Headin' south

The beginnings of my greenhouse project. Picked, packed, and ready to be planted south.

The Santiago Times staff is taking a week-long vacation. Since February is a "slow news month", the ST will shut down until March 1st. My boss, Steve and his family are moving to their 140 acres in the Lakes Region of southern Chile. They have a large greenhouse that needs to be worked and Steve requested that I take on the project. Exciting! I can apply what I've learned in the organic gardens in Caleu to their larger empty greenhouse in the south.

So in a couple days, I'll be making my way south. I also need to renew my Chilean visa, so I'm going to take my "week off" to travel down the Argentine side of the Andean spine and then cross the border to Puerto Montt, the closest large city to Steve's southern property. Couchsurfing hosts have been contacted, lodging secured, route mapped out, warm clothes and rain jacket packed. It's a ripe time for introspection since I'll be traveling solo through thought-provoking, breath-taking scenery. Or for catching up on all the sleep I lost from going out every night while in Santiago.

In preparation for the move, I've packed up some seeds for Steve and his family to transport south so they'll be waiting to be planted when I arrive next month. Carlos and I harvested seeds of arugula, lettuce, chard, and more from the gardens, and separated them into jars labeled by yours truly.

On the move again. I'll work my way from Mendoza (Argentine wine capital), to Bariloche, to El Bolson, then over the border back into Chile to Puerto Montt. Sorry for the confusing, scribble-ridden map.

Steve's parcela is about 30 minutes from Puerto Montt, right by the sea. I'll be living in the barn (I think a downgrade from the shed in Caleu) for 1-2 weeks depending on how long it takes to develop the greenhouse. Although Steve and his family will be living there, once again I am the only volunteer. Considering how much larger their southern homestead is, lack of internet and electricity in the barn, and rainy cold weather, living here may pose a greater challenge in adapting to solitude. Once the greenhouse project is complete, I'll return to Santiago where I'll most likely live my last week in Chile on the farm in Caleu. Wow, heavy.

Vineyard visits

Organic champagne in the wine cellar of the Raab Vineyard

Chile's Central Valley, where Santiago is situated, enjoys a temperate Mediterranean climate. This means short winters and long, hot, dry summers. It also means ideal conditions for most types of agriculture, which explains why Chile is a top exporter of produce and of course, wine.

Before coming to Chile, my knowledge of wine was..ehh...on the crude side. I knew my way pretty well around the bottom-shelves, the $2-$6 labels, the boxed persuasion. My favorite wine is Pinot Noir because it's easy to drink and I like saying "Pinot Noir". But living in the middle of Chilean wine country and suddenly having to write a feature story on the country's organic wine industry for The Wine Times (a monthly Santiago Times off-shoot), it was time to get viticultured (oh snap did I just wordplay viticulture? I totally fucking did).

In the last couple weeks, I did some hard research. I took notes off of wikipedia articles, memorized wine glossary terms, and of course, visited some vineyards. Through a lucky connection I was able to visit a modest organic vineyard by the coast that specialized in organic champagnes and talked to the owner over a bottle. Through another lucky connection (telling the next-door bike tour company that I would write a profile spotlighting their wine & bike tour for Revolver Magazine [for which I also write] if they let me take their tour for free along with my photographer/friend Loretta), I visited another organic vineyard in the Maipo Valley, also talking to the owner over wine and cheese.

There's still a lot of the grape to bottle process that I don't get. I mean a lot chemistry is involved and I fell asleep through most of that class in high school. But wow, so much to know about the ancient tradition of grape-growing and wine-making. And there's something about vineyard landscapes that I totally fucking love. With the same googly-eyed Thoreau-esque admiration I had for Colombia's Madalena Valley, with its rolling coffee plantations. Corn fields just don't do it for me. But if you can comb the hills with coffee beans and grapes, I'd say there's indescribable beauty in repetitive, monochromatic rows as far as the eye can see. I'll post the Bicicleta Verde wine tour article and organic wine feature story once they're published.

Daniel Raab's organic vineyard. On the other side of the hill is the Pacific Ocean.

Daniel pops open a bottle of his prized champagne. Instead of synthetic fertilizers, he uses manure from the zoo next door. The zoo saves on disposal, Daniel nurtures his terroir, the soil stays chemical-free, everybody wins.

Our first stop on Bicicleta Verde's Bike & Wine tour: Family-owned Cardanal Vineyard in the Maipo Valley

Fermenting tanks at the organic Huelquen Vineyard. Some exhausted cycle-crazy travelers ready to booze it up- straight from the tank spigot
After a long day of wine-tasting and cycling, my photog Loretta, me, our gringo tour guide Mac (who has a very endearing Nashville twang) and a van full of drunk tourists sang along to 70s romance ballads with the windows rolled down.