Viña Lomas de Cauquenes

The winery

Viña Lomas de Cauquenes was born of the 1939 earthquake. As the winery itself tells it, the quake flattened what there was in the area, and the neighbors, with help from CORFO, the state development agency, under the government of Pedro Aguirre Cerda, joined together to work the land again. That is how it started out as a cooperative of small winegrowers, known by the acronym COVICA. In 2019 its members voted to turn it into a joint-stock company, and today it operates as Sociedad Vitivinícola Lomas de Cauquenes SpA. Around 2012 it figured among the twelve founding wineries of VIGNO, the Maule Carignan association, though it does not appear among the wineries that association's website shows today.

The winery is on Av. Ruperto Pinochet, in the city of Cauquenes, with vineyard blocks bordering the river of the same name. It keeps concrete vats of around 200,000 liters, in use since the 1940s, and pump-over systems that, according to the winery, have worked the same way since 1945. It makes a point of its dry-farmed grapes and its century-old vines. The catalog is broad and runs from the everyday to the most carefully cellared: table wines in formats from 187.5 cc to 5 liters, the Selección Especial and Reserva lines, and the Gran Reserva Carménère, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay and Carignan. The last of these, the most expensive on the list, is 100% Carignan from old vines on granitic soils, made with native yeasts, unfiltered and aged about 12 months in French oak barrels. Rounding out the range are the Reserva Privada JJ, a Carignan and Cabernet blend, the Late Harvest wines and the Espumante País, a sparkling wine the house presents as the first made from that grape in Cauquenes.

The winery states on its website that, for the time being, it offers no guided tours of the cellar. What is open is the wine shop, at Av. Claudina Urrutia 321, in the center of Cauquenes and about 1.4 km as the crow flies from the winery: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 10:00 to 13:30 and 15:00 to 19:00, Wednesday from 9:30 to 13:30 and 14:00 to 18:30, and Saturday from 10:00 to 13:30. The catalog lists prices from CLP 1,490 for the 187.5 cc bottle and CLP 2,810 for the 750 cc; the Gran Reservas run from CLP 9,900 to 13,200. The site does not sell online: for prices, stock and shipping to other cities, write to ventas@lomasdecauquenes.cl or WhatsApp +56 9 6670 0000; the landline, (73) 256 0028, is also answered. Its distributors page lists outlets from Coquimbo to Padre Las Casas. In December 2022 and 2023 the winery opened its doors for its anniversary, with a walk through the facilities and a tasting, registration required; we found no announcements of new dates.