Cousiño Macul Vineyard wine tasting tour from Santiago

Step inside a cellar from 1870 where the wine stays perfectly chilled all year round

A half-day wine tasting tour from Santiago takes you to Cousiño Macul Vineyard in the Maipo Valley with hotel pickup, a local guide, and tastings of wines aged in the estate's historic cellar. The winery, founded in the 19th century and still operated by the Cousiño family after six generations, sits on the property where French architects built a limestone and brick cellar seven meters deep with a passive ventilation system that maintains 14°C and 75% humidity year-round. Morning and afternoon departures are available. The tour runs about five hours.

Step-by-step itinerary

Visit Cousiño Macul Vineyard and Cellar

• Meet local guide in Santiago
• Travel to Cousiño Macul Vineyard
• Explore 19th century cellar architecture
• Learn about passive ventilation system
• Taste traditional Chilean wines

The experience

The cellar itself is the reason to come. Built in 1870 by French architects commissioned by Luis Cousiño, it sits at the center of the property and works like a machine: double walls with air flowing between them, no electricity needed, just the physics of limestone, brick, sand and egg white mixed together to hold a constant temperature and humidity that lets wine mature exactly as it should. The basement goes seven meters down. This is not a modern climate-controlled room. It is a 19th-century engineering feat that still outperforms most wineries built today, and you walk through it.

Your guide is local and speaks Spanish or Portuguese, and the tasting happens inside the cellar or in the rooms around it. You taste the wines the vineyard produces, and the guide walks you through what you are tasting and why the place matters to Chilean wine history. Cousiño Macul is the only major Chilean vineyard founded in the 1800s still in the hands of the family that built it: six generations have run it. That continuity is not common, and it shapes how the place operates: this is not a tourist facility grafted onto a working winery, it is the winery itself, and the tour moves at the pace of someone showing you their family's work.

Hotel pickup and drop-off are included, so you do not arrange transport into the Maipo Valley. The tour runs five hours total. You can choose a morning or afternoon departure depending on when your day allows. Bring an ID if you are drinking. The minimum age is 18. Public transportation options exist nearby if you prefer to meet the group at the vineyard instead.

What’s included

• Hotel pickup and drop-off.
• a local guide speaking Spanish or Portuguese.
• wine tasting inside the historic cellar.
• access to tour the vineyard and the 1870 cellar built by French architects.

Options for this experience

2 options

Morning ServiceGuide in Spanish or Portuguese · 09:00The morning tour at the vineyard comes with shared transportation and a wine tasting. Pickup is included.

Afternoon serviceGuide in Spanish or Portuguese · 13:00Classic Tour and Tasting, includes pickup

You pick the guide language when booking.

You'll see the exact price of each option when you check availability.See dates and prices

Before you book

Days and timesTuesday, Thursday, Saturday and SundayDepartures at 09:00 and 13:00

Book up to1d before

AgesAdult (18 and older) · Under 18: can't be booked

GroupUp to 2

Live guideSpanish and Portuguese

Meeting point and pickupHotel pickup included.

Cancellation and refundsFree cancellation up to 24 h before the start. After that, no refund.

Prices and times updated today

Good to know

Low physical effortStroller-friendlyPublic transport nearbyInfants must sit on laps

Operated by TAC Turismo

Is this one for you?Choose the morning departure if you want the vineyard before the afternoon heat, or the afternoon service if your morning is already booked. Either way, the five-hour window means you see the cellar, taste the wine and return to Santiago in one half-day without splitting your itinerary.

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Top questions

What languages is the tour guided in?

Live guide in Spanish and Portuguese.

How does the 1870 cellar keep wine at the right temperature without modern cooling?

The cellar was built seven meters deep with double walls and a passive ventilation system that circulates air between them, maintaining a constant 14°C and humidity near 75% without electricity. The structure uses limestone and brick stuck together with lime and a mixture of sand and egg white, a technique French architects chose for its thermal properties.

Is this tour just tasting wine, or do I get to see how the vineyard actually works?

You tour the cellar where the wine ages in barrels, see the property where it is grown, and taste the wines with a local guide who explains the vineyard's history and what you are tasting. The tour is built around the place and the wine together, not a tasting room experience.

Can I choose between morning and afternoon, or is the time fixed?

You choose between a morning service and an afternoon service at checkout. Both run about five hours and include the same cellar tour, tasting and guide. The difference is when your day starts and when you return to your hotel.

Do I need to arrange my own way to the vineyard, or is transport included?

Hotel pickup and drop-off are included in the tour. You meet your guide at your hotel and return there at the end. Public transportation options are available nearby if you prefer to meet the group at the vineyard instead.