Vik Chile

The road from Santiago runs two hours south before it turns into the Millahue valley, a side valley of the Cachapoal region whose name in Mapudungun means the place of gold. At its head, on a hilltop above rows of cabernet and carmenère, a bronze-coloured roof of titanium catches the light. This is Vik Chile, the luxury hotel in the Millahue valley that Alexander and Carrie Vik opened in 2014 above their winery, Viña Vik, on an estate of about 4,300 hectares.

History

The Viks, a Norwegian-born financier and his American-born wife, bought the Millahue land in 2006 after a search across Chile for a site that could produce a single estate red to compete with the best of Bordeaux. The winery came first, in a building by the Chilean architect Smiljan Radic completed in 2014, with a roof of stretched fabric that reads as a sail from the vineyards. The hotel opened the same year. It was the Viks' fourth hotel after Estancia Vik, Playa Vik and Bahia Vik in José Ignacio, Uruguay, and like those it was conceived as a gallery to be slept in. In 2018 the estate added Puro Vik, a group of glass-walled bungalows on the hillside below the main building.

Architecture and design

The hotel was designed by the Uruguayan architect Marcelo Daglio, who had worked with the Viks in Uruguay. Its most visible feature is the roof, a sheet of titanium that curves over the building and changes colour with the hour. Below it, the public rooms open onto a terrace with an infinity pool that looks down the valley over the vines to the lake at the estate's centre. The Viks' collection fills the hotel: Anselm Kiefer, Roberto Matta and a long list of Chilean and international artists appear on walls, ceilings and floors. Puro Vik's bungalows, cantilevered off the slope, are glass boxes with a single theme each and a view straight down to the vineyards.

Rooms and suites

The main building has 22 suites, no two alike, each commissioned from or themed on a different artist or designer. One is lined with hand-painted tiles, another with carved wood, a third with a mural across every surface. All have terraces or large windows towards the valley. Puro Vik adds a set of smaller glass bungalows for couples who want to sleep closer to the vines. Breakfast is included, and the rate typically covers a winery visit and tasting.

Dining

Milla Milla, the hotel restaurant, sits under the titanium roof with a terrace over the pool. The kitchen cooks from the estate's gardens and from Chilean producers, with the Vik wines at the centre of the list: the flagship Vik, the second wine Milla Cala, and La Piu Belle. The winery itself has a tasting room and hosts lunches among the barrels.

Wellness

The spa offers massages and treatments that use grape-derived products from the estate, along with a sauna and the outdoor pool. The estate's roads and vineyards are used for walks, mountain biking and horse riding, and the lake for rowing.

Weddings and events

Vik Chile hosts weddings and private events on the estate, with the terrace by the pool and the winery's spaces as the principal settings, and takes exclusive-use bookings of the whole hotel. With 22 suites plus the Puro Vik bungalows, it suits a wedding of a few dozen guests who stay on site; capacities for dinners in the restaurant and the winery should be confirmed with the estate.

Location

Millahue lies in the commune of San Vicente de Tagua Tagua, about 160 kilometres south of Santiago, roughly two hours by road from the capital and its international airport. Santa Cruz and the Colchagua wine route are under an hour to the south-west. The estate is remote by design, and most guests arrive by car or private transfer.