MW Chile trip in pictures

Day 3: Cachapoal Valley. Arriving in Cachapoal Andes, this was the striking setting of a masterclass and blind tasting on the top wines from Cachapoal at Viña San Pedro’s property in the region.

A winery visit saw the MWs taste barrel samples of Viña San Pedro’s ultimate expression, called Altair, named after the Aquila constellation’s brightest star.

Pictured deep within a soil pit is Gabriel Mustakis, who is chief winemaker for the high-end wines of Viña San Pedro: Altaïr, Cabo de Hornos Sideral, Kankana del Elqui and Tierras Moradas.

His lesson on the soils of Cachapoal Andes was disrupted by the arrival of this furry vineyard resident, Chile’s ‘harmless’ Chicken Spider.

This giant stone sculpture once housed a bottle of Altaïr from the top-end wine’s inaugural vintage, but sadly got broken in the earthquake of 2015. Richard Kershaw MW appears intrigued.

Lunch at the winery was lavish, and finished with this extremely sugary and creamy pudding – the Chileans certainly have a sweet tooth.

Next the MWs were taken to Cachapoal’s Vik Winery, named after its Norwegian founder, Alexander Vik, who has built a steel-clad hotel high on a hill, resembling a stranded space-ship when seen from afar. Normally the view from the terrace and infinity pool would be of water, but the lake that once filled this valley has almost entirely dried out – another example of the impact of what some winemakers said has been an almost unbroken 10-year drought in the country.

Chief winemaker Cristián Vallejo took us deep into the barrel cellars of the vast modernist Vik winery, where some of Alexander Vik’s artworks are displayed.

Then it was time for another seminar, this time on ‘respecting terroir’, led by Luca Hodgkinson, who has his own label called Wildmakers, but also helps other wineries with soil management to maximise vine health and wine quality.