When you think of Chile what comes to mind? For some it may be food, and for others it may be its world famous Andes mountain range; for us the one thing we immediately gravitated towards was wine (I know, shocking surprise) and if you love wine like we love wine, Casablanca should be on your top 10 list of wine to do’s.
Now to give you some brief insight, Casablanca is a valley nestled on the coastal plain between Valparaiso and Santiago and serves as Chile’s fastest growing wine region. Recently, Casablanca Valley has become famous for its crisp and refreshing Chardonnays and Sauvignon Blancs while also producing notable reds like Pinot Noir, Merlot and Syrah. Needless to say we wanted to try them all … and we did just that with La Bicicleta Verde.
Talk about exceptional service. From start to finish, we felt like royalty on our full day bike tour through Casablanca Valley. We spent the majority of our time exploring the grounds of Kingston Family Vineyards, a well known Chilean winery that pioneered growing red wine grapes in a valley that was once only known for its whites.
We began our day with a 2016 Sauvignon Blanc to awaken our palates, then grabbed our bikes for a leisurely ride through the Kingston property vineyards. Our guide Javier was as good as they come, and so incredibly informative as we cruised through acres of vineyards. We literally had the entire winery to ourselves, as we casually pedaled under blue skies, past endless rows of freshly planted vines and palm tree lined lagoons.
After our scenic ride had concluded, we set our bikes aside and strolled to a hilltop cabana where four wines awaited us with a chocolate and cheese pairing. Why, don’t mind if we do! In our world, this is what we call a dream come true. We began with a 2016 Chardonnay, that had aromas of lemon, apple, grapefruit and pear. This Chardonnay was as crisp as they come, fruit forward and smooth as butter. We then followed with a 2017 Pinot Noir, light in composition with herbal notes, red fruits and a lovely mouthfeel. Then onto our personal favorite, the 2016 Kingston Family Vineyard Syrah. This wine boasted of dark fruits, blackberry bramble and hints of white pepper on the finish. A wine with body and spice always makes everything nice. And last but not least was our 2015 Syrah, a medium to full bodied wine with soft tannins and a flavorful finish of berries and herbs. Needless to say, we were impressed by all of the above.
We concluded our tasting with a delicious lunch, as our yellow Taxi awaited us, to take us back into the city. When trying to envision what a perfect day amongst vineyards should look like, we now know exactly what to look for. The biking, the wine, the food, the one on one experience and attention to detail was oh so perfect and we have La Bicicleta Verde to thank for that!
