Viña Lomas de Quillón

The winery

Viña Lomas de Quillón was born in 1986 as the business of Carlos Barriga and Pilar Villalobos, a couple from Quillón who still run it. At first they bought grapes to sell in bulk at the Vega Monumental market in Concepción, and in winter they carried wine in barrels to Greater Concepción, where people came out to buy it with jugs and demijohns. When the work became too much, they chose wine: out of that came their first brand, Barrisol, a first vat, a lagar (treading vat) and then their first vineyards. In 2004 they opened the winery to tourism, and with the visitors came the current name and an ever-wider range. In 2024 Pilar Villalobos was the regional winner of the Premio Mujer Empresaria Turística (women in tourism entrepreneur award), with an honorable mention at the national level.

The winery is at kilometer 10 of the road to Cerro Negro, in the El Maitén sector, and describes its setting as a valley of granite soils, with unirrigated vineyards, hand harvesting and short pruning. Its most awarded wines are micro-vinifications of Itata heritage grapes: the Carignan Don Gaspar and the Cinsault Doña Isidora, both with gold medals at the Itata Wine Awards according to the winery, plus Doña Matilda, from Moscatel de Alejandría, and Doña Ignacia, a rosé Late Harvest of País. Six of its wines, grouped under the name Cepas con Pedigree, carry the name and story of a house dog, among them Don Gaspar, Doña Isidora and Doña Ignacia. The shop adds Cabernet Sauvignon, a Merlot and Cabernet blend, traditional sweet wines such as the altar wine and the aged wine, sparkling wines, and cask wines in 1, 3 and 5 liter containers. A good part of what it sells is not wine: liqueurs, macerated spirits, whiskey creams and ready-mixed sours. Some products are made with the estate's own grapes and others also with fruit from small growers in the valley.

The tasting room and shop can be visited with no booking and at no charge: it has a collection of antiques and lets you try a good part of the range. If you want to see the winery, you can book by WhatsApp a guided tour of about 45 minutes, with a talk on micro-vinification and maceration and a wine tasting. In the online shop, 750 cc bottles start at CLP 4,000, and the wines are also sold in the tasting room. The winery also holds occasional events, such as liqueur tastings, and takes its stand to fairs like the Fiesta de la Longaniza in Chillán and those in Plaza Ñuñoa; follow its Instagram to find out the next dates. No restaurant or accommodation is listed.