I love a good truck ride through a vineyard. Today: Viña Ventisquero in the Apalta Valley. Our rickety truck provided us with insane views and dust in every crevice of our bodies. (I kept singing that Kings of Leon song “dusty, oh dustyyyy” in my head the whole time.)

Sergio the winemaker showed us how to spot Carmenere vines (copper on the leaf edge, red stripe on the stem). I love being able to tell the grape that’s growing just by the vines, I feel so baller.

We got to taste the two Carmeneres they make: the very good value Root 1 (12 bucks) and the even better (and more money but still worth it $35) Vertice. Both had awesome green bell pepper and black cherry; the Vertice also had some dark chocolate on the finish. Carmenere is probably my favorite grape from Chile. They actually grow more Cab here, but I think the Carms have way more character.

Then we had Hora Feliz (happy hour, obv) on the deck with basically the most amazing view.

That was followed by a delicious lunch with their Pinot Noir and Cab, and THAT was followed by a typical Chilean dessert called mote con huesillo (peaches and a sort of wheat grain thing in a light juice). So full.