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A Desert Repose

By Chris Thompson - 2009-07-07

Months earlier we had met some happy Canadian cyclists, Mike and Jenna (check out their blog, ‘Long Haul Honeymoon’ on our Blog-Roll). After talking for a few minutes on the side of the road, they told us we had to stay with Amelie and Jose Miguel in Copiapo, Chile, when we were in the desert. They sent us an introductory e-mail, and we proceeded on our ways. Cue to the desert. We rolled down into the small town of Copiapo expecting a day of rest, and then back on the road. As soon as we arrived, we felt like we were in paradise. Amelie, Jose Miguel, and their daughters Maite and Elisa were a wonderful family, and they had made the most beautiful home out here in the desert.

They informed us that we had to stay for the weekend. It was labor day weekend in Chile, and they were going to be pressing the wine from their vinyard this Saturday. After riding through kilometers and kilometers of vinyards through Chile, Mike and I knew this was a chance we couldn’t pass up.

We learned a lot about winemaking that weekend. Jose Miguel is a lawyer for a mining company in the desert, and he and Amelie run a vinyard in their spare time. Jose told us about the different kinds of grapes that go into the wine, and how the soil and weather affect their flavor.

We went over to the huge stainless steel vats, that held hundreds of gallons of blood red juice. The grapes had been sitting in the vats for some time now, and we needed to seperate the grapes from the juice. To do that, we used a couple pumps, and sometimes buckets, to move the grapes and juice into a big press. Then we used it to seperate the grapes and juice. After that, the juice went back into the vats to ferment and become wine.

The vinyard is a friends and family effort. Everyone helped out, and Jose Miguel and Amelies friends and neighbors came over to hang out, relax, and help with the work. It was fun and messy, and a great way to get to know some cool Chileans.