Pirque - High-altitude winemaking pioneers

How to Complete

5 steps curated by Wine Memories

1. 📜 1

   Stand in the Garden of a Wine That Beat Burgundy

   history Free

   The 22-hectare park at Viña Concha y Toro was designed by a French landscape architect as 'an open-air museum' — and it was built in 1875, eight years before the winery was even founded. Century-old trees tower over you, engineered avenues lead toward the Maipo River, and the snowcapped Andes fill the horizon. This is the place Don Melchor de Concha y Toro — former Minister of Finance of Chile — chose to build his wife Emiliana her dream estate.

   📍 WHERE: Avenida Virginia Subercaseaux 210, Pirque (30 min south of Santiago city center by car; or Metro Line 4 to Puente Alto terminal, then micro bus to Pirque — ~1 hr total). The park grounds are visible from the entrance and are included in all tour tickets.

   💡 WHAT: This is the founding site of Chile's wine industry. In 1883, Minister of Finance Don Melchor de Concha y Toro commissioned the planting of Bordeaux grape varieties here — Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon, Carménère — imported directly from France BEFORE phylloxera had fully destroyed French vineyards. The clones he planted may be genetically identical to extinct pre-phylloxera French originals. Chile's Andes, Pacific Ocean, and Atacama Desert created a natural quarantine that kept the louse out forever.

   🎯 HOW: No ticket needed to enter the grounds. Walk to the viewpoint near the estate's entrance for your first view of the Andes framing the vineyard. In February–March (harvest season), you can pick grapes off the vine on the estate walk — ask any tour guide. Arrive at 9am to beat the crowds.

   🔄 BACKUP: If arriving outside opening hours, the exterior of the park and the facade of Casa Don Melchor (declared a National Historic Monument in 1971) are visible from the street and worth the walk.

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2. 📜 2

   Enter the Cellar Where the Devil Still Lives

   history $$

   In the 1880s, Don Melchor noticed his best wines kept disappearing. His solution was ruthless and brilliant: spread the rumor that the devil himself inhabited his underground cellar. The superstitious locals stopped stealing. The brand built on that single lie — Casillero del Diablo — is now sold in 135 countries. You're about to walk into the original scene of the crime.

   📍 WHERE: The Casillero del Diablo underground cellar is the centerpiece of the Centro del Vino tour at Concha y Toro, Avenida Virginia Subercaseaux 210, Pirque. Book the Traditional Tour (CLP 50,000 / ~$55 USD) at enoturismo.conchaytoro.com. Open Tue–Sat 9am–11pm, Sun–Mon 9am–7pm. Tours in English, Spanish, and Portuguese, ~120 minutes total.

   💡 WHAT: The new Casillero del Diablo Sensory Experience (opened May 2025) takes you through an interactive multi-sensory exhibit explaining Chilean terroir and how this wine became the world's most exported Chilean wine brand. Then you enter the actual underground cellar — the original vault Don Melchor built with his imported French winemaking machinery in 1883. The legend comes alive in the vaulted stone space.

   🎯 HOW: The tour continues from the cellar to the exclusive Bodega de Guarda del Alto — the Alto Aging Cellar where Concha y Toro's finest wines (Marqués de Casa Concha, Don Melchor, Amelia, Carmín de Peumo) age in French oak. The gallery inside charts four key milestones in the winery's 141-year history. Tour ends with a 4-wine tasting and a walk through the Varietal Garden and Viewpoint.

   🔄 BACKUP: If the Traditional Tour is fully booked on the day, the Traditional Tour Plus (CLP 73,000 / ~$80 USD with hotel pickup) runs on more schedules. For a smaller group and deeper access, book the Marqués de Casa Concha Premium Tour at CLP 100,000 (~$110 USD) — you'll taste 6 wines including the flagship Heritage editions.

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3. ⛰️ 3

   Read the Circle of 26 Grapes That Maps All of Wine

   adventure Free

   At the far end of the estate, past the century-old trees and the Andes viewpoint, Concha y Toro planted a perfect circle: 13 white grape varieties on one side, 13 reds on the other. It's a living atlas of the wine world — every major variety from Riesling to Nebbiolo, Grenache to Grüner Veltliner. No lecture hall could teach you this faster than walking it.

   📍 WHERE: The Varietal Garden is inside the Concha y Toro winery grounds, included in all tour tickets. It's near the estate's Viewpoint, at the far end of the 22-hectare park walk.

   💡 WHAT: 26 of the world's most planted grape varieties arranged in a circle — 13 whites on one semicircle, 13 reds on the other. The guide explains where each variety originates, what climate it needs, and how its wine tastes. From this single spot you can see the Andes snowline above and the vineyard rows below — this is the soil and the climate that produced the 2021 wine that beat every Premier Cru Burgundy, every Grand Cru Bordeaux, and every Napa Reserve in Wine Spectator's Top 100 of 2024.

   🎯 HOW: Ask your tour guide to take you to the Concha y Toro Viewpoint immediately after the Varietal Garden — it's the best panorama of the Pirque estate with the Andes behind it. If you visit in harvest (Feb–March), this is where vines are at their most dramatic: heavy with fruit, leaves turning gold. Spend at least 20 minutes here.

   🔄 BACKUP: On a clear winter day (June–September), the Andes snowpack is at its most dramatic from this viewpoint — no harvest activity but arguably the best visual. Any season works.

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4. 🍷 4

   Taste the Wine That Was #1 in the World — at the Source

   Optional

   wine $$$$

   In 1987, Concha y Toro planted 127 hectares at Puente Alto with a single ambition: prove that Chilean soil could make the world's finest Cabernet Sauvignon. In 2024, Wine Spectator confirmed it. The Don Melchor 2021 earned 96 points and was named #1 wine on the planet — beating Pétrus, Latour, Screaming Eagle, and everything else. You're 10 minutes from where every single grape was grown.

   📍 WHERE: Casa Don Melchor, Avenida Virginia Subercaseaux 210, Pirque (same estate as the Concha y Toro Centro del Vino). The Don Melchor Collector's Experience requires advance booking at donmelchor.com/en/experience. Not available Sundays or public holidays. Max 14 guests per session.

   💡 WHAT: USD 180/person for the Collector's Experience — private tour of the historic Casa Don Melchor mansion (4,000 sqm, 22 rooms, National Historic Monument since 1971), walk through three of the seven Puente Alto plots, expert sommelier tasting with cheese board, and access to the Collection Room: every single vintage of Don Melchor from 1987 to present, in one temperature-controlled room, available to taste and buy. The vineyard's 127 hectares are subdivided into 151 micro-plots — your guide will explain why each plot produces a different expression. The final blend is made from specific parcels chosen each year.

   🎯 HOW: Book 2–4 weeks in advance, especially for Oct–March. Specify your interest in the vertical tasting to get time in the Collection Room with older vintages. If budget allows, upgrade to the 4-course wine pairing lunch in the Casa dining room or terrace (~$200/person) — you'll eat with the Andes visible through the windows.

   🔄 BACKUP: If the Collector's Experience is booked, the Traditional Tour Plus (CLP 73,000) includes a premium wine tasting that features Marqués de Casa Concha, Concha y Toro's second flagship line from the same Puente Alto terroir. You'll still taste the soil.

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5. ⛰️ 5

   Drive into the Andes Canyon That Created This Wine

   adventure Free

   Every stone in the Puente Alto vineyard — the colluvial gravel that stresses the vines, restricts their water, and forces them to produce those tiny, concentrated berries — rolled down from the Andes over millennia. You can drive directly to the source: the Cajón del Maipo canyon, 45 minutes from the winery, where turquoise glacial water, condors, and 6,000-meter peaks show you exactly what built Chile's greatest wine region.

   📍 WHERE: Drive south-east from Pirque on Ruta G-25 (Camino El Volcán) into the Cajón del Maipo canyon. Continue ~35km to the El Yeso Reservoir (Embalse El Yeso) at 2,475m altitude. Total drive from Concha y Toro: ~45–60 min.

   💡 WHAT: The El Yeso Reservoir is glacial-turquoise and ringed by Andean peaks including Marmolejo (6,108m) — the southernmost 6,000m mountain on Earth. You'll see Andean condors riding thermals overhead. The colluvial soils in the valley walls here are the same geological parent material as the Puente Alto vineyard — gravel and angular rock deposited by gravity and snowmelt over millions of years. This is where Don Melchor's terroir comes from.

   🎯 HOW: Free to drive through. No entry fee for the canyon road. El Morado Natural Monument (if you want to hike to the glacier) charges a small entry fee. Start the Cajón del Maipo drive immediately after your morning winery tour to arrive at El Yeso by early afternoon, when the light is best for the turquoise water. Pack a bottle of whatever you just tasted — drinking Don Melchor at altitude looking at the Andes that created it is one of the great wine moments available to any traveler.

   🔄 BACKUP: If visibility is low (common Dec–Jan due to morning cloud), San José de Maipo village — the gateway town, 20 min into the canyon — has several restaurants serving traditional empanadas and pastel de choclo (a clay-pot corn pie with chicken, beef, and olives). La Vaquita Echa in nearby Pirque is the local favorite for pastel de choclo — served hot in a pottery bowl.

   🍷 Log Memory

Insider Tips

• ✦

  Book the "Marques de Casa Concha" tour for a more intimate, premium experience

• ✦

  The gardens and park are beautiful for photos

• ✦

  The on-site restaurant is good but book ahead