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Drinking from the Roots of the Andes in Chile's Cachapoal Valley

This week, Jaunted Special Contributor Eric Rosen continues his worldwide wine wanderings south of the equator in the Andean foothills of Chile, visiting some of the biggest names in its famous Colchagua and Rapel Valleys. So start looking for a bottle of Carmenere in your grocery store, and join us as we taste through the wines of Chile. Salud!

Yesterday we drank at a breakneck pace through the famous wineries of Chile’s Colchagua Valley. We spend today tasting at a more leisurely clip in one of Chile’s newest wine regions: the Cachapoal Valley.

· A Valley By Any Other Name…
To call Cachapoal (pronounced cah-chah-poh-all) Chile’s newest wine region, though, is a little misleading since it’s actually a part of one of the country’s other famous appellations, the Rapel Valley. However, the conditions here are distinct enough from the rest of the Rapel thanks to its proximity to the Andes and its lack of maritime influences from the Pacific that it was given its own denomination.

Thus, it’s well known for producing rich red wines, especially Cabernet Sauvignon and some of the country’s most prized Carmeneres. The nearest major town is Rancagua, notorious for a bloody 19th-century massacre during Chile’s war of independence.

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