Viña Ravanal

The winery

Viña Ravanal was born in 1965, when agronomist and winemaker Mario Ravanal bought a property in Placilla, in the heart of the Colchagua Valley, drawn by vineyards that were already in production. Born around 1926 in Ligüeimo, a small farming village in the area, he had studied agronomy at the Universidad de Chile and in 1960 went on to study winemaking and viticulture in Montpellier and Bordeaux. Over the years his children Carmen Paz, Pía and Mario Sebastián, also winemakers, joined him, and the winery remains a family project that brings together on a single estate the vineyards, the cellar and the team that makes the wines.

Placilla sits between two transverse ranges of hills through which the Tinguiririca River runs, with a dry season of about seven months and a marked difference between daytime and nighttime temperatures. The oldest vines are more than a hundred years old and yield little, with grapes that ripen slowly; each variety is planted according to the soil and mesoclimate of its block, harvest is by hand and the wines are aged in French and American oak barrels. Cabernet Sauvignon and Carménère appear in every line (Selection Terroir, Reserva and Gran Reserva), alongside Merlot, Malbec, Marselan, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and a rosé, while Syrah goes into blends of the Premium and Íconos lines such as MR and Limited Selection, which share the shelf with Commemoration, Ovation and Triadis. The Gran Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon and Carménère have received 92 and 93 points from James Suckling in recent vintages, and the winery states that it works under the Chilean industry's National Sustainability Code.

The winery is in Placilla, next to the village church and about 20 minutes from Santa Cruz along Ruta 90. Visits revolve around the Grand Lounge of Wine, a spacious hall with brick walls, a bar, armchairs and a fireplace where groups are welcomed and several tastings wrap up. There are eight experiences, from CLP 20,000 to CLP 95,000: a guided tasting of three wines that needs no booking, the Tour Gran Selección for beginners, a golf-cart ride through the century-old vineyards, the Tour Íconos for groups of up to six, a workshop to build your own blend, the Sabores Ravanal lunch with a private tour, the Momento Ravanal by the fire with electric bikes, and a harvest day, the next one in March 2027. Book online or by WhatsApp; the house is open Monday to Saturday, in Spanish, English and Portuguese, and children up to 16 do not pay admission to the tours.