Viña El Escorial

The winery

Viña El Escorial occupies part of the former Hacienda El Escorial in Panquehue, in the Aconcagua Valley, five minutes from San Felipe and an hour from Santiago. The winery dates its origins to 1880 and owes its name to the Real Sitio de El Escorial, the royal monastery-palace that Philip II had built near Madrid. The hacienda was run by James Carey, known to his tenant farmers as Don Santiago, a Chilean of Irish descent who exported canned fruit and vegetables and grew some 132 hectares of vines for red wine, white wine and aguardiente (grape brandy), until his death in 1944; the geographer George McCutchen McBride portrayed it in his book Chile: Land and Society (1936). In 2009 his grandson Rodrigo Espinosa Carey, with his wife Cristina and their children, took up the project again: he replanted vines in the same area and built a winery entered through the hacienda's original arch and gate.

The winery works two vineyards. The one in Panquehue, planted in 2009, brings together a dozen varieties, among them Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, Syrah, Petit Verdot, Petite Sirah, Carménère, Zinfandel, Sangiovese, Chenin Blanc and Muscat. The second, planted in 2012 on leased land in the Cajón del Río Colorado, on the road to Portillo, is at 1,600 meters in the heart of the Andes, and from it comes the Cornisa line of mountain wines: Syrah, Syrah-Malbec, Pinot Noir and Cabernet Sauvignon. The range is completed by the Gran Reserva, Premium and Signature Wines lines, a Late Harvest Muscat and the Port-style Sypor-T fortified wines. In 2025 the Petit Verdot Premium 2023 and the Zinfandel Signature Wines 2023 won gold medals at Catad'Or, and La CAV's Mesa de Cata guide gave 94 points to the Cornisa Syrah.

The visit begins behind the arched adobe wall facing the El Escorial road (E-643), which runs parallel to Ruta 60 CH. The wine shop operates in the old manager's house and has a tasting bar; beneath the winery is the Don Santiago cellar, with brick arches and room for 12,000 bottles, where the tours end. Monday to Saturday there are three guided tours, of one to two hours, with two to four wines and a pairing board; short tastings without a tour; and picnics with a basket for two beneath the avocado grove. Everything is booked online, by email or by WhatsApp. There is no restaurant or accommodation, but through the year the winery holds parties open to the public, such as the Fiesta de la Vendimia (harvest festival) in April, and rents out its halls, quincho (barbecue pavilion) and cellar for events. The Río Colorado vineyard is not open to visits: it is reached by a private road.