Drinking Elsewhere A Visit To A Small Winery In Chile S Maipo Valley

• Julia Thiel
• Mario Ravenna, tasting wine from the barrel

In the mid-aughts I lived in Santiago, Chile, for a couple years, and despite the city’s proximity to the wine-producing Maipo Valley, I never went to any of the vineyards there. But when I visited the city recently, on the plane ride from Miami to Santiago I sat next to a race-car driver named Carlo who had just been to Disney World with his extended family (I’d noticed the group in the airport—the half-dozen kids clutching enormous stuffed dolphins made them stand out). Carlo asked if I was interested in wine; he had a friend who owned an organic winery just south of the city and he’d be happy to put us in touch.

I was, and he did. I got an e-mail from Mario Ravenna, owner of Huelquen Winery, within a few hours of my flight’s arrival. We arranged a tour, and a week or so later, two friends and I drove out to the vineyard. Mario was waiting outside with his friend Carola, her son, and her niece.