Viña Gillmore (Tabontinaja)

The winery

Gillmore was born in 1990, when Francisco Gillmore came to Loncomilla looking for a place to make high-end wines, in years when Maule was associated above all with volume. As the winery tells it, a trip to Napa Valley led him to rescue the old cellar of the Tabontinaja estate and equip it for that project, about 20 km from San Javier on the road to Constitución. Today it is run by his daughter Daniella Gillmore, an agronomist, together with winemaker Andrés Sánchez, who has been with the estate since its beginnings. Gillmore is part of VIGNO, the Carignan vintners of Maule, whose public launch took place at this winery in October 2011 and who gathered here again in late October 2026 to celebrate their fifteenth anniversary; the house also presents itself as a founder of MOVI, the independent vintners' movement.

The estate is farmed without irrigation: the vines depend on winter rains, some 800 mm a year, and ripen with days of up to 30 °C and nights of 10 °C. The soils are deep and of granitic origin, on gentle slopes. Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Carignan predominate, which the winery describes as grafted onto País plants more than a hundred years old, and the vineyard work is done by hand. The Hacedor de Mundos line, inspired by the founder, gathers the varietal reds; Cobre blends Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Carignan with long aging in French oak; VIGNO is its dry-farmed Carignan; Mariposa groups fruity wines, and Almaule is a young País. Burbujas de Viejas comes from old Semillón vines, and the delMaule line explores Italian varieties such as Aglianico, Sagrantino, Ciliegiolo, Montepulciano, Primitivo and Vermentino.

The winery, a brick building with large barrels built into its facade, receives visitors all year round, Monday to Friday and by prior arrangement. The Tabonkö Tour covers the cellar and the variety garden, explains dry farming and ends with an unhurried guided tasting of Mariposa Rosé and Hacedor de Mundos Merlot. Children go free, and pets are not allowed because animals under conservation live on the property. There is a wine shop with wines and local products, as well as an online store. The tourism page offers no accommodation or restaurant: the Tabonkö lodge, on the same estate, appears as out of service in visitor reviews.