Viña Sánchez de Loria

The winery

Viña Sánchez de Loria is in San Roque, in the municipality of Panquehue, beside Ruta 60 and in the heart of the Aconcagua Valley. The family descends from José Teodoro Sánchez de Loria, who arrived in Chile in 1785 as a judge (oidor) of the Real Audiencia, the colonial high court; his grandson Enrique Sánchez Faulkner founded the winery in 1890 and planted Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon Blanc and Torontel. The farm has never left the family since: Carmen Sánchez, the founder's granddaughter, was his sole heir, and today the fifth generation runs it. The complex preserves the main house with its verandas, drawing rooms furnished in the old style and period portraits, and a park with palms, gardens and a windmill.

The winery, more than 130 years old, still works with period machinery: a destemmer that squeezes the berries gently, a machine driven by belts and pulleys, wooden vats of 8,000 to 12,000 liters for fermentation and wood-fired ovens where the must is cooked to make chicha (sweet, partly fermented grape juice) and vino añejo (cooked, aged wine). The house makes Cabernet Sauvignon in several lines (Oidor, Gran Reserva, with two years in barrel and three in bottle, and Gran Reserva del Fundador), an unfiltered Petite Syrah Reserva, Sauvignon Blanc, Viognier, rosé and a Brut sparkling wine, as well as sweet and fortified wines: a Late Harvest, a vino añejo of Sauvignon Blanc, Torontel and Moscatel Rosada in the style of old sacramental wine, and a fortified Cabernet Sauvignon kept at least four years in barrel. The wines are sold at the winery's shop and in its online store, with shipping throughout Chile.

The winery opens every day: Monday to Friday from 9:00 to 19:00 and weekends from 10:00 to 18:00. The Full Tour Don Enrique lasts about two hours and takes in the vineyards, the variety garden, the machinery, the winery, the cellar and the drawing rooms of the main house before a tasting of five wines; there is also a shorter three-wine tasting and a picnic with tasting in the gardens. Tours are bought in the online shop and the winery then calls to arrange the day and time. There is no restaurant open to the public: lunches are organized for groups of 30 or more, and the manor house hosts weddings and corporate events. Every September the winery celebrates the Día del Vino (Wine Day) with music, Chilean food and the arrival of the Tren del Recuerdo heritage train from Santiago.