The Geese, the Bicycle & the Seven-Valley Hand
Cono Sur is the third-largest exporter of bottled wine in Chile and a Top 10 Most Admired Wine Brand in the world — a 1,600-hectare estate stretching from the Limarí Valley to the Bío Bío, founded in 1993 as a subsidiary of Concha y Toro by the Guilisasti and Larraín families. While it shares ownership with Chile's largest wine dynasty, Cono Sur operates with complete independence in winemaking, with its own vineyards, cellars, and philosophy. The name means "Southern Cone" — a geographic reference to South America's southern tip, and a play on the word connoisseur. From the beginning, the vision was clear: premium, expressive, innovative New World wines that would challenge the assumption that Chile could only produce volume. In 1999, chief winemaker Adolfo Hurtado — who had trained at Domaine Jacques Prieur in Burgundy — launched the Pinot Noir Project with guidance from Burgundian expert Martin Prieur, a gamble that would make Cono Sur the largest producer of Pinot Noir in South America. That same year, the winery began its organic viticulture project with 40 hectares in Colchagua. By 2002, Cono Sur became the first South American winery to earn double ISO certification — one for quality assurance, one for environmental policy. By 2003, it had produced its first certified organic wine and launched Ocio — the icon Pinot Noir that remains, two decades later, an ambassador for Chilean Pinot Noir on the world stage. Today, the estate manages over 314 hectares of certified organic vineyards, uses 1,000 geese for natural pest control, has been carbon-neutral in transport since 2007, achieved B Corp certification in 2021, and was the official wine of the Tour de France in 2015. The workers still navigate the vineyards on pedal bicycles — a quiet symbol of a philosophy that places sustainability, innovation, and respect for the land at the centre of everything.
The Concha y Toro Heir, the Burgundian Gamble & the Independent Hand
The story of Cono Sur begins with the Guilisasti and Larraín families — two of Chile's most powerful wine dynasties, whose involvement in Concha y Toro stretches back generations. In 1993, they founded Cono Sur as a separate subsidiary with a radically different objective: not to replicate Concha y Toro's mass-market success, but to capture the fine wine export market with premium, expressive, innovative wines that conveyed the spirit of the New World. The name — Cono Sur — is a geographic statement of pride: wines made in South America's Southern Cone, on whose western edge lies Chile and its gifted valleys. The logo is a freehand drawing of the silhouette of South America. From day one, the message was clear: this is not Concha y Toro. This is something new.
The winery was built in Chimbarongo, in the heart of the Colchagua Valley, with state-of-the-art infrastructure designed for the delicate handling of grapes and wine. Today, the winery has a total capacity of 12 million litres in temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks, an ageing cellar holding up to 4,000 barrels, and a boutique annex devoted exclusively to premium Pinot Noir with a capacity of 530,000 litres. But infrastructure alone does not make a winery. The soul of Cono Sur was forged in 1999, when chief winemaker Adolfo Hurtado — a man who had worked at Domaine Jacques Prieur in Burgundy — launched the Pinot Noir Project. At the time, few people believed in the potential quality of Chilean Pinot Noir. Hurtado, with guidance from Burgundian expert Martin Prieur, set out to prove them wrong. The goal was not to copy Burgundy, but to create a distinctly Chilean style — expressive, delicate, complex — from the cool coastal valleys of Casablanca, San Antonio, and Colchagua.
That same year, 1999, Cono Sur planted its first 40 organic hectares in Colchagua — the beginning of a sustainability journey that would redefine the winery's identity. In 2002, Cono Sur became the first winery in South America to receive double ISO certification — ISO 9001 for quality assurance and ISO 14001 for environmental policy. In 2003, after the necessary three-year transition, the first certified organic wine was released: a Cabernet Sauvignon / Carménère blend, certified by BCS Oeko Garantie Germany. Also in 2003, Ocio — the icon Pinot Noir — was launched, a wine that would become the standard-bearer for Chilean Pinot Noir internationally. In 2007, Cono Sur achieved carbon-neutral transport status — the first winery in the world to do so — through lightweight bottles and carbon offsetting. By 2021, the winery had achieved B Corp certification, joining the global community of companies that meet the highest standards of social and environmental performance. What began as a risky subsidiary in 1993 had become a global Top 10 Most Admired Wine Brand — and the largest producer of Pinot Noir in South America.
"The project began at a time when few people believed in the potential quality of Chilean Pinot Noir. It was a very innovative project that aimed to show another side of Chilean wines: those from cool-climate regions. Ocio was the first Pinot Noir to follow this path: a wine that is both highly complex and delicate."
— Matías Ríos, Winemaking Director, Cono Sur
Seven Valleys, the Goose Patrol & the Biodiverse Hand
Cono Sur's vineyards span seven of Chile's most important wine valleys — Colchagua, Casablanca, Maipo, San Antonio, Bío Bío, Cachapoal, and Limarí — a geographic stretch of 1,600 hectares that is virtually unmatched in its diversity. The enterprise owns vineyards from the Limarí Valley in the north to the Bío Bío Valley in the south, meaning the possibilities for growing diverse grape varieties are virtually limitless. The white varieties — Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Riesling, Viognier, Gewürztraminer — thrive in the cool coastal valleys of Casablanca, San Antonio, and Bío Bío. The reds — Cabernet Sauvignon, Carménère, Pinot Noir, Syrah, Merlot — find their expression in the granitic soils of Colchagua, Maipo, and Cachapoal. This is not a single-valley philosophy; it is a national philosophy — the belief that Chile's geographic isolation, protected by the Andes to the east, the Pacific to the west, the Atacama Desert to the north, and ancient glaciers to the south, creates a natural laboratory for winegrowing that is free from phylloxera and rich in possibility.
The heart of the operation is Chimbarongo in the Colchagua Valley — where the main winery is located and where the Santa Elisa Estate provides the backbone of the red wine programme. The soils are alluvial and gravelly, low in fertility — ideal for concentration and structure. The El Centinela Estate in Casablanca provides mineral soils with red clay for the cool-climate whites and Pinot Noir. The El Marco Estate in Casablanca and the El Recurso Estate in Maipo add further dimensions of terroir. But perhaps the most exciting vineyard is the Quitralmán Estate in the Bío Bío Valley — home to the Rulos del Alto block, containing some of the oldest vines planted in the valley, with no irrigation, extreme southern cold-climate conditions, and red clay soils that produce a Riesling of crystalline purity. In San Antonio, the cool, fog-influenced coastal sites have become the exclusive source for Ocio Pinot Noir since the 2021 vintage — a long-term investment that began with vines planted in 2000.
What makes Cono Sur's vineyards truly distinctive, however, is not just their geography but their biology. The estate is home to 1,000 geese who roam the Chimbarongo vineyards eating the burrito insect — a pest that destroys shoots and bunches. The only problem is that the geese also love grapes, so during harvest they are "sent to gaol" — banned from the vineyard for three months until the fruit is safely in the cellar. Between the vines, poppies are planted to attract the California thrips, which would otherwise eat the vine flowers. Grass is planted to provide a home for the white spider, the natural predator of the red spider that sucks the juices from vine leaves. Garlic-and-glue-soaked cloth strips are wrapped around posts to trap insects before they climb. The workers navigate the estate on pedal bicycles — a quiet, low-carbon, low-impact way of moving through the vines. This is not industrial agriculture; it is agriculture as ecosystem — a system where nature does the work, and the human hand is there to guide, not to dominate.
Chimbarongo is the operational and spiritual centre of Cono Sur — a town in the Colchagua Valley where the main winery was built in 1993 and where the Santa Elisa Estate provides the backbone of the red wine programme. The soils are alluvial and gravelly, low in fertility, with vertical trellis and drip irrigation. It was here that the first 40 organic hectares were planted in 1999, and here that the 1,000 geese patrol the vines, eating burrito insects and fertilising the soil. The winery itself — with 12 million litres of stainless steel capacity, 4,000 barrels, and a boutique Pinot Noir annex — is a marvel of modern wine technology designed for gentle handling. Chimbarongo is not just a location; it is the birthplace of Cono Sur's sustainability revolution and the place where the Guilisasti and Larraín families bet on a different kind of Chilean wine.
Cono Sur's vineyards stretch across seven of Chile's wine valleys: Colchagua, Casablanca, Maipo, San Antonio, Bío Bío, Cachapoal, and Limarí. This geographic diversity is a deliberate strategy to prove that premium wine can be made from the desert-influenced north to the cool southern frontier. The coastal valleys — Casablanca, San Antonio, and Bío Bío — provide the cool climate, high luminosity, and significant daily temperature variation that Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Riesling demand. The interior valleys — Colchagua, Maipo, and Cachapoal — provide the warmer, granitic, alluvial soils that Cabernet Sauvignon, Carménère, and Syrah need to achieve concentration and structure. Limarí adds a northern, mineral dimension. Together, these seven valleys give Cono Sur a palette of terroirs that spans the entire length of Chile's wine country — and all of them are farmed with integrated management, cover crops, and natural pest control.
The Quitralmán Estate in the Bío Bío Valley is Cono Sur's southern outpost — a cool-climate site that represents the frontier of Chilean viticulture. The Rulos del Alto block contains some of the oldest vines planted in the valley, farmed with no irrigation, experiencing some of the lowest average temperatures during grape ripening. The red clay soils add a mineral, almost slate-like character to the wines. This is where the Single Vineyard Riesling and Reserva Especial Riesling are born — wines of crystalline purity, white blossom aromatics, and vibrant natural acidity that have won gold at the Global Riesling Masters. For Cono Sur, Bío Bío is the proof that Chile's southern valleys can produce world-class cool-climate white wines with the same precision and elegance as the Mosel or Alsace — and that sustainable farming can push the boundaries of where fine wine is possible.
Cono Sur's vineyards are a living ecosystem where animals, insects, and plants do the work that chemicals do elsewhere. The 1,000 geese at Chimbarongo eat burrito insects and provide natural fertiliser — but are banned from the vineyard during harvest because they also love grapes. Poppies planted between vines attract California thrips, diverting them from the vine flowers. Grass corridors host white spiders, the natural predators of the red spider that attacks vine leaves. Garlic-and-glue-soaked cloth strips trap climbing pests. Cover crops improve soil structure, water retention, and nutrient availability — sometimes reducing fertiliser needs by 90%. Birds of prey are encouraged into the vineyards to control bird populations. The workers move through the estate on bicycles, not motor vehicles. This is not marketing theatre; it is integrated vineyard management — a system that has been in place since 1998 and that defines every bottle Cono Sur produces.
The Burgundian Moon, the Screwcaps & the Indigenous Hand
Cono Sur's winemaking is guided by a philosophy that is both technically innovative and deeply respectful of tradition: the belief that the best wine is the one that expresses its terroir with the greatest possible fidelity, and that the only way to achieve that is through sustainable, organic, and low-intervention practices. The grapes are hand-harvested from vineyards that have been farmed with integrated management since 1998. Fermentations for the organic wines are carried out with indigenous yeasts — no commercial inoculation, capturing the microbial fingerprint of each valley. The winemaking is clean and precise: the goal is not to make natural wine in the unfined, unfiltered sense, but to make expressive, terroir-driven wine that reflects the health of the vineyard and the skill of the cellar.
The cellar arsenal is diverse and deliberately chosen. Stainless steel tanks preserve the freshness and primary fruit of the aromatic whites. French oak barrels — new, second-use, and third-use — provide structure, complexity, and micro-oxygenation for the reds. For the 20 Barrels Pinot Noir, only the best 20 barrels from each vintage are selected, set apart in a separate barrel room, and bottled on their own — a practice that began in 1996 and that represents the finest selection the winery can achieve. For Ocio, the icon wine, the process is even more rigorous: cold maceration, hand selection in the cellar, and 14 months in French oak — a celebration of Pinot Noir's delicate flavours that allows them to shine without being overwhelmed by extraction or wood. The 20 Barrels Chardonnay uses barrels that are left to sit for two weeks with water and salt to remove the oaky toastiness of new oak — a technique that keeps tannins while toning down vanilla and toast.
Cono Sur has been a pioneer in wine packaging innovation as well as winemaking. In 1995, it was the first winery in South America to use synthetic corks. In 2002, it was the first Chilean winery to use screwcaps for aromatic white wines — recognised as the best closure to maintain freshness and avoid oxidation. From 2002 onward, the company transitioned most of its whites, rosés, Pinot Noirs, and reds meant for brief cellaring to screwcap closures — a decision based on product performance, technical progression, and market feedback, not trend-chasing. The same year, Cono Sur became the first South American winery to earn double ISO certification. All of this is part of a philosophy that holds quality, innovation, and environmental respect as the three pillars of the company. The result is a portfolio of wines that range from the everyday Bicicleta to the icon Ocio, all sharing the same commitment to sustainability, the same respect for the seven valleys, and the same belief that the best wines come from the healthiest ecosystems.
The Sustainability & Innovation Covenant
The guiding principle of Cono Sur's cellar is that the best wine is the one that needs the least artifice. The indigenous yeasts capture the microbial fingerprint of each valley — the wild yeasts that live on the skins of organically grown grapes in Casablanca, Colchagua, Maipo, and Bío Bío. The stainless steel preserves the vibrant aromatics of Sauvignon Blanc and Riesling. The French oak — carefully selected, with toast levels calibrated to each variety — adds structure and complexity without masking the fruit. The absence of synthetic chemicals in the vineyard means the grapes arrive at the cellar with their own natural defences intact. The screwcaps ensure that the wine reaches the consumer with the same freshness it had when it left the cellar. The lightweight bottles reduce carbon emissions in transport. The solar panels in five vineyards provide clean energy. The LED lighting minimises consumption. The water recycling — which has cut cellar water usage by more than a quarter since 2015 — ensures that every litre of wine is made with respect for Chile's scarce water resources. The cellar is a place where Burgundian tradition, New World technology, and environmental stewardship converge.
Ocio, 20 Barrels, Single Vineyard, Bicicleta & the Seven-Valley Hand
The Cono Sur portfolio is broad, innovative, and entirely quality-driven — a range of wines that spans from the entry-level Bicicleta to the icon Ocio, each one sharing the same sustainable foundation and the same commitment to terroir. The Ocio is the icon — the maximum expression of Chilean Pinot Noir, a wine that has spent two decades proving that the cool coastal valleys of Chile can produce Pinot Noir of world-class complexity and delicacy. The 20 Barrels is the ultra-premium line — limited-edition wines made from the finest selection of barrels each vintage, representing the pinnacle of Cono Sur's winemaking craft. The Single Vineyard range is the terroir-focused line — wines from specific estates that express the unique character of each site. The Organic range is the certified line — wines made from 100% organically grown grapes across the estate. The Reserva is the mid-tier — expressive, fruit-forward wines that over-deliver for their price. The Bicicleta is the entry-level — approachable, honest wines named after the bicycles that workers use to navigate the vineyards. All are made with hand-harvested grapes, indigenous yeasts where organic, minimal intervention, and a deep respect for the seven valleys that give them life.
The Top 10 Most Admired Brand, the Tour de France & the Seven-Valley Hand
Cono Sur Vineyards & Winery is not merely a subsidiary; it is a declaration of independence realised — the story of how two families, heirs to the Concha y Toro dynasty, created a new winery in 1993 and, within three decades, made it a Top 10 Most Admired Wine Brand in the world, the largest producer of Pinot Noir in South America, the first South American winery with double ISO certification, the first Chilean winery to use screwcaps for aromatic whites, the first winery in the world with carbon-neutral transport, and a B Corp-certified pioneer of sustainable viticulture. In an era when Chilean wine was defined by volume, homogenisation, and industrial scale, the Guilisasti and Larraín families demonstrated that the most profound wines sometimes come from 1,600 hectares of diverse vineyards, from 1,000 geese eating insects, from poppies diverting pests, from workers on bicycles, from screwcaps preserving freshness, and from a belief that innovation and tradition are not opposites but partners. It is largely thanks to Cono Sur that Chilean Pinot Noir, organic viticulture, screwcap closures, and carbon-neutral transport now have a place in the global wine conversation. The same valleys that were once dismissed as too warm or too unknown for fine wine have become, through their work, sources of some of the most honest, diverse, and deeply place-driven wines in the New World.
The legacy of Cono Sur is the legacy of the corporate hand in service of the planet and the palate. The Guilisasti and Larraín families are not typical winery founders: they are heirs to Concha y Toro who chose to build something new, who bet on Pinot Noir when no one else in Chile believed in it, who employed 1,000 geese as vineyard workers, who planted poppies between vines, who put screwcaps on premium whites in 2002 when the industry scoffed, who achieved carbon-neutral transport in 2007, who cut cellar water usage by more than a quarter, who installed solar panels across five vineyards, and who believe that the best wine is the one that improves the health of the planet while remaining accessible to ordinary drinkers. They do not chase trends. They do not chase scores. They make wines that range from the icon Ocio to the everyday Bicicleta — and they make them all with the same sustainable foundation, the same innovative spirit, and the same corporate commitment to environmental responsibility. The B Corp certification is not a marketing badge; it is a philosophical stance that holds the company accountable to the highest standards of social, environmental, and economic impact.
The future of the project is tied to the future of cool-climate viticulture, organic expansion, and the preservation of Chile's wine valleys as diverse, living ecosystems — to the growing recognition that the best wines come not from the most heavily chemicalised vineyards but from the most committed guardians of soil health, biodiversity, and human dignity. As Ocio continues to set the benchmark for Chilean Pinot Noir on the world stage, as the 20 Barrels range proves that barrel selection and Burgundian tradition can produce world-class wines in Chile, as the Single Vineyard Riesling demonstrates that the Bío Bío Valley can rival the great cool-climate regions of Europe, and as the Organic range shows that certified organic wine can be both affordable and excellent, the Guilisasti and Larraín families remain what they have always intended to be: innovators of the south — a family who trusted the cool fog of San Antonio, the seven valleys of Chile, and the patient hand of sustainable time, and who built something enduring that spans a nation. The movement is not finished. It is just beginning to vine.
"With everything I have learned and the great opportunities life has given me, my goal is to contribute to positioning Chilean Pinot Noir at the highest level. Little by little, through tastings and events where they are compared with the great global references of Pinot Noir, Chilean Pinot Noir is beginning to stand out and establish itself in the minds of high-end Pinot Noir consumers."
— Matías Ríos, Winemaking Director, Cono Sur