Your driver will be back to collect you this morning for the short transfer to the airport. Rather than taking to the skies though, you are there to collect your SUV hire car and begin your road trip through Chile's wine heartlands.

It's a simple first drive, heading south down the paved Ruta 5 highway before turning west towards the Pacific Ocean. This brings you to the heart of the Maule Valley, Chile's largest wine-producing region, bordered by the Andes to the east and the coastal mountain chain to the west. A Mediterranean climate is cooled by eastern winds, creating optimum conditions for a wide variety of grapes, both red and white wine. It therefore serves as an ideal introduction to Chilean wines.

Your first base is on a wine estate - 10,000 hectares of dry coastal vines and rambling vegetation. At the heart of it all is the 150-year-old adobe hacienda, where you stay in one of just five rooms.

Settle in with a stroll or refreshing dip in the pool, views stretching across the vines and native forests. After a memorable first family-style dinner, you might then migrate to a wood-fired hot tub made out of an old wine barrel, the perfect perch to watch the sunset from.

Drive 320km, 3.5hrs