Hacienda San Juan

The winery

Hacienda San Juan is Francisco Freire's project in San Juan, a rural area east of Llolleo, in the municipality of San Antonio, about five kilometers from the Pacific Ocean and within the San Antonio-Leyda valley. The winery was founded in 2010 and planted its vines in 2012 on a park-like property with palms and century-old trees that the local press describes as of heritage value; the 2015 vintage was the first to be bottled. The property belongs to a family company, Francisco Freire y Compañía, and beside the vineyard stands a brick cellar with tiled roofs and arched wooden gates.

The vineyard covers about 2.5 hectares: one and a half of Pinot Noir, half a hectare of Syrah and another half of Chardonnay, all planted on their own roots, in ancient granite soils of the Cordillera de la Costa with limestone patches and old marine terraces. It is farmed with organic and biodynamic practices, though without certification. The labels, illustrated with a sea urchin, wild plants or a classic engraving, carry the words “natural wine”, and the winery presents its wines as minimal intervention; with them it took part in the RAW WINE natural wine fairs in London and New York in 2022. Alongside the varietal trio there are a rosé, a Pinot Noir in magnum and a vertical pack of Pinot Noir, all for sale in its online shop, with bottles from about CLP 14,000.

The visit, called Tour por naturaleza y degustación, lasts close to two hours: it tells the story of the hacienda, walks the vineyards explaining the farming and the winemaking, and ends with a guided tasting served with a cheese and charcuterie board, with a stop at the cellar door. It runs Monday to Saturday with a booking, arranged by WhatsApp. The winery advertises no restaurant or accommodation. The hacienda's park is also the venue for the Fiesta de la Vendimia del Valle de San Antonio, the valley's harvest festival, which held its fifth consecutive edition there in March 2025 together with the other wineries of the valley association.