Full Immersion: Vino, Spanglish and Pisco Sours

As well as the imposing sight of the Andean mountains forming a backdrop to Santiago, Chile is also famed for its cerro - small hills that rise out of the streets.

Castle on Santa Lucía

This morning we climbed nearby Santa Lucía, popular for a couples' stroll at dusk, and topped with the slightly odd-looking, red-painted castle ramparts of Castell Hidalgo.

Defending the hill

Albeit small, the summit provided good views of the city and the orange smog-covered Andes.

Smoggy San Cristóbal hill

Descending from the mountain, we stopped by a small vegetarian- and vegan-friendly café, Girasol*, for an empanada - a savoury pastry a bit like a pasty. As well as having veggie credentials, the owner upped the stakes by using wholemeal flour for a dense and 'healthy' snack.

* I'm not sure what it is with sunflowers (girasol) and vegetarianism, but I have seen the two connected in several countries.

The language school, at which we will be starting a course next week, organises many cultural activities throughout the week. We thought it would be good to immerse ourselves in these ahead of the classes, both to meet people and to get an initial grip on the language. The empanada lined our stomachs for today's activities, which included a winery tour and a pisco sour tasting evening. I'm not sure how 'cultural' either of these activities are, but they were certainly a baptism of fire into the Spanish language.

We found ourselves in a minibus full of students who had been learning Spanish for anywhere between six months and six years. For all intents and purposes, they seemed fluent to our ears. The  native-speaking teacher wasn't taking any hostages either, as she addressed us and the rest of the group in no-holds-barred Spanish. At the vineyard, Cousiño-Mucal, just thirty minutes outside of Santiago centre, she instructed the guide to do the same, so we understood little of the tour, but filled in the blanks from our recent trip to New Zealand's Marlborough and Central Otago regions.

Family vines at Cousiño-Mucal

Unlike the modern metal containers of NZ, the Chilean grapes are fermented in enormous 100,000 litre barrels fashioned from mighty Californian redwoods. Two of these giant vessels are solely for "the family's" use.

Just hook it to my veins

After the tour, we tasted three wines - a Sauvignon blanc, a Cabernet Sauvignon, and a Syrah.

Degustación

None set my world alight but the latter was poured with a handy little aerating gizmo, which may or may not have contributed to its round and smooth character.

I can see this going wrong after a glass or two

Back in the city, there was little time before it was pisco'clock. Pisco is a spirit made from distilled grape wine, akin to brandy, and this evening was a masterclass in its various preparations. In anticipation, we bolted a horrible sandwich from a comida rápida (fast food) restaurant, ironically named 'Sandwich Master'. It turns out that if you take the carne out of a charrasco italiano, it's a wholly unsatisfying sloppy mess of avocado and mayonnaise in a bun. No me gusta.

Pisco sour is normally blended from the spirit itself, plus lemon juice, sugar syrup, and ice.

The indomitable Jaqui makes pisco sours

Over an array of traditional sours, as well as those containing fresh basil, mango purée, and raspberry purée, we attempted a few faltering Spanglish conversations, and resolved to get much better, muy rápidemente.