Registered wineries on The Squeeze Magazine
Viña Tabali is a risk-taking winery, planting 180 hectares of vineyards on virgin lands in an area that wasn’t well known for wine before they started in 1993. They hit gold though with chalky soils and cool, coastal conditions that are the key to their stellar Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Sauvignon Blanc among other varieties including their top-of-the-range Syrah.
Tabali winery and vineyards is in one of the northern-most wine regions in Chile, Limarí, near the Fray Jorge National Reserve, a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. If you are coming from La Serena, it is a day visit and is open to tourism where you can visit Tabalí winery and cellar and finish with an outdoor tasting overlooking the valley.
About Tabalí Winery
Back in 2002 when Chilean businessman Guillermo Luksic founded Viña Tabalí, he was taking a chance on an area that was largely unexplored in viticultural terms. His instinct paid off and today the Limarí Valley is gaining a reputation as one of Chile’s most exciting wine regions and Tabalí as one of its most emblematic producers.
The company, now led by Guillermo’s son Nicolás, remains largely focussed on the Limarí Valley with vineyards close to the ocean and in the Andean foothills, but in 2013, they also acquired a vineyard in the traditional Maipo Valley to produce high-end Cabernet Sauvignon.
The company has always sought to make quality terroir-focused wines. Nicolás explains, “what we are seeking is to produce high-quality wines that reveal their origin and transport the person tasting them to the soil and climate of Tabalí’s vineyards. That’s what my father always wanted to transmit.”
Tabalí’s winery building is visually quite stunning. Built in a ravine, it is intended to fit into its environment and to echo the way of life of the Molle people who once lived in this area. The stainless steel tanks stand in the open air, protected from the sun by a roof.
