I spent my last day in Chile exploring the Aconcagua Valley, or more accurately the vineyards of the Aconcagua Valley! If you ask most people what Chile is famous for, wine will undoubtedly be somewhere at the top of the list, and as a personal fan of a bit of Chilean merlot I thought it would be rude not to make a visit...

There were only two of us on the tour so rather than the usual stuffy and cramped minibus we had a car - it was like being chauffeur driven around for the day! After about an hour's drive north of Santiago our first stop of the day was at the Sanchez de Loria vineyard. This is the oldest one in the region, having started in 1890. It was a very quaint place and we were given a guided tour by the owner himself - very privileged! As a fairly small operation they only produce about 100,000 bottles a year so most of their production remains in Chile rather than being exported. However, as a more boutique winery they also produced a range of other unusual drinks that we were able to try. As well as some caberbet sauvingnon and cabernet blanc, we had some sweet desert wine that was a bit like port and we were also able to taste some of the wine as it was still in the fermentation process. But my most interesting fact of the day from this winery is that despite not exporting much wine out of Chile they do in fact export some of their grapes - to Tesco in the UK of all places! And we obviously looked impressed as the owner gave us a huge free bag to take with us!

Feeling a little bit tipsy it was back in the car for a short drive to the town of San Felipe where we had a wander around the pretty central square and our guide was accosted by a local woman who insisted on telling his forune and then blessing some money - all very strange and I'm not totally sure he knew what was going on but quite amusing to watch. The usual place where we would have been taken for lunch was unfortunately closed as the owner was apparently in hospital after falling off the roof (?!) so we had to find somewhere else for our traditional Chilean lunch, but when we did it was absolutely delicious. There was a salad starter, then a huge bowl of kind of soup, but very thick and containing all sorts of beans and pasta. It sounds horrible, but was quite spicy, really tasty and very filling. And there was even desert with bananas in honey and with a drink all for less than 2GBP - amazing!

Now feeling stuffed we had to make room for a little more wine as we visited our second vineyard at San Estebal. This one was completely different, much newer, only 25 years old, and with more modern processes. Producing over one milion bottles a year, they did export overseas including to the USA and the UK. The tasting process here was much more technical as we were even given sheets to record our thoughts and taught how to check the colour, appreciate the aroma and then finally the taste! My fact of the day from this winery is that I didn't realise before that Syrah wine is actually what we more commonly known as Shiraz - Syrah is the South American name for this grape. I don't think it's as popular at home but I know I've come across as someone bought me a bottle as a present because it looks like my name!

Before we could head home there was still plenty more activity left in the day. We visited a local potter and were let loose at the wheel to produce a work of art - ok more like to see if we could actually make anything that might resemble a pot. My masterpeice ended up more like a goblet but it was fun trying. Then it was a longish walk up a hill to see some petroglyphs on the rocks at the top. These are a kind of artwork scratched onto the rocks with stones many years ago, but no-one is exactly sure who by. Some seem to resemble Andean symbols, some Inca and some more like aliens! But the view over the entire valley from up here was amazing. You could see the Andes to the east and the coastal peaks to the west and with it being autumn the fields below were all different shades of reds, browns and greens - beautiful.

On the way back to Santiago I was really struggling to stay awake after several glasses of wine and still not much sleep since I'd arrived. But our driver did his best to keep us awake when he put on a cd of him and his friend singing some reggae/latino music, and both were pretty tone deaf so made for an interesting drive! But it was a great day out and once outside the city you get a whole different perspective of what Chile is really all about.