Fundo los Nichos is the oldest operating pisquera, or pisco distillery, in Chile and serves as something like a living museum of the Chilean version of the spirit. Located deep in the Andes in the arid hills between Pisco Elqui and Horcon, the picturesque distillery’s cellars were built in 1868 by José Dolores Rodríguez Callejas (1842–1904), and distilling began shortly afterward. It was carried on after his death by his seventh son, Rigoberto Rodríguez Rodríguez (1879–1945), who in the 1930s also founded the still-popular Tres Erres (“Three Rs”) brand of pisco, with its own distillery in Pisco Elqui. The original lenticular-headed alembics were replaced in the 1950s by German hybrid stills, but Fundo los Nichos still distills from a mix of aromatic (moscatel rosada; moscatel de Alejandría) and non-aromatic (Pedro Jiménez; moscatel de Austria) grapes to around 55 percent ABV and rests the spirit for one to three years in generations-old tanks made from indigenous rauli wood (Nothofagus alpina, a species of southern beech). Some goes on to age in oak casks. The resulting spirit, made in very small quantities, is highly prized within Chile. It is not exported.
See also Andean South America and pisco.
Herrera, Galvarino Peralta. Destilería Fundo los Nichos. Pisco Elqui, Chile: Vitivinícola Fundo los Nichos, N.d.
Olmedo, Claudia. 40 grados. Santiago: Emporio Creativo, 2011.
By: David Wondrich