Fact file

Itake another sniff. Clean, herbaceous and woody. Pine perhaps? I tentatively uncover the label. Rosemary. Of course! How did I not guess that? Clearly, I’m not cut out to be a sommelier. Of the 10 wine aromas I’ve tried to identify so far, I’ve correctly guessed one. And that was damp earth. Hard to wax lyrical about ‘‘notes of damp earth’’.

This entertaining guessing game is happening at Vinolia, an innovative wine centre in the upmarket Santiago suburb of Vitacura.

The premise is to provide an authentic, citybased wine-tasting experience for those who don’t have time to visit a wine region. Every day there are three tours, each focusing on one of Chile’s major wine-producing areas – Casablanca, Maipo and Colchagua.

We’re on the Colchagua tour and after being greeted with a refreshing glass of Domaine sparkling, we meet our guide Rosanna. In Spanish and English, she explains the Colchagua Valley is 145 kilometres south of Santiago, and is best known for its reds, particularly carmenere, syrah and cabernet sauvignon.

She ushers us into an adjoining ‘‘aroma room’’, where a video describes the three sources of a wine’s aroma: primary, which comes from the grape; secondary, which develops during fermentation; and tertiary, which occurs during barrelling and bottling.

Then we put our noses to the test to see how many of the 40-plus aromas we can identify. Soon the room is filled with squeals of recognition and groans of dismay as people attempt to discern scents such as plum, leather and chocolate. Even with jars of coffee beans to help reset the senses, it doesn’t take long to reach olfactory overload. Halfway through, someone cries out, ‘‘My nose is full!’’

We move into the tasting theatre next door, where tiered rows of seats face a large screen. Neatly arranged in front of each seat are five wines to try, a notepad, and a small platter of cheese and crackers.

Rosanna talks us through the tasting process. First, we study the colour (darker normally means older), then we swirl and smell. Finally, we sip, taste and optionally spit (no-one spits).

With the technique mastered, we’re ready for the main event – a guided tasting of five Colchagua wines.

However, Rosanna won’t be leading it. Instead, More information: chile.travel/en.

Getting there:

LATAM flies to Santiago five times a week from Auckland. See latam.com.

Tasting there:

Vinolia’s one-hour tasting experience runs Monday to Saturday and costs from 30,000 pesos. There is also a wine store and an excellent on-site restaurant. See vinolia.cl/en.

Touring there:

Chimu Adventures’ Chile itinerary includes flights, accommodation, transfers and tours. See chimuadventures.com.