Viña Casa Donoso

The winery

Viña Casa Donoso makes its home at Fundo La Oriental, beside the road to Palmira, on the outskirts of Talca. Its story begins around 1960, when Lucía Donoso built the first cellar. In 1989 a French group bought it and, over the 1990s, planted Cabernet, Merlot, Carménère and Cabernet Franc and brought in stainless-steel vats, oak barrels and an in-house laboratory. In 2010 it returned to Chilean hands and gave rise to Donoso Group, which today brings together Casa Donoso with Sucesor, San V, Las Casas de Vaquería, Palmira, Pocoa, Piduco and 9 Fairway Island.

The group reports 550 hectares of its own vineyards spread over four estates in Maule. La Oriental, with 140 hectares of alluvial and clay soils, holds the oldest vines, over 80 years old, and concentrates the winemaking and bottling of all the brands. San Vicente, with 300 hectares, lies to the east, near the Lircay River; Vaquería (80) and Pencahue (30) rest on the granitic soils of the Coastal Range. The Casa Donoso range runs from the Classic and Reserva lines to the Gran Reserva Bicentenario and the blends 1810, D, Perla Negra and Grand Domaine, the last of Carménère and Malbec. Sucesor gathers the house's rarities: the Romano, made from César Noir, a grape variety the winery says it rediscovered in its vineyards in 1995 and was the first to bottle in Chile, and a Portugais Bleu. Aging combines French and American oak barrels, clay amphorae, concrete eggs and barrels that once held bourbon, rum or tequila.

Visits are booked by email (tours@casadonoso.com), by WhatsApp (+56 9 4622 8780) or through the form on the wine tourism page of the online store. They include guided tours of the historic manor house, the cellar and the production area, plus tastings, but the winery publishes neither programs nor prices: you get a quote when you write. The published hours are Monday to Friday, 9:00 to 17:00, although Google shows a different schedule, 9:30 to 13:00 and 15:00 to 18:00, so it is best to confirm. The estate also hosts events in its wine bar, for 150 to 200 people, and weddings in the manor house (eventos@casadonoso.com, +56 9 9700 0023). The wines are sold in the online store, tiendacasadonoso.cl, and at the winery's cellar door.