Viña Tipaume

The winery

Viña Tipaume was born in 1996 in Cerrillos, a rural area of Rengo, in the Alto Cachapoal, about 90 minutes from Santiago. It was founded by Yves Pouzet, a French agronomist and winemaker who had come to Chile in the 1980s to work at Viña Los Vascos, and his wife, Valentina Grez. The name comes from the stream that borders the estate, a Mapudungun word the winery translates as “place of departure”. For years they sold their grapes to larger wineries, until in 2004 they built a cellar beneath the house and in 2005 made their first wine, 1,162 bottles. Yves fell ill in 2019, the pandemic hit the business and the family went so far as to put the winery up for sale; after his death, in October 2024, Valentina and her son François Pouzet called off the sale and took up the project again, with the support of winemakers who had known Yves.

The vineyard has 5 hectares, mostly Carménère, with Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Malbec, Lacrima Christi and Viognier, and later Pinot Noir and Sangiovese. It has been farmed organically from the start and biodynamically since a few years after; it is not irrigated, so the roots search for water at depth, and sheep help care for the soil. The vineyard is in full recovery: the family has been replacing posts row by row and today makes close to 1,000 bottles a year, from grapes picked in late April, with minimal intervention and long skin macerations. Tipaume ages in French barrels and is usually a Carménère-led blend, though the 2025 vintage, a tribute to Yves, is 100% Carménère. Grez, whose name honors Valentina and plays on grès, French for clay, and Sous La Terre, 100% Carménère, were made in clay amphorae; the store still has Grez 2020 and Sous La Terre 2019, and the family hopes to revive that line later on. The wines are sold in the website store, from CLP 40,000, with shipping throughout Chile.

The visit is a 90-minute private tour hosted by the owners: it covers the vineyard, goes down into the underground cellar and ends with a guided tasting of one of the wines, with cheese, bread and nuts. It costs CLP 50,000 per person, with a minimum of two, and the date must be confirmed by WhatsApp or email before paying. To stay over, the family rents two lofts on Airbnb in the winery house, above the cellar, with a kitchen, breakfast included and a quincho (barbecue pavilion); one of them adds a shared pool and a hot tub. The winery publishes no restaurant; the town of Rengo, with its services, is about 15 minutes away by car.