A Unique Opportunity

 

*Note: This is my own property & I will remain in the neighbourhood very close by when this property is sold. I can assist with managing the vineyard, making your wine, buying the grapes from you, or a combination of all the options, if required. I will remain fully involved in the wine business in general and in the neighbourhood for the foreseeable future. The property can be purchased with or without winemaking and vineyard equipment. The sale of this property is commission-free.*

 

It is extremely rare for a property and project such as this to come on the market. If you’re looking for an instant introduction to the wine industry, with a beautiful home plus an income-producing boutique hotel attached, then there is no better option in Chile. For more information, please email. Below is an outline of the property and the project. It is located just 2.5 hours south of Santiago.

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Please note that although the existing wine stock and our brand name are not included in the price, we are open to the possibility of selling the wine and transferring the brand name as well. In this case, I would be more than happy to stay on and assist with the handover for a period of 12-24 months, or to continue to manage the property and brand for longer. Any handover would include transfer to our existing existing importers in the UK, US, Hong Kong and Sweden, and help with the local market. I would remain long-term in the neighbourhood less than 1km away to work on our new project, so would be available to help with anything you might require.

 

The Neighbourhood

 

Santa Ana is a small area of land between Santa Cruz and Pichilemu, where a community of like-minded friends have set about creating a world-class winery and vineyard neighbourhood. There are now 7 boutique wineries, all within a couple of minutes of each other, all producing high-quality wines, and all working their vineyards organically. There is nowhere else in Chile like Santa Ana- it is utterly unique. Weekends are spent at endless lunches with friends and there’s a wonderful community of both long-term locals and people newer to the neighbourhood.

 

We have no plans to move away from Santa Ana ourselves! We will remain in the neighbourhood and the only reason we are considering selling is because we enjoy creating new projects and homes, and we have plans to further add to the neighbourhood with a new project- vineyard, home and winery- to further improve the area and help increase land values! We are certainly in no rush to sell and will continue to work on and invest in the property and the project until the time comes to sell- we have just finishing building a new winery and are planting new vineyard too, on top of adding gardens and improvements to the houses.

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The Vineyard

 

Purchased in 2011 with nothing planted and only a tumbledown, earthquake-damaged, 100-year old adobe workers’ cottage on the 3.4 hectares (8.5 acres) of land, we have created a unique business and lifestyle property in Chile’s famous Colchagua Valley. 

 

In 2013, we planted our main vineyard with the 3 main Rhône varietals: One hectare (2.5 acres) in total of Grenache, Syrah, and Mourvedre. Our first production was in 2015, with 1 barrel produced, and in 2016 we produced our first commercial vintage. Since then, we have increased the production from the vineyard to around 6,000 bottles of our main blend, and 4,000+ bottles of other wines.

 

Additionally, in 2016 and 2017, we planted another half hectare of vines of Cinsault and Grenache, plus a 0.1 hectares of Marselan and Roussanne (white). These vines are now in full production and have formed part of our main blend and also new wines we produce. 

 

In 2019 we planted a small area with white Marsanne and Viognier vines, which will come into production for the 2024 harvest.

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And in 2023 we planted planted 800 Grenache Bland vines and a further 400 Roussanne vines, as we look to make white wine in the near future.

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We are fully focused on Rhône varietals and continue to invest in new vineyard on the property.

 

Production from the vineyard in total (2 hectares/5 acres) is around 12,000-14,000kg per year, which translates into between 7,500 and 9,500 bottles per year. Our 2018 blend was named in the top 10 best blends in Chile by La Cav, the country’s preeminent wine magazine, and our wines have consistently scored 90+ points in both the local and international press. We export to 4 countries and our US importer is owned and run by a Master of Wine. The US importer is also *national*, which is extremely rare for a small winery to find.

 

The entire property is managed organically, with zero use of herbicide or chemical pesticides since we purchased in 2011. We have left small areas totally wild to increase biodiversity and have seen a huge increase in birds and insects on the land in the past few years.

 

 

The Winery & Hotel

 

The only building on the land when it was purchased was an earthquake damaged adobe workers’ cottage. This building was fully renovated, strengthened and expanded in 2011-2012 and converted into our home. Reclaimed, antique roof tiles were used for the roof, and the traditional Chilean Colonial-style of the original cottage was respected.

 

In 2017, work commenced on a new, main home on the property, and at the same time the original home was converted into our winery, tasting room, and small-scale boutique hotel. The total square metres of the winery/hotel building is now +/-190m2 and includes:

 

• 1,000m2 of fenced-in land

• 50m2, fully equipped winery, and large storage and laboratory space,

          with crush-pad outside

• Tasting room, with bathroom

• 2 luxury, fully-equipped and fully-furnished studio apartments, each with large kitchens

• Swimming pool with landscaped gardens

• Laundry and storeroom

• Staging kitchen

• Bathroom

• 60m2 outdoor dining area

• Grape pergola

• BBQ and mud oven

• Mini-nature reserve with lagoon and native tree plantation

• Mature gardens of roses, olives, palm-trees & grapevines

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New Winery Building

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We have recently built a new winery building of 75m2 to give us more space to grow our wine business. The beautiful exposed brick design was inspired by a Victorian-era winery building in Australia and also buildings in London. We did not want to build something basic, but something that would help beautify our project and we are thrilled with the result. The interior is fully insulated and the roof has double the usual insulation too, with the intention to reduce energy usage and cost through reduced use of air-conditioning.

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*Note that it is possible to only purchase this original home/hotel with 2 hectares of land (1 hectare of vineyard), including all of the above, plus what is mentioned in the Additional Infrastructure and Additional Buildings below for $630.000.000 pesos. The hotel can be easily re-converted into a stunning home and plans have already been drawn up to do this. We can help you undertake all of this work as we have extensive construction experience and a great team of builders on hand.*

 

The New Home

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In 2017 construction started on a new, main house for the property. This home was built as a beach-style, modern home and has stunning views over the Cinsault vineyard and towards the spectacular sunsets. It has a total, interior space of 200m2, plus 60m2+ of covered deck, and a 20m2 roof terrace that could be converted into interior space, if required.

 

The home has 2 bedrooms, both with en-suite bathrooms, an office, gym, pantry, guest bathroom, large sunroom, and a huge open-plan kitchen-living-dining area. There is also a roof-terrace with 360 degree views over the entire property. 

 

The huge windows- all double glazed- allow for stunning views over the front garden, vineyard and direct access to the covered deck, perfect for evening drinks. 

 

The back garden has a vegetable patch, flower garden and small olive-tree plantation, plus a mini-native forest.

 

Additional Buildings

 

• A caretaker’s cottage of 85m2 was built in the traditional Colonial-style in 2014 and has 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, integrated kitchen-living-dining room, pantry/storage, outdoor deck and is completely fenced in, with a mature rose garden out front. This home has been used by our caretaker and by international volunteers, who come to work on the property in exchange for board and lodging. At the moment, the house is occupied by our full-time worker.

• A fully insulated 120m2 wine storage unit with air-conditioning was built in 2017 and has space for more than 40,000 bottles. A look-out was built for tourism purposes on top of the building and affords incredible views over the entire property.

• Both the winery/hotel and the new home have large sheds which house water tanks, with additional space for storage of tools and equipment.

 

Additional Infrastructure & Land

 

• In 2020, a 10KW solar plant was installed. This is an on-grid system, which sells excess production back to the grid. Average monthly electricity bills are now barely above the fixed charge, a saving of an average $200.000 per month ($2.4 million pesos per year, +/-US$3,400). This is the largest domestic solar energy system on the market.

 

• A deep well of 42m provides irrigation water for the vineyard (with subterranean water rights of 1 litre per second included), and also clean, chlorine-free water for the winery and hotel. The water is stored in a tank and pumped out via a UV filter to the building. The vineyard is irrigated directly from the well, via driplines.

 

• The property also comes with water rights from the canal system, sufficient for the irrigation of the entire plantation.

 

• The entire property is fenced with chain-link fence, dug in 30cm deep with planks nailed to the base and chicken wire as an additional defence to ensure dogs or other animals can’t dig in or out. There is mature hawthorn hedge along the front and side of the property.

 

• There is a chicken-coop with pond for ducks (if the pond were lined, it could be used to store water from the canal for irrigation or emergency use)

 

• There remains 1 full hectare (2.5 acres) of land available for further plantations or buildings.

 

• The road to the property is paved in its entirety.

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• The houses and buildings have been registered with the Municipality- all paperwork is in order.

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This is a unique property, in a wonderful community, and just 2.5 hours from Santiago. The town of Santa Cruz, with large supermarkets, excellent restaurants, and good schools is just 30 minutes away, and the rapidly improving surf town of Pichilemu, is 45 minutes away.