Viña Tololo

The winery

Viña Tololo was born in 2018, when five professionals with long careers in Chilean wine and pisco, Alex and Gunther Kyling, José Pablo Martín, Óscar Martínez and Elio Elorza, decided to build a project of their own in Quebrada Seca, on the land of the former Viña Tamaya, some 30 km from Ovalle. Alex Kyling, a winemaker with more than 35 years in the trade, directs the piscos; José Pablo Martín, the wines; and Gunther Kyling, the distillation. The name alludes to the region of the stars and to the piedras tácitas preserved on the property, boulders with carved hollows that, according to the winery, were used to observe the sky and schedule sowing and harvest.

The estate lies on the high plain north of the Limarí River, about 18 to 20 km from the sea: limestone soils and the coastal influence, with warm days and cold nights, shape its grapes. From there come the pisco Tololo Blue, clear, made from Pedro Ximénez and Moscatel de Alejandría; Tololo Black, aged in American, French and Hungarian oak barrels, which was named Best Pisco in Chile at Catad'Or 2020; the Tololo Rosé aperitif and the Norterra line of piscos. Among the wines are Reserva and Gran Reserva Carménère, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, a Pedro Ximénez that rescues this grape native to the area and the traditional-method sparkling Kylimari Brut Nature. The winery distills with gas, treats its waste, reuses its cleaning water to irrigate vines and olive trees and turns the pomace into animal feed.

The winery does not publish a visitor program: its website says tours and tastings are subject to availability, so write first to ventas@tololovinos.cl. When visits are on, the offer is a guided tour of the vineyards, the stills and the piedras tácitas, with a tasting of piscos and wines. Its products are sold through the Tololo Express online shop and at Jumbo supermarkets and liquor stores; the winery has also announced a wine shop at its entrance.