Day 2: Pro Chile and Concha Y Toro

Wednesday morning began early with a breakfast buffet and our first meeting about the Chilean wine industry. Masika Noriwa represented ProChile and discussed the uniqueness of Chile's wine and wine regions. She also provided and overview of Chile's main export markets and the differences of the Chilean wine industry compared to that of the US. I was very interested to learn about Chile's advantage of being isolated with a dry desert in the North, the Andes to the East, and the Ocean to the West and South. Due to these natural barriers, wine growers have few pests to worry about such as phyloxera, which has plagued most all other wine growing regions in the world.

Later in the afternoon we headed to Chile's largest wine producer: Concha Y Toro. We took a tour of the beautiful grounds and then descended into the massive cellar. Apparently after losing bottles to occasional wine thieves, the owner declared the cellar home to the devil, which kept out the superstitious thieves. We ended the tour with an elaborate tasting of their Merlot, Carmenere, Syrah and Cabernet along with a selection of delicious cheeses.



In the evening the whole group got together to enjoy a group dinner at the nearby Akrana restaurant. We indulged in a delicious dinner of Ceviche, Salmon Salad, and a fruit/ice cream dessert as well as great conversation about things to come.