Viña Doña Luisa

The winery

Viña Doña Luisa is the Cea family's project in Millapoa, a rural district of the municipality of Nacimiento overlooking the Biobío River. Patricio Cea, who presents himself as the sixth generation of winegrowers in his family, runs it with his son Bastián, and the name honors Luisa, the matriarch, who often cooks for visitors. The house and cellar, built by Patricio himself, stand where the Spanish had a fort in the late sixteenth century, when Millapoa was a gold-panning site; hence its name, usually translated as "belly of gold."

The family works eight century-old vineyards of ungrafted País vines, planted in dark volcanic sand; some, they say, are more than two hundred years old. The wines are made with as little intervention as possible: no chemicals or artificial fertilizers, and spontaneous fermentations in raulí-wood vats, the old country way. Among its labels are Ladrón de Uvas, País Sísmico and Pipeño no Muere. The winery belongs to Sur Natural, the association of small natural-wine producers from Itata and Biobío, and for years sold almost all its production abroad, in markets such as Korea, Australia, Canada, Brazil, the United States and England; today it wants to bring low-intervention country wine closer to the Chilean public.

Visits are always arranged in advance, through Instagram, WhatsApp, phone or email. The tours go through the century-old vineyards and the rustic cellar and end with a tasting; for groups there are home-cooked lunches on the terrace overlooking the river or in a rustic quincho (barbecue pavilion) for 40 people. The place also has a wine shop, a lookout over the Biobío, a swimming pool, kayaks for going out on the river and a small guesthouse for ten people. Every year at harvest time the family organizes the Mingaco Doña Luisa, a community harvest with places for anyone who wants to work the picking and for tourists. No prices are published: ask when you book.