Doña Luisa Vineyard is located in the southern part of the winegrowing valley in Bio Bio region of Chile, on the south bank of the river with the same name. It was a village in a rural area founded by Spaniards mid-Sixteenth century, when the Spanish conquest was in full development and where many important battles with the Mapuche resistance took place. Gold was heavily extracted for shipments to Spain, so the town took its name from the local language, the word Millapoa, which means “Gold Belly”.
According to history, the vineyards were settled mid-Seventeenth century, and what today remains of the original vineyard belongs to our family since the 18th century, around the year 1780. My great-grandmother, Felicinda, inherited the land from her great-grandfather, and then had an arranged marriage around 1880, time when wine trading to the Chilean south started with the help of the newly opened railway. This trade was maintained until 1970 to be followed by its decline in the coming years. Today, its winegrower or “viñatero” as it is called in Chile is Patricio Cea Navarrete (@cepapais in instagram and twitter) who represents the seventh generation in charge of the vineyard, with the support of his son Bastian (Winemaker Technician of Universidad de las Americas).
Nowadays, without forgetting our past and our passion for wine, and with the rich knowledge we have accumulated, we keep up our lives’ mission, which is precisely, to keep cultivating our business, improving our quality of life and our wines, living a simple lifestyle without great luxury, but with a richness of spirit and unparalleled experiences. This is the approach that makes our lives full of vast sensations and emotions.
Because of the historical location of our land, here we also find a Spanish fort and a cemetery resulting from a leprosy outbreak. In addition, we have exceptional landscapes due to the proximity of the river; therefore we have expanded our activities to include wine tourism and a little hostel.
We exclusively grow the original or ancient Pais vine, that we have learned to take advantage of in order to obtain a variety of products (white, rosè, red, asoleado or sunny wines, chicha and liquors made from local and centenary fruits).
We have not been awarded yet, as we are barely starting to get recognition after receiving training in the Viticulture and Enology Extension Center of Southern Chile (sponsored by UC Davis in California and the University of Concepcion) in 2017. Just in 2018 we started to produce hygienically perfect wines, as all parts of the production process were kept the same as the original process.
We recently signed an agreement to apply for a certified seal of “clean production” with the Climate Change and Sustainability Agency of the Chilean Ministry of Economy. With the technical support of Federico Santa Maria University in Concepcion we hope to obtain the certification to allow us to produce high quality, natural and organic wines.
Vineyard
Cellar
