Casa Bouchon

The winery

Casa Bouchon occupies the Mingre estate, a property of more than 1,000 hectares in the rolling hills of Maule's dry-farmed interior (secano interior), at km 30 of the road from San Javier to Constitución. Julio Bouchon, grandson of the Bordeaux winemaker Emilio Bouchon, who arrived in Chile in 1887, bought the land in 1977, drawn by its granite soils and its unirrigated old vines. The adobe manor house, of 2,200 m², was built in 1843, and beside it an early-20th-century cellar of adobe walls and clay floor is still in use. In 2024 the family sold the J. Bouchon brands to Undurraga, but kept the vineyards, the winery and the hotel.

What is made in this cellar today is Longaví, the project that his namesake Julio Bouchon, of the family's fourth generation in wine, started in 2012 with South African David Nieuwoudt, of Cederberg, later joined by Juan Bouchon and winemaker Christian Sepúlveda. They work with head-trained, dry-farmed vines, native yeasts and little intervention. The Los Inmortales line gathers historic plots such as Reforma, a rosé from Garnacha planted in 1945 in the Mingre vineyard itself, and Cementerio, a Chenin Blanc from 1940; Glup rescues País, Cinsault and Moscatel from old vines in Maule and Itata, and the Gran Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon and Carménère spend 12 months in French oak. Casa Bouchon's wine shop offers a selection of its wines, and Longaví can be bought online from specialty retailers such as Santiago Wine Club.

The main visit is the Wine Tour: it covers the vineyards, the cellar and the barrel room and ends with a tasting of four Gran Reserva-level wines, in about an hour and a half. There is also a guided outing to Cerro Mingre, on foot or by bike, which reaches some natural rock pools, and in September 2026 the hotel announced horseback rides through the vines. Outings are arranged directly with the hotel, by email or WhatsApp. Guests staying in one of the manor house's seven rooms also have a pool, hot tub, sauna, trails and bikes; Mingre Restaurant opens only for them. The hotel also hosts corporate events, weddings and celebrations, and sells gift cards.