Viña Camino Mar

The winery

Camino Mar, which signs its wines as Caminomar, is the Larraín Duque family's project in Santa Ana, a rural area of Peralillo at the western end of the Colchagua Valley, where a handful of small wineries make up the Ruta Santa Ana de Vinos (the Santa Ana wine route). It was born in 2009 with the idea of making natural, handmade wines and opening the farm to visitors. Today it has 1.9 hectares planted and a winery with capacity for about 5,000 liters a year; the winemaker is Ana Salomo, and Samuel Larraín and María José Duque personally look after everyone who comes. The name and the tagline that goes with the brand look toward the sea, and the winery speaks of wines with a coastal identity.

The vineyard is farmed on agroecological principles: no synthetic fertilizers or chemicals, cover crops between the rows and irrigation measured by what each vine needs, though it does not publish an organic certification. Harvest is by hand, in April; the grapes are destemmed by hand, each variety is vinified separately with native yeasts and gentle punch-downs, and the wine spends about twelve months in used French barrels before being blended and bottled unfiltered, then rests for close to another year in bottle. The range is short: Vaho, a Malbec-led blend with Syrah, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot; Sosiego, built on Syrah; Tesonero, a Tempranillo; Propósito, another agroecologically grown red; and Pluma, a Tempranillo rosé. According to the winery, the Descorchados 2021 guide singled out Vaho 2018 as a revelation wine.

The visit revolves around the estate's manor house, a tile-roofed country house with long verandas, a vine pergola and gardens, and a tasting room with its own small barrel cellar. The Tour y Cata (tour and tasting), Wednesday to Sunday, covers the vineyard and the winery and ends with three wines talked through by the owners; for groups there are workshops to build your own blend, photo walks through the vineyard, paired lunches and dinners in the dining room of the house or in the quincho (barbecue pavilion), and yoga-and-hike days. The manor house also lodges groups with breakfast included, and the winery rents out its spaces for celebrations. Everything runs by advance booking, by WhatsApp, email or the shop on its website, and most activities require a minimum of four to eight people.