Viña Tabalí

The winery

Tabalí was born of Guillermo Luksic's affection for Ovalle, where his mother had studied and where he had traveled since childhood. In the early 1990s he bought Hacienda Santa Rosa de Tabalí, on the edge of the Valle del Encanto, the place where the Molle culture left the petroglyph that is now the winery's logo. He planted the first vines in 1993, released the first wines in 2002 and built the winery in 2004. In 2011, when the Valles de Chile partnership it shared with Viña Leyda was split up, Tabalí passed into the hands of Luksic's company, and today it presents itself as a family winery. Felipe Müller, chief winemaker since 2006, has also run it since 2011.

Its hallmark is growing the Limarí from sea to mountains. Talinay, bought in 2009 beside Fray Jorge National Park and 12 km from the Pacific, grows on an ancient marine terrace of limestone soil, with camanchaca (coastal fog) and lower temperatures than the rest of the valley. Espinal, planted that same year in the coastal zone, is an alluvial terrace with limestone veins, cut by dry ravines. Río Hurtado is at 1,600 meters in the Andes, 45 km from Argentina, on volcanic rock and with a sharp swing between day and night temperatures. Outside the valley, the DOM vineyard, in the Coastal Range of the Maipo, has supplied Cabernet Sauvignon since 2014. From these come everything from the Pedregoso line to Vetas Blancas, Talinay and the Colección Singular (Talinay PAI, Talinay Lítico, Caliza, Roca Madre, DOM and Payen), plus the TATIÉ sparkling wines, born of the partnership signed in 2017 with the house of Champagne Thiénot.

The winery, 420 km from Santiago, was built right in a ravine to recall the way of life of the Molle people, who sought water and shade at the bottom of the ravines. It was designed to move fruit and wine by gravity and uses some 2,000 French oak barrels; a plank walkway with a painted mural runs alongside them. Tours and tastings are by prior booking only: request them by email at turismo@tabali.cl, and the winery also answers on WhatsApp at +56 9 9015 7960. The website publishes no prices, duration or program, so ask when you book. Published opening hours are Monday to Friday, and the winery has a wine shop; the wines can also be bought at tienda.tabali.com.