More than 135 initiatives participated in the process that seeks to distinguish the best Chilean wineries. It not only consider a national jury, but also popular vote.

The experience offered by Viña Santa Rita constitutes a fascinating journey through the cultural heritage of Chile and the tradition of the national wine.

Santa Rita took the first place as the “Best Wine Tourism Experience” in the “Chile Wine Tourism Awards”, an initiative that seeks to identify and recognize the best wine tourism experiences and activities with a high positive impact in the territories where it takes place. This was organized by Corfo’s Chile Wine Tourism program.

The preservation of national heritage and its dissemination was one of the great attributes that led the winery to position itself as the best experience in Chile. Elena Carretero, Corporate Affairs and Sustainability Director of Viña Santa Rita, said, “We feel much honored by this great recognition of our work to preserve more than 140 years of history. Offering our visitors a proposal that combines the tradition of Chilean wine with innovation, in an incomparable environment of culture, heritage, nature and gastronomy, always trying to deliver an excellent service”.

Santa Rita was founded in 1880 by Domingo Fernández Concha, a Chilean businessman who commissioned the German architect Teodoro Burchard to build his Pompeian-style summer manor house, which today gives life to Hotel Casa Real and where his grandson, the renowned Chilean poet Vicente Huidobro, spent long seasons. Currently, this 16-room boutique hotel seeks to be a world benchmark for heritage hotels in wineries, giving guests an exclusive experience in a place declared a historical monument, always with wine at the center. Its Pompeian style has been maintained over time, making this historical monument a unique place in Chile where you can breathe the country’s winemaking tradition.

The wineries’ heritage experience also includes a neo-Gothic chapel next to the hotel, surrounded by a 40-hectare park declared a Historic Monument and designed by the French landscape architect Guillermo Renner. Also, Doña Paula restaurant, a building that dates back to 1760. It name honors Paula Jaraquemada, who gave shelter in this place to 120 patriots who fought for the Independence of Chile, in the Battle of Cancha Rayada.

In addition, Andean Museum of the Claro Vial Foundation, which have a collection of around 3,000 archaeological and ethnographic pieces of pre-Columbian people who inhabited our territory, along with expressions of the mixing of cultures from America and Chile.

“Nowadays, thanks to the restoration work that has been done, Chilean and foreign visitors can get to know an integrated and heritage tourism proposal that seeks preservation for future generations. The work of disseminating culture and heritage, together with the integration of communities, is a central axis to value an activity with so much history and roots in the Chilean territory”, added Carretero.

Chilean Wine Tourism Awards

135 participants underwent evaluation by a regional jury whose mission was to select the three semifinalists for each region. Then, through popular vote, the public chose the 12 regional finalists. Finally, a national jury chose the winners in three categories: “Best Wine Tourism Experience”, with Viña Santa Rita, “Best Emerging Winery”, with Viña Mujeres del Itata, and “Best Short Story on Wine Tourism”, which was left to Clara Ines Arteaga.

Chilean Wine Tourism Awards, in addition to supporting the reactivation of the tourism sector, deliver a clear signal about the importance of involving the regions in each of the actions that Corfo is promoting with Strategic Programs such as Chile Wine Tourism. It seeks to develop and strengthen the industry in Chile and in the world, promoting and driving the sector in an attractive, innovative, competitive and sustainable way.