Viña Undurraga y Mucho Vino Rico

Hello my faithful-blog-reading friends and family,

Although I haven't ran into more tear gas or had cats making crazy noises on my roof, I thought I should update ya'll on my latest Chilean experience.  Vino, vino, y más vino.  On Friday, five of my amigas and I went to a vineyard in Maipo Valley, which is the region around Santiago.  Viña Undurraga.  It was absolutely gorgeous.  Hundreds and hundreds of acres of grapes surrounded by the Andes Mountains.  Picturesque is an understatement.  We had our own tour of the facilities - the vineyards, the wine cellar with the French and America Oak barrels, the place where they squeeze all the grapes as well as where they allow the wine to ferment etc.  It was quite impressive, especially since it was my first tour of a vineyard.  Viña Undurraga produces seventeen million liters of wine per year and exports about 65-70% of that wine.  Viña Undurraga  (Please check out the link - it is great!!)  This particular winery is the only winery in Chile that hand-picks its grapes off the vines.  Pretty nifty, I'd say.  (And yes, I did just use the word "nifty.")

Anyways, it was a beautiful and informative experience.  However, the best part (of course) was the wine.  We sampled four different types (as you can see by checking out my photo album of the vineyard on the left-side of my blog page).  1. T.H. Sauvignon Blanc  2. Aliwen Cabernet Sauvignon Syrah  3. Sibaris Cabernet Sauvignon  4. Late Harvest   All of them were absolutely rico, rico, rico.  Very, very good.  The fourth, Late Harvest, is a sweet, sweet white wine.  The best way I can describe drinking it is by saying it was like drinking honey.  I kid you not. If any of you, my blog followers, are into wine, I would highly recommend writing down Undurraga and the names T.H., Aliwen, Sibaris, and Late Harvest and going to your nearest Hy-Vee (or whatever it is) and see if they carry any of these wines.  You won't regret it.  ((PS If you do end up finding any of these in your grocery store, let me know!  Also I'd be interested in knowing the price as well.  I know my dad has found Maipo Valley wine before but I wonder about this particular winery, especially since they export 65-70% of their wine.))  All in all, it was a fantastic experience!  We would like to return in December when there are more grapes etc.  It is still pretty early in the season.

Chilean wine definitely gives Spanish wine a run for its money.  Although I might add that Spanish wine is a lot cheaper, so you get a lot more bang for your buck - so to speak.  Other than wine, however, my weekend has been quite chill, which is exactly what I wanted.  Today mi mamá chilena took me with her to la universidad de mi hermana (Universidad Católica) to drop off lunch.  It was maravillosa y impresionante.  Universidad Católica has multiple campuses.  This particular campus is for the arts and mi mamá says it is comparable to the Juilliard of Chile.  I felt like I was in a different world.  The building was amazing, over 100 years old, historic, stone, with many corridors and terraces as well as a stunning church and courtyard.  With the sound of all the musically-talented filling the halls, I kinda felt like I was in a movie set in Europe way back in the day.  I could have stayed there forever.  To study there would be a dream!  Just to eat lunch in one of the courtyards or read a good book under one of the huge trees in the terraces would be amazing and memorable.  Needless to say, I was a little jealous.  Haha.  

As for the rest of my weekend, well tomorrow (Sunday) we are going to have some fun with food!  In the morning, I am going to teach my family how to make oatmeal raisin cookies.  Then for lunch I am preparing fish tacos.  I might add that a family friend is visiting in the afternoon so of course the food will be rico for that too.  Hopefully the baking and fish tacos go well.  Cross your fingers.  :)  We are slowly going to work our way through some of my recipes from los Estados Unidos.  Should be a good time.  *Fun Note:  Today I squeezed un montón of naranjas (oranges) for fresh orange juice - delicioso.  We also ate completos the other night.  I had previously tried a completo on the streets, which I thought was disgusting, but my host family convinced me to give it another go and try their completos made en casa.  They were definitely MUCH better.  I can now say that I actually like completos, which are essentially and traditionally hotdogs with tomatoes, avocado, and mayo.  A little weird?  YES!!  Will I make you all try it when I get back to the States?  YES!!!!!!!  So prepare yourselves.  :)

Okay, okay, enough of this, I'm out.  House is on Chilean TV... need I say more???

¡Ciao!




Note (Added on Sunday):
Alright so I thought I needed to let you know how all this baking went this morning.  One of my host sisters (Maca) helped me baked oatmeal raisin cookies, which turned out delicioso and everyone loved them!  Then, my host mom talked me into baking banana bread, which turned into something more like banana cake since we didn't have the normal pan.  ¡Pero fue exitoso!  (But it was successful!)  For the most part, the desserts will be eaten with this amazingly rich English tea that mi mamá won at JUMBO, the grocery store here, the story of which is quite cute.  Mi mamá was shopping in JUMBO and they had this drawing for this really nice wooden box filled with some of the best (and most expensive) English teas.  So of course, mi mamá entered and she ended up winning!  She is absolutely THRILLED and has told the story to about everyone she has encountered.  It's quite adorable.  Anyways, this afternoon was very chill.  Ximena, a family friend, came to visit just in time for my fish tacos, which were also quite exitoso.  Now we are taking a break before we have once, or tea.  Soo I should probably do some homework but I kinda want to take a siesta.
Hope ya'll are having a great weekend.  Don't worry about me, I'm just livin' the vida chilena.  :)