Clos de Luz

The winery

Clos de Luz lies in the Almahue valley, within the Cachapoal, in the municipality of Pichidegua and about 30 minutes from Santa Cruz. Gabriel Edwards's family has owned this land since 1892, and in 1945 his grandmother, Luz Pereira, planted the vines that sustain the project today. For decades they were thought to be Merlot; in the 1990s they turned out to be Carménère, which puts them among the oldest of that grape in Chile. Edwards studied in Burgundy and worked at Moët & Chandon before returning to the valley and founding the winery in 2015 to make those old vineyards known. In September 2026, Decanter magazine included it in a feature on eight emerging Chilean wineries.

According to its importer in the United States, the estate totals 33 hectares and three quarters of what is planted is still the 1945 vines. The vineyard grows amid native vegetation, on granite and quartz soils, ungrafted and propagated by massal selection; sheep and horses help maintain it with less machinery and fewer herbicides. In the cellar it ferments with native yeasts and uses French oak foudres (large casks), clay amphorae and concrete eggs, with the advice of winemaker Felipe Uribe. Luz is the flagship Carménère, created in honor of the grandmother. Massal 1945 brings together Carménère, Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec from the old vines; Azuda explores Garnacha, Syrah and a Carménère raised in concrete; Agras comes from a century-old pergola of País grapes in a ravine; Arao comes from the steepest slopes, and Boho from grapes sought out in other corners of Chile. In 2026 Prizma joined the list, a Viognier-based vermouth with 25 botanicals. Descorchados 2026 gave 95 points to Azuda Garnacha 2024, and Decanter 94 to Azuda Carménère 2024. The online store sells cases of six, plus Luz by the bottle, large formats of Massal 1945 and the vermouth; in Chile, the winery also points to La Vinoteca.

Visits take place at the Almahue estate, beside route H-82, and are scheduled by WhatsApp (+56 9 9742 4965). Enoturismo Chile publishes three of them, Tuesday to Saturday. There are six priced options: from a tasting of three wines in the adobe cellar (CLP 19,900) to a vertical of three vintages of Luz (CLP 60,900), by way of a walking tour of the vineyard with a cheese board, a guided trek up Cerro Mancumán and a heritage route through the church and the foudre hall of the Casas Viejas and an old azuda waterwheel, which does not include transfers. During 2026 the winery also announced activities on specific dates, such as a pruning workshop with lunch in August and a midday vermouth in October, which are not guaranteed to return. No restaurant or accommodation at the winery is published. The company has another site registered in Malloa (Fundo San Carlos, Pelequén), about 42 km to the east as the crow flies, where no visits are announced.