Viña Siegel

The winery

Viña Siegel belongs to the Siegel family and has its winery at Fundo San Elías, in the municipality of Palmilla, in the heart of the Colchagua Valley. According to the winery itself, its oldest vines were planted at San Elías in 1979 and the cellar was founded in 1980; after the 2010 earthquake it was rebuilt in stages, and in 2012 it unveiled a design meant to blend into its surroundings. Today the third generation of the family runs it: Alberto Siegel Prieto is general manager and winemaker, Catalina Siegel Prieto is in charge of the domestic market, and Fabiola Calderón heads winemaking.

This is a large-scale operation. It works more than 700 hectares spread across seven estates, from Los Lingues, in Alto Colchagua at the foot of the Andes, with volcanic soils and grapes such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Carménère, Petit Verdot, Carignan, Garnacha and Mourvèdre, to San Alberto de Peralillo, in the Parrones sector at the coastal end of the valley, with 205 hectares of eight varieties; in Palmilla is the El Crucero vineyard, 60 hectares of Cabernet Sauvignon, and the winery also mentions vineyards in Leyda, near the Pacific. It processes more than 18 million liters a year: a fifth goes out bottled under its own brands and the rest is sold to other wineries or exported, and it also offers bottling services to third parties. It holds HACCP certification and that of the Chilean wine industry's Sustainability Code.

Its catalog runs from the Handpicked and Gran Reserva lines, the latter with 10 to 12 months in French barrels, to the Single Vineyard wines from Los Lingues (Carménère, Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot), the Unique Selection blend, the 1234 Red Blend, a Cinsault rosé, a Viognier orange wine and a Brut Nature sparkling. At the top sit the Los Lingues Terroir de los Andes line, with a Carignan and a Mediterranean blend of Garnacha, Carignan and Syrah, and Ketrán, the icon wine of the Los Lingues estate, whose Mapuche name refers to land plowed by volcanic fire. The winery does not publish tours or visiting hours: its wines are bought in the official online store, with home delivery in single bottles or cases of 6 and 12, and anyone who wants to see the cellar should ask directly by email or phone.