Flaherty Wines

The winery

Ed and Jenny Flaherty came from California in 1993 to work a harvest in Chile and stayed. Ed, a winemaker, spent years as chief winemaker at large wineries such as Cono Sur, Errázuriz and Tarapacá, and in 2004 created his own project to get back to hands-on work in the cellar: he started with about 1,200 bottles of a single blend and by 2025 had reached close to 75,000. Jenny, chef and owner, runs the kitchen and the events. The winery operates in the century-old adobe manor house of the former Fundo El Magnolio, named for the large magnolias in its park, in the El Tambo area of Santa María, in the Aconcagua Valley.

Next to the house there is a small estate parcel of Tempranillo; the rest of the Aconcagua fruit is bought from growers they have worked with for years, such as the Ocoa vineyard, at the foot of La Campana National Park, and others in Panquehue. In 2008 they bought a 10-hectare farm south of Cauquenes, in the Maule, where they planted head-trained, dry-farmed Tempranillo and Petite Sirah next to a block of País reckoned to be a century old. The main wines are blends: Flaherty Aconcagua, based on Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot and Tempranillo; Flaherty Cauquenes, half Tempranillo and half Petite Sirah; and the second label, Casa del Magnolio, in red and white. To these are added single-vineyard wines in small batches (Carménère, Cabernet Sauvignon, Tempranillo, Petite Sirah and País) and the sparkling Magnolia Extra Brut. The grapes are hand-picked, fermented in small open vats, pressed in a basket press and aged around 18 months in French and American barrels.

The cellar door is open Monday to Saturday from 10:00 to 18:00, with the year's blends, some older vintages and the Dussaillant-Lehmann sparkling wine, for which Ed is consulting winemaker. Visits are by booking: a tour of the winery with tasting and, for those who want to stay for a meal, a three-course lunch by chef Jenny Flaherty, with a menu that changes every month and paired wines. The park is rented out for weddings and events under the name Casa del Magnolio, and through the year the winery holds a wine fair in October, summer evenings with wood-fired pizzas and a harvest festival. Bookings are made by WhatsApp or email.