A New Gig / by gringohomechile

Blog Photos - October 2, 2012 012

Blog Photos - October 2, 2012 012

Blog Photos - October 2, 2012 013

Blog Photos - October 2, 2012 013

Blog Photos - October 2, 2012 015

Blog Photos - October 2, 2012 015

Blog Photos - October 2, 2012 007

Blog Photos - October 2, 2012 007

Blog Photos - October 2, 2012 017

Blog Photos - October 2, 2012 017

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Blog Photos - October 2, 2012 020

Blog Photos - October 2, 2012 022

Blog Photos - October 2, 2012 022

Since we arrived in Chile we have been toying with the idea of working part-time at a vineyard. Chilean wine is fantastic, we are interested in wine (too interested sometimes ;) and we live a mere 40 minutes from the Casablanca Valley so it's a no-brainer. Located about 80 km northwest of Santiago and 26 km from the Pacific coast (where we live), Casablanca's vines were planted in the 1980's, creating Chile's first maritime/mediterranean wine-producing region. It's Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir are now internationally recognized for their deliciousness. Lucky for me, a student of mine who works at a vineyard in the Valley offered to take me and hubs on a little job search trip a couple weeks ago.We arrived at Casas del Bosque hopeful and with resumes in hand. Though we didn't have an interview set up, my student knew the name of the vineyard manager so we thought we would try to at least introduce ourselves. After sitting down at the (beautiful) restaurant on the premises and stating our intentions to one of the vineyard's employees, the manager came over to speak with us about becoming English speaking tour guides for the vineyard. About 5 minutes into our conversation he asked 'when can you start'? Later, we were given the opportunity to take a free tour of the vineyard complete with premium wine tastings. SCORE.Our guide was incredibly knowledgeable about the vineyard and wines and was totally friendly, despite having to answer all of our many questions.After the tour it was on to the tasting. I don't want to give too much away but I can say with absolute certainty that it was the best tasting I had ever done. Not only were the pours generous but the wines were outsanding as well. We even got to taste the pequenas producciones wines - red blends produced in small batches and aged to perfection. And though I usually prefer the famous and bold Chilean Carmenere or Cabernet Sauvignon to white wine, their award winning Sauvignon Blanc won me over. Man was it good.Everything about the tour and tasting was so well done and professional, we can't wait to start working with them. Now off to study wine before our first day this weekend - come visit!