del Diablo. Here is an excerpt from their website about this legend:
The beautiful vineyards of Casillero del Diablo are home to some of the finest wines in the world. But few outsiders know the dark secret that lies beneath them. For the locals say that in the depths of the cellar lives the Devil himself. A tale so infamous, they named the wine Casillero del Diablo, the Devil’s Cellar.
The kids were a little freaked out with this part. It was dark, cold and creepy. But after it was all one (about 3 minutes) they thought they were very cool and for surviving and Luka still talks about it months later. You can learn more about the legend here.
After the cellar tour we were taken to a final "one glass" wine tasting, where we sampled a special blend and the souvenir etched glass was ours to take home.
All that drinking and excitement left us all very hungry. We stayed for lunch at the restaurant. The food was good and the kids were happy with their yummy pastas and parents were happy eating and having one more glass of wine!
NOTE: Yes, I was driving, but I never drank all the glasses they offer in its entirety....just a taste. If you do drink the four glasses of wine they give you and then have more wine at lunch you will definitely need a designated driver.
Here is a photo of Sam at lunch making his own blend. He kept the grapes he picked from earlier in the tour..sneaky boy!
I totally recommend this tour with kids. If you don't have the kiddos with you then you can probably go on a more serious wine tour (plenty to choose from in Santiago) but this was perfect for us.
No comments:
Post a Comment