Viña Prado

The winery

The La Posada estate, about 36 km west of Chillán, owes its name to an old cart stop on the road to Portezuelo. Abraham Prado Marín bought it in 1901, when its vineyards and cellar had already been working for at least six decades, and the same family has made wine there ever since. His son, the physician Emilio Prado Le-Fort, settled on the farm in 1946 and applied his knowledge of bacteriology to winemaking; his laboratory is still in use. Miguel Prado Petermann, in charge of the farm for some 45 years, began bottling in 1982 as Vino Pipeño La Posada. With the 2018 harvest, his daughters Soledad and Daniela Prado Cornejo, the fourth generation, began working with him on the project that today bears the name Viña Prado. In 2024 it won the Emerging Winery category at the Premios Enoturismo Chile, the country's wine tourism awards.

All the wines come from the estate's own vineyards, in blocks whose names keep the history of the place, such as La Regalona, La Cancha, De Manolo and Las Pataguas. They are own-rooted vines between 60 and 150 years old, head-trained and unirrigated, on the red granite-and-clay soils of the dry-farmed interior. País and Moscatel de Alejandría are the main grapes, alongside Moscatel Rosada, Carignan and small amounts of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc. The soil is plowed with horses and pruning and harvesting are done by hand; since 2022 the winery reports Ecocert organic certification for Chile, the United States, the European Union and Brazil. The wines ferment with native yeasts, with minimal sulfites and mostly unfiltered, and spend more than a year in large vats of raulí, a native beech. The labels are Surcador (País and Moscatel de Alejandría), Aviador del Itata (País), Musas (a País rosé), Silvestris (Moscatel and Chasselas) and Raro de Raros (Moscatel).

The visit covers the vineyards, the museum and the adobe cellar, from around 1870 and restored with traditional techniques after the latest earthquakes, where the wine is tasted straight from the vats. A new tasting room connects with the old cellar. Experiences are requested on the winery's website: a tour with tasting, a day in the country with a three-course lunch, and a six-course paired menu with products from Ñuble. You can also add a ride on horseback or in a victoria, a horse-drawn carriage, and the winery hosts private celebrations on request. In 2024 and 2025 it also organized harvest days and sunset parties, but no dates are published for the coming season. The wines are sold at the estate's shop (Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 9:00 to 13:00 and 14:00 to 18:00; weekends by booking) or in the online shop, by the case of six bottles and with shipping throughout Chile.