Chile's wines are on the move and deserve close attention.

We're in Santiago for Vinos de Chile 2009, a wine fair hosted the last week in September each year by the Hotel Plaza San Francisco in the city's historic downtown.

This year more than fifty of Latin America's finest wineries offered samples of their finest wines to guests from around the world. For the first time vineyards from Brazil and Argentina were represented and many new and innovative wines were offered for tasting.

Evenings spent sampling a number of Latin American wines provide a great overview to South American wine, but getting out of the city and into the valleys and vineyards where the grapes are grown and to the wineries is essential to understanding the wines of any country.

Chile is a long narrow country with countless micro climates and other factors that lend great nuance to the various varietals. It's two mountain ranges diverge and split as the rivers cut through the valleys. The same grape grown in one vineyard may sprout leaves days later than those in a vineyard down the road but might be harvested a week or so earlier depending on the terroir.

Daytrips from Santiago to wineries are easy to arrange and the infrastructure for wine tourism gets better each year. We booked two day trips this visit through Santiago Adventures, a tour operator experienced in arranging wine tours and based in Santiago.

On our first full day in Santiago we headed to the Aconcagua Valley. Aconcagua, north of Santiago, is the highest peak in the Americas. On the way there our drive, close to the foothills of the Andes on the new highway east of Santiago, took us first through a sprawling industrial area on the city's outskirts then past clusters of new homes clinging to the foothills before we got to the countryside where wine and table grape vines, pear and apple orchards and walnut and olives groves dominated the scene.

Our first stop was Viña San Esteban in Los Andes. This vineyard is shadowed by Mt. Aconcagua and produces very impressive red wines. After a tour of the cellars and bottling facility, we tasted their In Situ label wines along with locally grown walnuts and raisins made from San Esteban's own table grapes.

A delicious lunch followed at Casa San Regis, a restored hacienda that now houses a restaurant and small guesthouse.

Next we were off to Viña Errazuriz, a well-known name in Chilean agriculture before the family entered the wine business. It is one of the oldest and considered one of the most beautiful wineries in Chile.

Our last stop was at Viña Von Stiebenthal in the western end of the Aconcagua Valley, a boutique winery that produces high quality, upscale wines.

We returned to Santiago with a little time to catch our breath and cleanse our palates before beginning to work our way through the hundreds of wines that were being offered for tasting at Vinos de Chile this year.

The next day we headed south to the Maipo Valley. This is the valley where some of Chile's most well-known names in wine are located - Concha y Toro, Santa Rita and Casiño Macul. Tours to these facilities are easy to arrange but this time we opted for other wineries in Maipo, some a little off the beaten path.

Our first stop was Viña Antiyal, a small organic and bio-dynamic winery started by Alvaro Espinoza and his wife Marina on a one hectare plot in the Maipo valley. After directing the organic program from its beginning at Viña Carmen, and while continuing to advise wineries working with organic methods, he is also now producing wine at his own vineyard. Now comprised of seven hectares of vines in two locations the Espinozas produce about 25,000 bottles of wine under their two labels, Antiyal and Kuyen completely by hand.

From the fertilizer producing llamas to the Maipucho inspired wine labels, this small winery embraces and reveres the land and the vines.

Lunch was at a favorite restaurant in Pirque, Septimo Cielo. Here our host Sergio, an engineer by trade but an artist and entrepreneur in his heart, welcomes guests with the "world's best pisco sours" in his garden followed by exquisitely prepared food served in a colorful dining room where groups of eclectic objects are artistically displayed.

Next we visited Viña Almaviva, a sleek, modern winery resulting from a partnership between Baroness Philippine de Rothschild (Mouton-Rothschild) and Concho y Toro. Cutting edge technology is the key to the top quality wines they produce.

Last stop was Viña Aquatania, a vineyard surrounded by suburbs on the outskirts of Santiago, Here three Frenchmen and a Chilean have formed a partnership and are producing wines with universal appeal.

We ended our day at Vinos de Chile knowing we would be heading to a few of the valleys represented there over the next few days.

Day trips from Santiago are a great way to become familiar with wines produced in Chile - longer trips are even better.

We'll have more about our trip in coming days and Peter will add his tasting notes from Vinos de Chile and the wineries we visit.