Sustainability: A long term commitment
We strive to make VIK a unique destination, and are always working hard to offer our visitors the best.
Our ultra premium wines are sourced from Millahue, which is located in the Cachapoal Valley in Chile’s O’Higgins Region (VI). Each year, this singular place surprises us with the richness of its terroir and its different micro climates. Since we came to this region in 2004, we have contributed to its progress and development, enhancing its richness and beauty.
A highly cohesive team that is loyal to the holistic philosophy interprets and manages our vineyards, seeking excellence in order to ensure that each harvest yields high quality, elegant grapes. Teamwork and innovation play a fundamental role in the VIK standard.
Our treasure is located in Millahue. We are part of an environment and a community that we respect and care for. We seek to protect its environmental and social ecosystem through our agricultural and winemaking practices. We also contribute to their quality of life, actively participating and sharing our knowledge while listening to and highlighting the community.
More than anything, we are aware that our greatest responsibility is creating quality jobs and giving our employees opportunities.
Obtaining excellent quality wine in every harvest, the beauty of our surroundings, and delivering a superior experience in terms of hospitality are elements of what motivates us to achieve excellence… A feast for the senses. Our hotel is an art gallery, and the land that houses our vineyards is a perfectly harmonious piece of paradise. We are aware of the responsibility that we take on by inhabiting this place.
We are particularly careful to control our water and energy consumption with the help of the best technology.
We also minimise our waste and greenhouse gas emissions.
Our principles
In an effort to make “The VIK Experience” one of the most highly valued in the world, we have identified four principles that we will focus on in order to continue to enhance our sustainability strategy:
- Quality
- Winemaking experience
- Brand
- Social responsibility
Each one of these principles guides the way that we develop our wines and experience.
Every part of our company focuses on them as we strive to reach our goals:
Quality: We use the holistic philosophy, exploring and interpreting our terroir to obtain the best from it through a close-knit team that is creative, quick and committed to excellence. We use cutting edge technology with a well-defined focus on innovation.
Winemaking experience: We strive to bring people to the winery to experience luxury through beauty, art and quality service in an effort to put Millahue on the map. We offer an array of activities focused on high quality enotourism in an unforgettable place because of its landscape, history and harmony with its surroundings.
Brand: We work to enhance our image as a luxury brand, protecting this important asset, which contributes to Chile’s country image. We are committed to strengthening our terroir (Chile/Millahue) and to raising the profile of the Cachapoal Valley, which is not a traditional wine region. We connect design and art to our brand through our wines and our hotel.
Responsabilidad Social: Cuidar el ecosistema que habitamos y necesitamos, aportando a mejorar la calidad de vida de la comunidad y e nuestros trabajadores.
Social responsibility: We care for the ecosystem, which we inhabit and also need, contributing to improving the quality of life of the local community and our employees.
Our initiatives
1. 100% Renewable Energy Use
VIK has accredited, through final certification under the I-REC standard, that 100% of the electricity it uses comes from renewable energy through non-polluting clean sources. AtriaE is the company that supplies electricity to VIK and, a year on from accrediting that this supply comes from clean, non-polluting origins, the Chilean winery is set to obtain this important international recognition.
Pulse has accredited that, according to information published by the National Electricity Coordinator in its annual NCRE report and its own records and analysis published at www.pulseenergía.cl/registros, VIK Winery used 100% renewable energy at its facilities in San Vicente de Tagua Tagua during the period covered by the report.
The energy was injected by the company San Juan S.A. from its San Juan wind farm in the Freirina municipality in Chile’s Atacama Region. (www.parquesanjuan.com)
2. Wines of Chile Sustainability Code
VIK incorporates another aspect into its constant search for sustainability as part of its strategic vision of the business, balancing economic, environmental and social dimensions.
We seek to strike a balance with our surroundings by engaging in the rational use and care of natural resources and the environment, from the vineyard to our wines. A holistic vision and approach to managing the winery is key.
In 2022, we joined “CERTIFIED SUSTAINABLE WINE OF CHILE”* (the National Sustainability Code Standard of the Chilean Wine Industry) in an effort to solidify our commitment to nature. In doing so, we recognise that production, economic and social processes are in harmony with the environment, which is understood as the natural and human medium.
3. Sustainable vitiviniculture:
The winery promotes environmentally friendly vitivinicultural practices. Fermentation is spontaneous, and no yeasts are added. We use “winter irrigation”, meaning that artificial rain was used so that when summer came, the plants would not have an unnecessary level of dehydration.
– We harvest at night: Since our first vintage in 2009, we have manually harvested our grapes at night, picking the fruit at its best moment without the impact of direct sunlight. This is followed by a delicate selection process that allows us to make our wine using a single fermentation process. We harvest between 1 a.m. and 6-7 a.m., when the grapes are at their lowest temperature, when it is coldest. This is another example of how sustainability and care for our terroir form part of every decision we make. We consume less energy by receiving naturally cool grapes that are ready for optimal vinification.
– Barroir: Barrel + Terroir: We have always made our wines with minimal intervention. We use no extra applications, only natural yeasts, no filtering and do not use clarifying agents or additives in an effort to ensure that nothing interferes with the expression of the Millahue terroir. However, the process of ageing wines in new and used barrels could add flavours that are not unique to VIK.
Inspired by the purity of the 2018 vintage, we developed the concept “barroir”: toasted barrels made from oak from our own land. We were able to obtain an even purer expression of Millahue by ageing our wines in toasted barrels made from our own oak trees, which grow over 980 meters above sea level in the hills of the VIK park.
Used and new French oak barrels are toasted using wood from centennial oak trees that have completed their life cycle and fallen on our estate. The resulting barrels have been personalised in our own cooperage and give our wines the flavour of our terroir.
– Amphoir: Amphora + Terroir: We sought out one of the most talented potters to make our jars. Winemaker Cristián Vallejo explored the vineyard with him for months, digging 2-metre deep soil pits to find the perfect clay.
We extracted pure clay from over 6 meters below the surface. A total of 20 amphoras were made. Each is 1.9 meters tall and can hold 675 litres.
The material is a combination of clay and kaolinite from our own Millahue vineyards. Clay allows for micro oxygenation of wines, adding mineral notes, flavours and aromas that are unique to Millahue.
The 2019 Cabernet Franc from the Los Lazos sector is the first to be aged in these jars.
Harvest Report 2022
Vegan Certification
Vegetarianos Hoy has certified VIK wines. They received satisfactory evaluations and were awarded the V-Label license.
There is international consensus that a vegan product is one that contains no ingredients of animal origin. This includes all of the production and processing stages.
4. Promotion and development of Chilean cuisine and cultural elements:
The winery has an organic garden that occupies over two hectares of fertile soil. It produces approximately 250 varieties of fruit, vegetables, edible flowers and herbs, as well as blue eggs from Coyonka chickens, which are raised by the Mapuche people. We use an innovative approach, offering guests a menu based on the yield from our garden. As such, it is constantly changing and reflects the generosity of the daily harvest. We use an approach that centres menu ingredients that make the flavours shine, including edible flowers, special herbs, seeds, shoots, quinoa and asparagus in the spring, an infinite variety of fruit, corn and artichokes in the summer, aubergines (eggplant), beetroot and pomegranate in the autumn, and oranges, lemons, cauliflower, kale and cabbage in the winter. Anything not taken from our garden comes from local farmers and small-scale producers who provide seafood, fish and the highest quality meats.
Local suppliers: We promote products made by local suppliers and SMEs. We also encourage local producers to recover endangered endemic products such as the pink tomato and tenca tomato. VIK is working to help save these and other plant species by propagating them and harvesting and sharing their seeds with other local producers and people who are interested in their conservation.
Holistic enotourism: We endeavour to promote the winery’s oenological practices among our guests. Visitors are also invited to source their own food, which is cooked and served outdoors. We hold tastings of seeds and edible flowers hosted by our chef, as well as cooking classes, wine pairing activities and special tastings.
We also hosted the launch of the O’Higgins Region National Tourism Service (Sernatur) Small-Scale Producers’ Catalog.
In an effort to highlight local culture and production activities, Sernatur held the launch of the Virtual O’Higgins Region Producers and Artisans Catalog in the Viña Vik garden, which is located in the municipality of San Vicente de Tagua Tagua.
In line with its holistic philosophy and the importance of its connection to the environment, Viña Vik is proud of the reach that its local artisans and producers catalog has had. The publication was launched in January of this year in our garden. The O’Higgins Region Sernatur team has told us that the catalog has been very well received by tourism service providers and visitors to the region, particularly the artisans and producers featured in the publication, as this has opened up a new marketing channel for their products. Some of those local producers are our suppliers. The hotel chef has a very close connection to them, as they are an essential part of our menu.
Scan the QR code to view the full catalog.
5. Sustainable architecture
Measures such as the impressive reflecting pool that naturally cools the barrel room and the winery’s roof, allowing the humidity to regulate the temperature, help us to achieve optimal energy consumption, allowing natural light to enter without the use of electric energy. The translucent roof makes it possible to work without artificial light during the day. Measures like this are now a permanent part of VIK spaces.
6. Sponsorship of the San Vicente de Tagua Tagua Football Academy
Sponsorship of the San Vicente de Tagua Tagua Football Academy This athletic training project was developed to offer children exposure to the sport after two years of quarantine and pandemic, using football as an educational opportunity. The workshop is meant to provide a fun environment for learning and developing values such as friendship, respect, unity, solidarity, perseverance, discipline, self-confidence and teamwork, creating good habits and fostering a sense of belonging.
7. Cooperation and associativity:
The winery creates academic partnerships with key stakeholders in the region on an ongoing basis so that it can take part in local development strategies. One such partner is Universidad Bernardo O’Higgins. We also promote the connection to local businesses, promoting activities in the region and local tourism and developing actions aimed at preserving biodiversity by creating protected areas.