Ricardo, the traveler... tips: Viña Santa Rita

· Viña Santa Rita http://www.santarita.com/

Camino Padre Hurtado 0695, Alto Jahuel, Santiago, Chile

My main tip is. You can book this tour in several Santiago tourism's agencies which it’s good. However, I would like to recommend making the tour by your own, because:

1) it’s very easy to get in the winery by driving a car;

2) you can buy the tickets there (but don’t forget to ask them previously about tour’s hours available in that day to prevent over waiting to a tour in your desirable language);

3) by your own, you will spend the time you want visiting the vineyards, the wine shop and the entire place, with nobody saying “we have to return now to the bus”. I hate this :)

4) this mean you will have also extra time to visit the beautiful which Santa Rita is, including the “Museo Andino” which it belongs to this winery, before or after the tour of the vineyard. Furthermore you can enjoy the excellent international cuisine at Restaurant "Dona Paula" located in the winery’s main house.

About my visit:

Oct 2012, the first time my wife and I travelled with our baby (1yr old). One of the attractions we decide to pick it up this time near Santiago was the Viña Santa Rita wines’ tour. GPS set up, baby in the car and so ready to go. Just a half hour away from our hotel at Providencia, Santiago. We made the tour in “Portunhol” (mixture of Portugue/Spanish), but it’s also available in English for instance.

The wine tour was rather unique. Just our 3 members' family and the friendly guide named Bia, nobody else. She explained us very well how wines have been producing at Santa Rita an its history. It dates back to 1814, the year in which the basement of the house of Dona Paula Jaraquemada hosted 120 soldiers led by Bernardo O'Higgins, the father of his country.

Besides the viña Santa Rita’s history, which seems very rich because it is a part of the Chilean history, the entire place is beautiful. I got very impressed how modernized they are. The number 1 in Chile! I’ve never visited a Chilean winery before with a highly automated wine production process. They told us that millions of dollars were invested in those automated equipment.