Visit Flaherty winery

Flaherty Wines is a boutique winery in Chile, specializing in red blends since 2004.

PRESENTATION OF THE WINERY

Ed Flaherty and Jenny Hoover, both from California, came to Chile in 1993 with the intention of working a vintage, and stayed. The country has an exceptional climate for viticulture, producing ripe fruit with soft tannins and intense primary fruit flavors.

Since his arrival, Ed has worked with some of the country's most prominent wineries, including Cono Sur, Errázuriz and Tarapacá. As an executive winemaker, he spent more time in the office and lab than in the winery. He created Flaherty Wines in 2004 to work more directly in the winemaking process. Flaherty is one of the few boutique wineries in Chile. It began producing 1200 bottles of a single blend in 2004, growing to around 40,000 bottles in 2017, which includes three blends from Aconcagua and Cauquenes. Half of the production is sold in Chile, and the rest is exported to Germany, Brazil, Korea and the United States.

Today, there are more and more boutique wineries in Chile, where the local industry has traditionally been dominated by a few corporate groups. However, in the last 10 years, the market has welcomed several SME-type projects. Flaherty Wines is one of the founding members of the Movimiento de Viñateros Independiente (MOVI), a trade group for small wineries with the direct participation of the owners. Among other activities, it organizes an annual wine fair, MOVI Night, in Santiago in November each year.

Although it is said that winemaking is an art, in fact wine is made to be consumed-and rarely drunk on its own. So while Ed is in the cellar working with the blends, Jenny is in the kitchen, preparing something tasty for visitors or the team.


VISITS


The Flaherty Wines winery occupies the space of the manor house of an old estate, formerly known as Fundo El Magnolio because of the giant trees that stand in the park. The postcolonial mansion, over a hundred years old, is made of adobe and retains much of its original style and architecture. Tours, tastings and lunch, prepared by Chef Jen in the remodeled kitchen, are available by appointment. In addition, the sales room is open to the public Monday through Saturday, from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm.

To learn more about the other wineries in the valley, visit the Aconcagua Winemakers website. (1)

(1) Source: winery's website