Catching up … post from June.
As the school year wraps up, I know to anticipate one thing. Tony is off limits. He will either be (a) writing exams or (b) grading exams. And he is disinclined to give up weekend time when those tasks are looming over him.
Knowing that I know that, he generously threw me a bone at the end of May, before life got too hectic. Imagine my shock when he asked, “Want to take a day trip somewhere, maybe to a winery?” Ummm … OK? He even picked the winery: Santa Rita, less than an hour’s drive from Santiago.
Never mind that Santa Rita is the brand preferred by the homeless man who hangs out at our neighborhood supermarket, chugging wine from a tetrapack. I was just happy to get away!
We took our friends Stella and Ian, and I figured we’d be the only ones there. It was autumn in Chile, after all. Not peak season. Unfortunately, there was a huge group of cackley tourists. Funny how I like to BE the cackley tourist, but I don’t like to be AROUND the cackley tourists.
The tour was pretty standard. Quick introduction to the winery with a peek at the vines. Visit to one of the cellars. View of the bottling area. And then a wine tasting. There was an additional attraction: a cheesy little video with spotlights on mannequins reenacting a key event in the winery’s history.
Stella and I were especially excited to take the pedal bar tour, but unfortunately, our timing was off. We missed the tour, but jumped aboard for a photo.
Santa Rita may not be my favorite wine, but I love living in a country with a wine culture. How cool is it that we can just pop over to a winery for the day? So many wineries, so little time …
