Concha y Toro Vineyard

In terms of the kinds of vineyards we visited, Erin and i tried to mix it up a bit. We hit up some of the bigger more well known vineyards, things we´ve seen here and in the states a bunch, like the Concha y Toro vineyard, and we also tried to visit a few botique wineries, live the Aquitania Vineyard that only produces a very small amount of highly specialized wine each year. I found that the difference between the two kinds of wineries is not neccesairily quality, but quantity. Concha y Toro has vineyards all over Chile, they produce a huge quantiy of red and white wines of every variety and flavor. They have tours about ever 30 minutes. Their wine ranges from cheap, not so great tasting wines, to well made reserve wines that aren´t too expensive. Smaller wineries like Aquitania produce less wine, they are more selective about the kind of wines they produce, and how much of each variety they will produce each year. Basically, once they´re out, they´re out. They have certain quotas that they ship abroad, mainly to russia, the states, and japan. They keep a very small quantitiy for select resturants in chile, and the remainder is saved for people who visit the vineyard, and want to purchase wine there. Of course, my favorite part of all of these visits is the tasting, but i certainly feel like i understand the fine art of wine making much much more now, and therefore am appreciating each and every bottle i drink :)