En Fuego in Chile

I wasn't sure what to expect from Chile.  Truth be told, I was more looking forward to the second leg of the trip where we would visit Argentina, just because I had always heard so much more about Buenos Aires & Mendoza than I ever had about Santiago and the several wine regions around Chile's capital city.  

Let me start by saying -- the Andes are HUGE.  After the trip, people would ask how it was, and I kept opening with "the Andes are huge!" and they would just laugh at me like, yeah, no kidding, you idiot.  But I will continue to say it -- they were gigantic!  Along with the coastal range, we were encircled by mountains in Santiago.  It was completely breathtaking and majestic and humbling and beautiful, and no matter how hard I tried, I could not capture a decent photo that did the mountains justice. (HUGE!)  

After a fabulously unique dinner with friends at Sarita Colonia in the Recoleta neighborhood of Santiago the evening before, we began the two hour drive south to Colchagua where we had an appointment at the Montes winery.  THREE AND A HALF HOURS LATER, we finally arrive at our destination (because, when they have traffic in Chile, apparently they really have traffic in Chile -- full stop, people turning off their engines and out of their cars and chatting on Ruta 5).  We missed our appointment and I was cranky and hungry and my tenth grade Spanish is, ah, no bueno.  I couldn't communicate with the woman at the gift shop that we were very sorry (disculpa?) for being so late (tarde?) and we were stuck in traffic (atasco?) for hours and...um, what should we do now out here in the middle of nowhere? Luckily, my husband has mad Charades skills (and much better Spanish), so we figured out she was trying to tell us there was a restaurant down the hill on the same property, we should go and have almuerzo (lunch! I knew that one!).  Do you know the saying 'when one door closes, another opens'...?  

looking down the hill from Montes -- notice the smoke

Behind door number two: Fuegos de Apalta.  Yes, we were in Chile, but the chef behind this hidden treasure was none other than famed Argentine asado extraordinaire, Francis Mallmann.  Mmmmmm asado. There is nothing better than a perfectly flavored, perfectly cooked steak from an open fire to make you forget your travel woes.  A glass of Montes Carmenère made my afternoon complete.      

Asado

 
We finally did get a modified tour of Montes after lunch (which was so kind of them), and later that day we were lucky enough to have a fabulous tour of Lapostolle's Clos Apalta, arranged for us on-the-fly by friends in Santiago.  But that is a story for another day.  Right now, I want to sit back and remember the most delicious steak of my life. 

Mr. Wine Girl and his clean plate